Does anyone else think it’s a coincidence that Granny Herald has tried to start a meaningless debate over the national flag – ’11 of 18 Order of NZ members support change!’ wow-wee – just as the wheels come off a flagship National policy?
I think the flag issue is one the Government and its allies are quite happy to have rolling, because it’s popular, irrelevant to the aims of their ideology, and distracts.
I’m not so sure it’s tightly orchestrated however.
But I will agree that the Herald did make a conscious decision to run the flag story over other more important and pressing issues in education, the financial sector, and the environment.
In this case it’s probably more bad media than championing the Government. Though I think Eddie’s point is certainly possible enough to deserve a hearing, and most certainly not “losing the plot” as Daveski suggests.
And fair play to the Herald – if they’re going to wait for things to improve for this lame-duck government before having a debate on the flag, then they’ll be waiting a very long time …
If it’s about Waitangi Day they could have run the stories on, um, Waitangi Day.
And if they were serious about generating a cause for changing the flag they would have done a poll. not called up 18 people, labeled them patriots, and used them as the basis for claiming support for change.
this is transparent distraction tactics. If they hadn’t done this the front page story would have been the growing anti-national standards campaign. Actually, knowing the Herald it would have been a big picture of a sea lion or something.
I don’t think you get it. No-one is ‘in on’ anything.
The Herald just doesn’t want to have to talk about the disaster of the government it got elected, so it’s trying to distract us with something that doesn’t matter.
It doesn’t require National and the Herald to get together and plan it.
You mean instead of bludging off human stupidity and prejudice the way that most journos do as they re-release press releases?
There are very few people here who ‘bludge off the state’. Most of those who do probably use trusts and other mechanisms to reduce their income levels to qualify for WFF. Is that who you’re referring to?
If you want to make factless assertions – just follow Scribes example. It’s easy and simple enough for him to understand it… He’s a scribe!
Bollocks. This is a legitimate seasonal story with genuine news value. It’s not as if they’ve just published a bunch of vox pop “I reckons” with no precedent.
You can complain all you like about how it’s meaningless symbolism, and how you’re a savvy transcultural iconoclast. But that don’t change the fact that symbolism — and identity — matters to the rest of us.
Geez you’re an odd one Lew. You claim to understand political rhetoric but you don’t seem to understand how political actors work.
The Herald is a political actor. It favours, indeed campaigns for, National governments. When a National government is in the sh#t is it going to want to cover that? No.
What they need is a nice meaningless poltiical story where Key will look good. So they call up 18 people and ask their opinions on the flag, slap together an image of all the union jack flags, and ‘hey presto’ national standards is bumped down the list and everyone is talking about something that doesn’t hurt the government that the Herald supports.
None of this requires conspiracy. None of it requires National and the Herald to plan together.
I’m not disputing that this sort of distraction is an effective propaganda technique, what I’m disputing is the assertion that this is the reason for the topic of national identity being given prominence in the three days leading up to our national holiday (such as it is).
The Herald is indeed a political actor, much as all media are. I’ve spent thousands of words here and elsewhere on how, outside of a few specific issues like the EFA, it’s no more overtly political than other leading media in the country, and furthermore how its political biases can easily be explained by means other than resort of a media-political conspiracy, which is exactly what is alleged here — not in this immediate case, but a long-term agenda of collusion.
The point I’m trying to make isn’t that it’s not convenient for the government for national standards to be eclipsed by something else — but that it’s fair enough for it to be so at this time of year, and given the national identity debates which have coloured our recent past (Foreshore and Seabed/Orewa/Nationhood revisited; the h debate; the tino rangatiratanga flag decision; the recent visit of Prince William, the recent drawing of Locke’s head of state bill; Ansell’s largely self-promotional campaign to change the flag).
I understand you lot want a news agenda which is relentlessly critical of the government, focuses strictly on basic material and dry policy concerns, and generally is very much like The Standard. I would recommend that you start your own paper, but you have one — and it’s very good, for that purpose and for people who care about those things. But others care about symbolism and identity, and these are important debates to have, never more important than now.
As Daveski says, national standards isn’t going anywhere. If it’s half the debacle the NZEI says it will be (and I’m confident of that) then it’ll be an albatross around this government’s neck for years to come. Waitangi comes but once a year.
Scribe, how am I supposed to stay in the left-wing club with endorsements from people like you?
What I get pissed off with mostly is people who think their own political views are objectively right. The reason I get pissed off with it is because such certitude is a barrier to progress because people think “we’re right, and the truth will out”, and don’t bother to actually examine why the “truth” isn’t outing in the way they think it should.
It’s something which afflicts people from all over the spectrum, but as far as I’m concerned the right and conservatives are welcome to keep deluding themselves — it’s the left and liberals I want to give a cold shower to, so they’ll (hopefully) realise that in order to win, you have to play — even if you are right, that isn’t enough.
The Herald is indeed a political actor, much as all media are. I’ve spent thousands of words here and elsewhere on how, outside of a few specific issues like the EFA, it’s no more overtly political than other leading media in the country, and furthermore how its political biases can easily be explained by means other than resort of a media-political conspiracy, which is exactly what is alleged here — not in this immediate case, but a long-term agenda of collusion.
