Granny Herald yearns for good old days but democracy alive and well

Written By: - Date published: 2:59 pm, October 31st, 2008 - 16 comments
Categories: activism, election 2008, Media, national - Tags:

The Herald is once again trying to convince us that everyone is so scared of the EFA that there is no poltiical participation going on. Once again, they cite some rich right-wing organisations that don’t want to have to identify themselves when advertising, and so haven’t advertised at all. It seems the Right’s view is that democratic participation is rich organisations putting ads in the paper and trying to market to us.

It’s not. Real democracy is ordinary people, on the ground, talking, communicating, getting active. Maybe they’re helping a party or doing something off their own bat like putting up posters, making youtube vids, or pulling off clever political theatre. Here are a couple of examples that The Standard has been emailed just today:



check out more ‘John Key snake’ pics from Dunedin here

16 comments on “Granny Herald yearns for good old days but democracy alive and well ”

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  1. the sprout 1
    31 October 2008 at 3:15 pm

    Exactly, if anything I’ve seen an increase in all kinds of grassroots participation this election. The EFA seems to have encouraged ordinary people’s voices to fill the vacuum left by wealthy lobby groups.

    I guess what the Herald means is that revenue from commercial political advertising is down, not that I’ve missed much of a difference if there’s any at all.

  2. Lampie 2
    31 October 2008 at 3:26 pm

    yeah and not as much crap in the letterbox and having candidates on the streets and malls talking and advertising themselves to YOU

  3. rave 3
    31 October 2008 at 3:36 pm

    Yes the NZ Herald is so hard up it took the money from a businessman who has put a full page ad in the same issue of the paper calling for a vote for . . . Labour!

    They held their nose and opened their wallet for a full page at from Winston too.
    Proves that capitalists have at least one principle – profit.

  4. Stephen 4
    31 October 2008 at 4:03 pm

    When was that ad rave? Might take a gander if i can.

  5. bill brown 5
    31 October 2008 at 4:34 pm

    Fucking Herald – I’m glad I earned my first wage delivering the Star.

  6. rave 6
    31 October 2008 at 5:43 pm

    Stephen:
    “It’s all about the REAL economy” NZH Friday 31 Oct.
    B4. Winnies B2

  7. dave 7
    31 October 2008 at 5:54 pm

    Perhaps you can ask your friends in Labour to have a chat to Mike Smith to ensure he doesn’t break the law again by advertising with an incorrect street address when spamming peoples email in-boxes, then.

  8. Gooner 8
    31 October 2008 at 8:56 pm

    Yeah, all the legal experts, the Human Rights Commission, the Trade Unionists, the Electoral Commission and all the others who criticised this law are all wrong.

    Some anonymous bloggers on a partisan left-wing blog are 100% right.

  9. randal 9
    31 October 2008 at 9:30 pm

    well they had their chance at the select committee. maybe they could retrospectivley invalidate it.

  10. Paul Robeson 10
    31 October 2008 at 10:17 pm

    they also seem to be calling the political week on the talk backradio of the ‘your views’ or online polling on their website.

    that’s democracy in action! what we should do is take all the letters to the editor and count how many are left and how many are right, and use that for the election result.

  11. Rex Widerstrom 11
    31 October 2008 at 10:41 pm

    Is it just me, or does the guy in the glasses, beard, coat and tie look exactly like Kenny Everett to everyone? (Rather spoils the effect when he opens his mouth though – the real Kenny would have had a ball hamming it up 🙂 )

  12. RedBack 12
    1 November 2008 at 2:04 am

    What’s even funnier is the Herald’s lame attempt at serious political journalism. I’ve just had a pokey at the Herald online and one of their leading stories was ‘Which politician do you think would frighten little children more on Holloween?’ The results of which have been converted into a serious headline story titled’ Herald character poll makes grim reading for Clark’. With a deadpan narrative where Jeremy Rees states that this how is NZers make their minds up of who to vote for based on character. Wow. I’m waiting for the Herald to suggest we dump MMP as an electoral system and replace it with Pop Idol or Wrestlemania.

    Living in Britain I’ve been priveledged to witness some crap partisan right wing journalism but this really is a gold medal effort from Granny Herald. Oh how I yearn for the return of the Auckland Star.

  13. Fiona 13
    1 November 2008 at 3:29 am

    When did our NZ news media become a monopoly?

    After reading this blog, I have since discovered the NZ news media with the odd exception, is owned almost entirely by Independent News Media, News Media NZ, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and a handful of Wall St banks and finance companies, under the corporate APN Media News conglomerate.

    Tony O’ Reilly via Independent News Media and News Media NZ has the largest (60%) stake in APN and thus controls the NZ news media.

    Wikipedia has an interesting take on Tony O’ Reilly. Apparently he deliberately influences election results to suit his hard right political preference in countries such as NZ where he has sought and bought news monopoly.

    Logic tells us, the NZ Elections no longer belong to voters but have been bought and sold in advance by Tony O’Reilly.

    Yes anti-democratic is the right expression but an even better one is fascist.

  14. Mary Hart 14
    1 November 2008 at 2:46 pm

    All we can expect from the corporate ownership of the NZ media is a dumbed down diet of right wing propaganda, against unions and workers rights in favour of big business and the wealthy elite. Under workers rights I include the right to be paid an unemployment benefit in times of unemployment.

    Key wants to use our taxes to underwrite billions of dollars in loans between foreign owned banks while propagandising against worker unemployment benefits when the country is now facing widespread unemployment thanks to these same banks.

    There will be no end to the hardship suffered by ordinary working NZers if National is voted into power due in no small part to their mates who have bought themselves a mainstream media monopoly

  15. Redback 15
    2 November 2008 at 9:30 am

    I just think its sad and also quite dangerous that there is really no real mainstream left reply to the Herald’s, quite frankly sycophantic, reporting on the Nats. They know they can pretty much get away with printing any old right wing shite with no one to pull them up on it. To prove this the Herald online delivered up a sickening article about Bronagh Key titled ‘First Lady (in waiting)’ Uuuggghh!!!! I really wouldn’t be surprised if Crosby Textor had their own office space at the Herald.
    After reading the YourViews section on the Herald I am still staggered by the amount of folk who still nieavely [sic] believe that a daily broadsheet must be there to just tell the news with no bias or politcal slant. Because of this attitude the Herald has dangerously set itself up as the all knowing oracle of news in NZ. Anyone who dares to disagree with it must be a commie or a no good unpatriotic trouble maker. The left really does need a mainstream left voice in the print media to show the Herald as the crappy little tabloid it is.

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