Brian Connell won’t say whether he’s planning on taking his wife on the taxpayer-funded Speaker’s tour.
In the clip below Faafoi asks Connell 18 times and still can’t get a straight answer as Connell gets increasingly abusive.
— Leftie Infighting Alert!!—
Steve Pierson: I back Connell on this, eccentric old bigot though he is.
There are much more important stories Faafoi could have covered. For example, English saying he would borrow to fund tax cuts, Carter saying National would sell Landcorp, and Key and APN management interfering with journalistic freedom.
MP tours are a normal diplomatic practice. Parliament has a delegation of foreign MPs observing from the gallery every few sitting days (you’ve never been truly embarrassed until you’ve sat next to a befuddled group of Tanzanian MPs while your country’s Opposition tries to shout down your Prime Minster as she answers a question they asked her). And having spouses along is a normal diplomatic practice. Yes, it’s a perk of the job, but lots of jobs have perks.
It is hypocritical of journalists to get on their high horses over perks when they’re renowned exploiters of perks themselves. Just on Tuesday, Vernon Small was complaining about the quality of the free grub at the New Zealand Fast Forward launch. If you want to empty the press gallery in record time, don’t yell fire; yell ‘free food and booze’.
TVNZ is trying to make a fool of Connell (not that he’s ever needed help) but they just look like bullies, and, once again, we see that political journalists really just want to talk about themselves.
-Steve
Powered by WPtouch Mobile Suite for WordPress