The problem is that when it exercises its ability to push an issue, it causes immense damage not only to other people – but also to itself. I remember the NZH’s EFA stances which were blatantly political, aligned with their wish to keep high advertising during election campaigns, showed scant regard to the facts, and were fundamentally highly dishonest to its reading public.
Personally I’ll put the boot in every chance I get until I’ve worked off that level of annoyance. It will take some time. If the Herald goes under – then I won’t be shedding too many tears. Most of the activists on the ‘left’ feel the same way to one degree or another.
That’s fair enough — but you’re owning that you have an axe to grind, not claiming the moral high ground of truth and purity. I don’t have any problem with people criticising the media — it’s literally what I do for a living). But the point is that for almost any non-trivial political topic, you’ll find similar abuses by the established media. The Dom Post and their coverage of the Urewera Terra is one other apposite example.
It’s not even especially bad here in NZ, and this business today is particularly weak. It strains credulity to pick on marginal cases like this when there’s actual legitimate criticism to be had most of the time. It weakens the overall argument of media bias (which is a legitimate one, even if somewhat misguided), and builds into a widely-held impression of the (activist) left as terminal victims, conspiracy nuts, and oversensitive inveterate whingers.
I seldom if ever claim a moral ground on anything. I tend to leave that for the insane certainties of the truly faithful.
However I do have a tenacious memory and a strong urge towards making sure that no bad deed goes without retribution, regardless how long it takes.
Agreed the DomPost editorial staff were totally hysterical over the Oct 15 raids, and I definitely intend to rub their noses in it after August next year. But that was mere sensationalism.
The EFA hysteria by the NZH had a distinct aroma of both self-interested corruption and political grand-standing about it (actually the kind of aroma that I associate with McCully). It definitely merits more of my attention than the DomPost because the dickheads at the NZH will want to try it again. I don’t like ‘kingmakers’.
Personally I couldn’t give a damn about what flag we use. It is completely irrelevant.
I have a strong suspicion that I’m part of the majority in Nz about this. So to waste time having a ‘debate’ about it just bores the crap out of me. It is a cheap way of filling a front page for the herald with a topic that might interest their unrepresentative readership. It is useful as a diversion for both the Nats, and the Maori party.
But I grew up without the crass flag waving stupidity of 19th century nationalism, and I have no intention of getting involved in something so trivial now.
As the leading mouthpiece for the National party, the NZ Herald is aware of this. So I guess that Eddie us probably right. It is a good topic to wind up nutters and divert attention away from things of interest
At the risk of introducing facts to this debate (and therefore risking the wrath of the BOFH), if this is as you state, why does the Granny have on the front page as the leading national news story are less than cheerleading story on national standards.
With respect, eddie’s post is a crock and you should know better.
if Key re instituted knights and dames of the british empire he’s hardly likely to ditch the union jack, even if carly binding referendum said its what the people want.
It is a good topic to wind up nutters and divert attention away from things of interest
You really can be an arrogant prick sometimes Lynn. Just because you don’t care about an issue doesn’t mean you can diminish the right of others to care about it. Feel free to argue the merits of it being a front page news story, but don’t try and write people off as “nutters” because they have a different view.
It might come as small surprise to you that I consider being thought “out of touch” by the more parochial and paranoid members of The Standard commentariat is a good indication that I’m on the right track.
I don’t care as much about our readership numbers as about the quality of the discussion. If I wanted to expand my readership, I’d have tits on the front page every other day, gossip about Brangelina and moonbat conspiracy thories front and centre.
I love the the way that when someone doesn’t agree with your view you start tacky, childlike, personal digs at them. Little more playing the ball and not the man please. How does it matter what his website stats are for goodness sake!
Lew and I are mostly on opposite sides of the political spectrum, but i enjoy reading what he has to say as he does so in a well thought out, and concise manner, that more people should take note of. Very rarely does he start randomly frothing at the mouth about the ususal matière du jour.
I think that the flag issue, like politics, is something that people do get very emotional about. Having just got back from 5 years overseas there is a Kiwi camaraderie that is quite unlike anything i have seen from any other nation. We gather together around or flag like it is our sovereign territory on some foreign land.
To say that the NZ flag issue is meaningless just shows, in my opinion, just how out of touch YOU actually are. I personally think the flag should change to the silver fern, as that symbolises our identity much more than the union jack.
The Herald story is a pretty straightforward attempt run interference for the National government by muddying the waters over the flag ahead of any potential annoyance at seeing the Harawira’s heraldry floating over over government buildings on Waitangi day.
The letters to the editor in today’s herald are mostly really good. The writers are getting stuck into the nats about their education policies founded on rhetoric.
The print version does not seem to have the Hone flag corruption story. I would have thought this would have been worthy of the front page.
What’s the difference between education policies based on rhetoric (which I would otherwise dispute) and tax policies based on rhetoric (Labour stuffing up the tax system through ideology over common sense?).
As a broader comment – not aimed at micky at all – there still seems to be a blame culture as to why Labour lost the election ie it wasn’t Labour’s people or policies but someone else eg NZH. Until Labour excepts that the people voted them out and Nats in, they can’t stop the rot. Good for me, bad for you.
Bad for me, good for you, and this is exactly the problem: always someone to blame, always some cause to whine about how it’s not fair, always trying to convert people who make political decisions based on their gut with cerebral facts and figures. Honestly, it’s like they don’t even want to win.
Exactly. Rhetoric is whatever the opponent says because I’m right and you’re wrong. It just that we have polar opposite views so each believes the other is speaking in rhetoric.
“The letters to the editor in today’s herald are mostly really good. The writers are getting stuck into the nats about their education policies founded on rhetoric.”
Darn them and their right wing bias… oh wait. Darn them and their left wing bias.
“The print version does not seem to have the Hone flag corruption story. I would have thought this would have been worthy of the front page.
It may alarm some people to learn that the Herald has editorial discretion to run whatever story it likes, and that it is not a tool of National.
That it does not put on its front page an attack on the Nats doesn’t mean it’s in bed with National. It’s probably more to do with the general dumbing down of much of our news media. Flags are bright and colourful and are easier for many to understand than educational issues.
Scott, watch out — the people who don’t have a blog will criticise you for having a blog which gets fewer hits than The Standard if you carry on that way.
Yeah that I’d agree with. Because anyone who actually runs a blog knows how damn hard it is to write posts, moderate, maintain, upgrade, and generally keep the damn thing running. Just keeping yourself interested is always a major struggle. Thats why we run with lots of authors.
Having lots of hits? – the main thing you notice about that is how hard it is to keep the system going as the traffic increases. I was doing performance tests of the new skin for the standard this morning and thinking that when we make it public, I’d have to take a couple of days off work. There is no way that I can do more than guess the loadings from the available data.
It is a cheap way of filling a front page for the herald with a topic that might interest their unrepresentative readership.
It may not be a direct tool of National – that is just how it acts. It probably does represent its local readers who are a relatively small subset of Aucklanders and few outside. From the ones I know, they’re relatively old, frequently conservative, and generally interested in stories that make them feel good. Which usually means looking at the misfortunes and miseries of someone else rather than feel-good.
What they’re mainly interested in is not having any in-depth analysis (that is largely on the business pages), but they want a superficial understanding of current issues so they can talk about things at work / bowling club / pub / etc.
In short they are pretty much like John Key. Which is why the Herald usually looks like the cheer-squad for National.
This whole left-wing/right-wing bias thing, aimed most often at The Herald, is so boring. People can easily cherry-pick stories to support their argument.
One can easily make the case that The Herald won the 2005 election for Labour by virtue of its editorial choices — EB on the front, now-imprisoned Mr Field on page 5 (or thereabouts). In such a close election, that decision was possibly enough — along with a few vans and some fast food — to get Labour over the line.
One can make the case that the Herald helped National win the election in 2008, but it was essentially a landslide, so it didn’t really matter.
Well apart from the wiingnut myth of Mangere 2005, you’re essentially correct.
The Herald targets their front-pages audience, a lot of whom are swinging ‘anti’ voters. Just at present that means they support National at the front page – at least that is what the polls say.
The business and political pages have a more persistent bias towards business interests, and have done since I was a kid.
Bullshit. To date you’ve ‘proved’ absolutely nothing except that you woke up on the fatuous side of the bed today. Guess your partner took all of the brains allocated for the day huh?
Come on LP – you’re the grumpy one here – it’s in your JD.
If there was a conspiracy, the treatment of the unemployment stats shows this to be BS. Likewise, the home page (at the time of eddie’s post) still had the standards as its leading national news story.
The NZ Herald website largely uses an algorithm for determining what articles hold the upper positions. It is largely based on date/time and user feedback in the number of page views and clickthrus. There is limited editorial control – most of that is exercised at quite a junior level.
The NZ Herald print run has no such feedback mechanism. Positioning is everything to a newsprint run and the decisions are made by editors pretty much on their gut feel.
This information is provided to you to prevent you from looking like a complete dickhead in equating the print runs with the website.
With respect, are we not talking about different things LP?
The world does not revolve around the printed version of the NZH unless you’re suggesting (as some seem to imply) that the only newspaper in NZ is the Granny and it is the only source of news for voters.
I think it’s too late to prevent you from looking like a Jafa dickhead 🙂
BTW Where I live (but not work) there is no daily news but friendly police … just ask Rocky!
Yeah, but almost all of the NZH print run is sold in Auckland. That is what the article was referring to.
The website ‘frontpage’ changes hour-to-hour and even in minutes with limited editorial control. So it’d be kind of pointless writing a post about its editorial stance. When the print edition was doing those bloody stupid editorial EFA attacks in 2007/8 on the front pages, the website edition would slide them off within an hour or so of writing. It was a pretty good indicator about how important the viewers though that the issue was.
I read the NZH print edition solely to find out the current editorial positions on topics. I read the website to get news.
I don’t have a problem with the Herald running flag stories. If it’s an issue that matters to them, good on them.
But we’ve just had a visit from the future head of state, whose country’s flag (and its relevance) is the central issue here. If the Herald feels so strongly, it could have raised the matter then. That really would have made an impact …
… an impact on the nice, soft, glossy coverage of Wills and John Key, blokes at the barbie.
It’s because there’s a conspiracy. That’s because the only people who vote read the NZH. However, the people who write the GOOD letters to the editor never read the Herald because they are pure and don’t want to be brainwashed.
There ya go eddie. I’ve written your next post for you 🙂
cut to the chase dudes.
of course granny will support anew flag.
then the desiginer will get royalties and granny can sell them.
doncha know that this is now new zeland inc. where everything is for sale including the truth.
go lprent.
but I must say it is a fruitless task arguing with idiots.
so just think of getting it all off your chest and dumping it on right wing sadsacks who haven’t got any money.
the fact of the matter is that the herald is a right wing corporatised money making machine for its owners and stockholders.
people who are not known to the the writers or the printers but who neverthless hold the whip hand over editorial content.
as it is privately owned then the owners can do what they like and they have chosen to employ a whole cadre of right wing apparatchiks who wil do anything to ensure that they remain employed and their owners wishes are pandered to and then to compound it all they call it a free press ancd charge the punters for it.
nice work if you can get it.
The paper wants to sell papers so they can make more money – that is it – putting colourful flags on it’s front page would sell a few more papers i suspect… anyway my flag is the tino rangatiratanga flag so i have no real interest in what design they come up with, if indeed they can even get the ball rolling, because eventually it will go, and there will be only one flag.
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“They’re here already! You’re next! You’re next! You’re next!”WHO CAN FORGET the penultimate scene of the 1956 movie classic, Invasion of the Body Snatchers? The wild-eyed doctor, stumbling down the highway, trying desperately to warn his fellow citizens: “They’re here already! You’re next! You’re next! You’re next!”Ostensibly science-fiction, the movie ...
TheOneRing.Net has got its paws on the official synopsis of the upcoming Amazon Tolkien TV series. It’s a development that brings to mind the line about Sauron deliberately releasing Gollum from the dungeons of Barad-dûr. Amazon knew exactly what they were doing here, in terms of drumming up publicity: ...
Since Dwight Eisenhower’s inauguration in 1953, US presidents have joined an informal club intended to provide support - and occasionally rivalry - between those few who have been ‘leaders of the free world’. Donald Trump, elected on a promise to ‘drain the swamp’ and a constant mocker of his predecessors, ...
For over a decade commentators have noted the rise of a new brand of explicitly ideological politics throughout the world. By this they usually refer to the re-emergence of national populism and avowedly illiberal approaches to governance throughout the “advanced” democratic community, but they also extend the thought to the ...
The US House of Representatives has just impeached Donald Trump, giving him the dubious honour of being the only US President to be impeached twice. Ten Republicans voted for impeachement, making it the most bipartisan impeachment ever. The question now is whether the Senate will rise to the occasion, and ...
Kieren Mitchell; Alice Mouton, Université de Liège; Angela Perri, Durham University, and Laurent Frantz, Ludwig Maximilian University of MunichThanks to the hit television series Game of Thrones, the dire wolf has gained a near-mythical status. But it was a real animal that roamed the Americas for at least 250,000 ...
Tide of tidal data rises Having cast our own fate to include rising sea level, there's a degree of urgency in learning the history of mean sea level in any given spot, beyond idle curiosity. Sea level rise (SLR) isn't equal from one place to another and even at a particular ...
Well, some of those chickens sure came home bigly, didn’t they… and proceeded to shit all over the nice carpet in the Capitol. What we were seeing here are societal forces that have long had difficulty trying to reconcile people to the “idea” of America and the reality of ...
In the wake of Donald Trump's incitement of an assault on the US capitol, Twitter finally enforced its terms of service and suspended his account. They've since followed that up with action against prominent QAnon accounts and Trumpers, including in New Zealand. I'm not unhappy with this: Trump regularly violated ...
Peter S. Ross, University of British ColumbiaThe Arctic has long proven to be a barometer of the health of our planet. This remote part of the world faces unprecedented environmental assaults, as climate change and industrial chemicals threaten a way of life for Inuit and other Indigenous and northern ...
Susan St John makes the case for taxing a deemed rate of return on excessive real estate holdings (after a family home exemption), to redirect scarce housing resources to where they are needed most. Read the full article here ...
I’m less than convinced by arguments that platforms like Twitter should be subject to common carrier regulation preventing them from being able to decide who to keep on as clients of their free services, and who they would not like to serve. It’s much easier to create competition for the ...
A growing public housing waiting list and continued increase of house prices must be urgently addressed by Government, Green Party Co-leader Marama Davidson said today. ...
A Waitomo-based Jobs for Nature project will keep up to ten people employed in the village as the tourism sector recovers post Covid-19 Conservation Minister Kiri Allan says. “This $500,000 project will save ten local jobs by deploying workers from Discover Waitomo into nature-based jobs. They will be undertaking local ...
Minister for Climate Change, James Shaw spoke yesterday with President Biden’s Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry. “I was delighted to have the opportunity to speak with Mr. Kerry this morning about the urgency with which our governments must confront the climate emergency. I am grateful to him and ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Hon Nanaia Mahuta today announced three diplomatic appointments: Alana Hudson as Ambassador to Poland John Riley as Consul-General to Hong Kong Stephen Wong as Consul-General to Shanghai Poland “New Zealand’s relationship with Poland is built on enduring personal, economic and historical connections. Poland is also an important ...
Work begins today at Wainuiomata High School to ensure buildings and teaching spaces are fit for purpose, Education Minister Chris Hipkins says. The Minister joined principal Janette Melrose and board chair Lynda Koia to kick off demolition for the project, which is worth close to $40 million, as the site ...
A skilled and experienced group of people have been named as the newly established Oranga Tamariki Ministerial Advisory Board by Children’s Minister Kelvin Davis today. The Board will provide independent advice and assurance to the Minister for Children across three key areas of Oranga Tamariki: relationships with families, whānau, and ...
The green light for New Zealand’s first COVID-19 vaccine could be granted in just over a week, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said today. “We’re making swift progress towards vaccinating New Zealanders against the virus, but we’re also absolutely committed to ensuring the vaccines are safe and effective,” Jacinda Ardern said. ...
The Minister for ACC is pleased to announce the appointment of three new members to join the Board of ACC on 1 February 2021. “All three bring diverse skills and experience to provide strong governance oversight to lead the direction of ACC” said Hon Carmel Sepuloni. Bella Takiari-Brame from Hamilton ...
The Government is investing $9 million to upgrade a significant community facility in Invercargill, creating economic stimulus and jobs, Infrastructure Minister Grant Robertson and Te Tai Tonga MP Rino Tirikatene have announced. The grant for Waihōpai Rūnaka Inc to make improvements to Murihiku Marae comes from the $3 billion set ...
[Opening comments, welcome and thank you to Auckland University etc] It is a great pleasure to be here this afternoon to celebrate such an historic occasion - the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. This is a moment many feared would never come, but ...
The Government is providing $3 million in one-off seed funding to help disabled people around New Zealand stay connected and access support in their communities, Minister for Disability Issues, Carmel Sepuloni announced today. The funding will allow disability service providers to develop digital and community-based solutions over the next two ...
Border workers in quarantine facilities will be offered voluntary daily COVID-19 saliva tests in addition to their regular weekly testing, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. This additional option will be rolled out at the Jet Park Quarantine facility in Auckland starting on Monday 25 January, and then to ...
The next steps in the Government’s ambitious firearms reform programme to include a three-month buy-back have been announced by Police Minister Poto Williams today. “The last buy-back and amnesty was unprecedented for New Zealand and was successful in collecting 60,297 firearms, modifying a further 5,630 firearms, and collecting 299,837 prohibited ...
Upscaling work already underway to restore two iconic ecosystems will deliver jobs and a lasting legacy, Conservation Minister Kiri Allan says. “The Jobs for Nature programme provides $1.25 billion over four years to offer employment opportunities for people whose livelihoods have been impacted by the COVID-19 recession. “Two new projects ...
The Government has released its Public Housing Plan 2021-2024 which outlines the intention of where 8,000 additional public and transitional housing places announced in Budget 2020, will go. “The Government is committed to continuing its public house build programme at pace and scale. The extra 8,000 homes – 6000 public ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has congratulated President Joe Biden on his inauguration as the 46th President of the United States of America. “I look forward to building a close relationship with President Biden and working with him on issues that matter to both our countries,” Jacinda Ardern said. “New Zealand ...
A major investment to tackle wilding pines in Mt Richmond will create jobs and help protect the area’s unique ecosystems, Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor says. The Mt Richmond Forest Park has unique ecosystems developed on mineral-rich geology, including taonga plant species found nowhere else in the country. “These special plant ...
To further protect New Zealand from COVID-19, the Government is extending pre-departure testing to all passengers to New Zealand except from Australia, Antarctica and most Pacific Islands, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “The change will come into force for all flights arriving in New Zealand after 11:59pm (NZT) on Monday ...
Bay Conservation Cadets launched with first intake Supported with $3.5 million grant Part of $1.245b Jobs for Nature programme to accelerate recover from Covid Cadets will learn skills to protect and enhance environment Environment Minister David Parker today welcomed the first intake of cadets at the launch of the Bay ...
The Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands Mark Brown have announced passengers from the Cook Islands can resume quarantine-free travel into New Zealand from 21 January, enabling access to essential services such as health. “Following confirmation of the Cook Islands’ COVID ...
Jobs for Nature funding is being made available to conservation groups and landowners to employ staff and contractors in a move aimed at boosting local biodiversity-focused projects, Conservation Minister Kiritapu Allan has announced. It is estimated some 400-plus jobs will be created with employment opportunities in ecology, restoration, trapping, ...
The Government has approved an exception class for 1000 international tertiary students, degree level and above, who began their study in New Zealand but were caught offshore when border restrictions began. The exception will allow students to return to New Zealand in stages from April 2021. “Our top priority continues ...
Today’s deal between Meridian and Rio Tinto for the Tiwai smelter to remain open another four years provides time for a managed transition for Southland. “The deal provides welcome certainty to the Southland community by protecting jobs and incomes as the region plans for the future. The Government is committed ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has appointed Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). The leader of each APEC economy appoints three private sector representatives to ABAC. ABAC provides advice to leaders annually on business priorities. “ABAC helps ensure that APEC’s work programme is informed by business community perspectives ...
The Government’s prudent fiscal management and strong policy programme in the face of the COVID-19 global pandemic have been acknowledged by the credit rating agency Fitch. Fitch has today affirmed New Zealand’s local currency rating at AA+ with a stable outlook and foreign currency rating at AA with a positive ...
The Government is putting in place a suite of additional actions to protect New Zealand from COVID-19, including new emerging variants, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “Given the high rates of infection in many countries and evidence of the global spread of more transmissible variants, it’s clear that ...
$36 million of Government funding alongside councils and others for 19 projects Investment will clean up and protect waterways and create local jobs Boots on the ground expected in Q2 of 2021 Funding part of the Jobs for Nature policy package A package of 19 projects will help clean up ...
The commemoration of the 175th anniversary of the Battle of Ruapekapeka represents an opportunity for all New Zealanders to reflect on the role these conflicts have had in creating our modern nation, says Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Kiri Allan. “The Battle at Te Ruapekapeka Pā, which took ...
Nicholas Agar suggests that our handling of the pandemic could be partly down to our distinctive Treaty of Waitangi relationship, and Māori ideas that enabled us to make it through without tens of thousands of deaths A mission for universities in the coming decade will be a deep understanding of the meaning ...
A young girl who once sent $5 to an embattled America's Cup team is now among the women on the water helping run the contest for the Auld Mug. As an eager and generous nine-year-old, Melanie Roberts posted a letter, with a $5 note, to OneAustralia’s America’s Cup team. It was 1995, ...
At 5am today, cock’s crow, the embargo lifted on the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards longlist. Here are the books in the race, followed by thoughts from poetry editor Chris Tse and books editor Catherine Woulfe. A shortlist of four books in each category will be announced March 3, with ...
Ignoring those QR codes when you drop into the supermarket? Can’t be bothered when you grab a coffee? The people serving you notice, and you’re freaking them out.So far, New Zealanders’ use of the Covid-19 Tracer app has been notably woeful. Food industry workers who’ve watched streams of customers walk ...
Steve Braunias reveals the longlist of the 2021 Ockham New Zealand book awards Apart from one or two unfortunate omissions which cast doubt on the sanity and intellectual acumen of judges, especially the nobodies who judged this year's non-fiction, the longlist for the 2021 Ockham New Zealand book awards is ...
By Lulu Mark in Port Moresby Papua New Guinea’s biggest hospital is straining to provide medical services to the growing population of the capital Port Moresby – with an estimated growth rate of 3 percent annually, a medical executive says. Port Moresby General Hospital chief executive officer Dr Paki Molumi ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Nationals who attend Thursday’s memorial service in Tweed Heads for Doug Anthony, who died last month aged 90, may muse on the contrast between the state of their party when he led it and now. ...
Returning to quarantine-free travel in 2021 doesn't just need a vaccine, but a way to check whether arriving passengers are actually immune to the virus. A smart Kiwi science start-up is working with a global biometrics giant to make that happen. A deal signed between Kiwi research and development company Orbis Diagnostics, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Caitlyn Forster, PhD Candidate, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney This summer’s wetter conditions have created great conditions for flowering plants. Flowers provide sweet nectar and protein-rich pollen, attracting many insects, including bees. Commercial honey bees are also thriving: ...
Lotto scratchie tickets featuring the pop band Six60 are being withdrawn after a public backlash. In a statement, Lotto NZ said there had been a mutual decision made with the band to remove the tickets from sale following the negative feedback, and it offered an apology. The band faced criticism, both ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Russell Dean Christopher Bicknell, Post-doctoral researcher in Palaeobiology , University of New England Shell-crushing predation was already in full swing half a billion years ago, as our new research published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B reveals. A hyena devouring ...
Vodafone has suspended advertising on the radio station amid calls for talkback host John Banks to be taken off air after yet another racist outburst. Alex Braae reports. In an alarming segment of talkback radio, former Auckland mayor John Banks endorsed the views of a caller who described Māori as a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Welch, Senior Lecturer, University of Auckland When a COVID-19 case was found in Northland last Sunday, Aotearoa’s second-longest period with no detected community case came to an end. ESR scientists worked late into Sunday night to obtain a whole genome sequence ...
He has the perfect moustache, an exceptional mullet, and he uses terms like ‘face hole’ on national TV. Who or what is Dr Joel Rindelaub?I was drawn in by the moustache, but it was the mullet that really kept me there. Watching TVNZ’s Breakfast yesterday morning I was fixated. Often, ...
We’ll never be royals with nearly a quarter of declined baby names featuring “Royal” in some form or another. Te Tari Taiwhenua Department of Internal Affairs has released the list of names declined in 2020 by the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and ...
After a raft of inquiries delving into and recommending what should be done about the politically beleaguered Orangi Tamaraki, along with the briefing papers we suppose he has been given, we imagined Children’s Minister Kelvin Davis would have no more need for expert advice. Wrong. He has ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vincent Ho, Senior Lecturer and clinical academic gastroenterologist, Western Sydney University There’s a common assumption men take longer than women to poo. People say so on Twitter, in memes, and elsewhereonline. But is that right? What could explain it? And if ...
Just as sexuality is a spectrum, so too is asexuality. In Ace of Hearts, members of New Zealand’s asexual community talk about the challenges and misconceptions of identifying as ace.First published November 17, 2020.Ace of Hearts is part of Frame, a series of short documentaries produced by Wrestler for The Spinoff.“A ...
Sam Brooks wasn’t allowed to watch kids TV as a kid. Now, as a 30 year old man, he watches it for the first time.My mother’s approach to parenting was unorthodox. I wrote weekly book reports on top of my actual homework, I did maths equations in Roman numerals and ...
Pacific Media Watch newsdesk More leading Indonesian figures have made racial slurs against Natalius Pigai, former chair of the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) – and all West Papuans, says United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP) interim president Benny Wenda. “Since the illegal Indonesian invasion in 1963, Indonesian ...
“The Government’s failure to even conduct a standard cost-benefit analysis for the most expensive infrastructure project in New Zealand’s history is mind-bogglingly arrogant,” says New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke. “A ...
The Ministry of Health is today drawing backlash from the local New Zealand vaping industry following its release of proposed regulations for the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act. Vaping Trade Association New Zealand (VTANZ) President, ...
Sophie Gilmour and Simon Day are joined by special guest Hugo Baird, co-owner of Grey Lynn’s Honey Bones and Lilian, to talk about opening new pub Hotel Ponsonby.Auckland is a city of many bars but few really good pubs – the kind of places you’d be just as comfortable going ...
The appointment of an advisory board for Oranga Tamariki is welcome and should be a step toward a total transformation of the care and protection system to a by Māori, for Māori approach, Children’s Commissioner Andrew Becroft said today. Minister ...
Taking control of your financial wellbeing can have cascading positive impacts for your life and it can also be fun. With the help of the team at Kiwi Wealth, we’ve compiled some simple tricks for balancing your books in 2021. There’s something about the beginning of a new year, especially after ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kris Gledhill, Professor of Law, Auckland University of Technology As we know, getting into New Zealand during the COVID-19 pandemic is difficult. There are practicalities, such as high airfare and managed isolation costs. And there are legal requirements, including pre-flight testing, mandatory ...
New Zealand faces the risk of a generation being locked out of the housing market unless land is freed up and more houses built, National Party leader Judith Collins says. ...
On Sunday, Stuff published a months-long investigation by Alison Mau detailing allegations of harassment and exploitation within the local music industry.The piece, ‘Music industry professionals demand change after speaking out about its dark side’, includes allegations of inappropriate behaviour and abuse of power by male artists, international acts and executives; ...
“The Government is all at sea on timelines for Australia and New Zealand’s respective vaccine roll-outs, with the worst news coming from the mouth of Pfizer Australia CEO Anne Harris,” says ACT Leader David Seymour. “Yesterday, under increasing ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Claire Higgins, Senior Research Fellow, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW As a presidential candidate, Joe Biden promised the US would demonstrate “global leadership on refugees”. Once elected, he pledged to vastly increase refugee resettlement in the US. If history is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alex Baumann, Casual Academic, School of Social Sciences & Psychology, Western Sydney University Among the many hard truths exposed by COVID-19 is the huge disparity between the world’s rich and poor. As economies went into freefall, the world’s billionaires increased their already ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jan Lanicek, Senior Lecturer in Modern European History and Jewish History, UNSW On January 27 communities worldwide commemorate the liberation of Auschwitz — the largest complex of concentration camps and extermination centres during the Holocaust. This is the first year the International ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lorinda Cramer, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Australian Catholic University The summer break is over, marking a return to the office. For some, this ends almost a year of working from home in lockdown. Some analysts are predicting it might also mark an enduring ...
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for January 27, keeping you up to date with the latest local and international news. Reach me on stewart@thespinoff.co.nzOur members make The Spinoff happen! Every dollar contributed directly funds our editorial team – click here to learn more about how you can support us ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Gillespie, Professor of Law, University of Waikato New Zealand has a strong history of protecting and promoting human rights at home and internationally, and prides itself on being an outspoken critic and global leader in this area. So, when the most ...
Good morning and welcome to the Bulletin. In today’s edition: Collins outlines the plan forward for National, no spread of Covid spotted yet in Northland, and students return for climate protest.In front of a Rotary Club at the Ellerslie Racecourse in Auckland, National leader Judith Collins yesterday set out her ...
*This articlefirst appeared on RNZ and is republished with permission. The tourism industry isn't holding its breath for a trans-Tasman travel bubble being in place after Australia temporarily closed its borders to New Zealand. New Zealanders could be waiting even longer for a full trans-Tasman bubble, with the ...
We continue our week-long examination of New Zealand writer Roderick Finlayson with an essay by Anahera Gildea on cultural appropriation Every night at 7pm sharp, my Irish Catholic father and his eight siblings would have to kneel on the carpet of the living room, facing the freshly polished nudity of ...
A Covid reset will force costly and inflexible cities to take a hard look at their planning systems, or people will vote with their feet. Broken urban planning systems make for misery even in the best of times. If land use and housing regulations prevent metropolitan areas from growing up or out as ...
Children's Minister Kelvin Davis will have independent eyes and ears across Oranga Tamariki over the next five months as the Government tries to change the work and practices of the ministry. The Government has created a Māori-led watchdog to oversee how the children's ministry, Oranga Tamariki, deals with parents and ...
When an Auckland school classroom went up in flames in December last year, exploding asbestos over neighbouring houses, five separate government agencies were involved. Yet stressed residents dealing with the aftermath on their homes say the response felt chaotic and uncoordinated; even local MPs who got involved couldn't get the information they wanted. Hundreds of thousands of ...
The pandemic has accelerated the trend of doing our banking online instead of in person. This rapid digital embrace has, in turn, sped up the closure of many smaller bank branches. But, as Mark Jennings writes, there are new branches springing up with a different look and purpose. Auckland’s Wynyard ...
Corrina Gage has represented New Zealand in a trio of water sports. But it's her love for waka ama - and the opportunities it gives paddlers from 5 to 85 - that keeps her racing and coaching around the world. Lake Karāpiro is quiet and still now. But last week, it was all noise ...
Telling a Rotary Club audience that housing is a serious problem and they should care deeply about it landed flat but took some daring from the National leader, writes Justin Giovannetti.Judith Collins’ level of control over the National Party is still a question best answered by a shrug.Elevated to her ...
A gang turf war gripped the South Auckland suburb in late 2020, forcing schools to lock down and armed police to patrol the streets. Community leaders are now warning the cycle of violent retribution could continue in 2021, unless radical interventions are made.The violent altercations that loomed large in Ōtara ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Véronique Duché, A.R. Chisholm Professor of French, University of Melbourne In this series, writers pay tribute to fictional detectives on the page and on screen. When I first heard that Rowan Atkinson was to put on Maigret’s velvet-collared overcoat, I wondered ...
Auckland writer Olivia Hayfield* explains how she resurrected 16th-century playwright Christopher Marlowe to star in her new novel, Sister to Sister. Olivia Hayfield is a pen name. Real name: Sue Copsey. When I’m planning my modern retellings of historical tales, I read widely on the characters and see who leaps out at ...
The Pfizer/BioNTech mRNA vaccine could be approved as early as next week, Marc Daalder reports Medsafe will be asked to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech mRNA vaccine against Covid-19 on February 2, the Government has announced. The Medicines Assessment Advisory Committee (MAAC) is an independent panel that provides advice on some medicine approvals in ...
COMMENT:By Bryan Kramer, PNG’s Minister of Police who has defended Commissioner Manning’s appointment today in The National My last article, announcing that I intend to make a submission to the National Executive Council (NEC) to amend the Public Service regulation to no longer require the Commissioner of Police to ...
The Point of Order Trough Monitor was triggered today by the announcement of a $9 million handout for Southlanders – sorry, some Southlanders. The news came from the office of Grant Robertson who, as Minister of Finance, prefers to invest public money rather than give it away – especially when ...
Few people outside of her campaign team gave Chlöe Swarbrick any chance of winning in Auckland Central this year – but the Green Party MP was too busy to listen. Here’s how they turned the electorate green.First published November 12, 2020.Three Ticks Chlöe is part of Frame, a series of short ...
Interactions between parents and healthcare providers could have a big impact on the wellbeing of our children, according to new research. The way parents and healthcare providers interact has lasting implications for children’s health, new research has found – and that includes immunisation uptake.Released today, the report is based on research ...
The Opposition starts the political year calling for emergency, temporary legislation to free up house building National leader Judith Collins has set five priorities for her party over the next three years - but excluded climate change, education and Crown-Māori relations. Giving her first 'state of the nation' speech as party ...
One of the biggest challenges facing the Ardern government is in public health. New Zealand may have escaped the pressures heaped on other health systems by the Covid-19 pandemic but its health service has had its problems, not least those exposed in the first report from Heather Simpson and her ...
New Zealand’s Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins has revealed that 14 close contacts of the Northland community case have returned negative test results. Yesterday he announced two close contacts – her husband and hair dresser – were negative. In his tweet, Hipkins described the news as “encouraging”. However, New ...
Pacific Media Watch newsdesk Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has condemned the arbitrary and opaque experiments that Google is conducting with its search engine in Australia, with the consequence that many national news websites are no longer appearing in the search results seen by some users. The Australian, ABC, Australian Financial ...
Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta says councils can take stronger action against companies dumping contaminated waste water, even though they have identified loopholes in the law on fines. ...
Drag Race Down Under, part of the popular RuPaul’s Drag Race franchise, is filming in New Zealand. In their own words, local drag talent share what drag means to them and how it might be impacted by the show.RuPaul’s Drag Race is, quite simply, a television phenomenon. Love it or ...
For a long time, weighted blankets were considered a specialist device. Now they’re popular with even the most normal sleepers.Growing up, Temple Grandin spent time on her aunt’s cattle ranch in America, watching cow after stressed cow enter a squeeze chute and come out calm as the dead sea. She ...
Does anyone think eddie’s losing the plot?
If the days before our national holiday is NOT the time to consider our national identity, when is?
I think the flag issue is one the Government and its allies are quite happy to have rolling, because it’s popular, irrelevant to the aims of their ideology, and distracts.
I’m not so sure it’s tightly orchestrated however.
But I will agree that the Herald did make a conscious decision to run the flag story over other more important and pressing issues in education, the financial sector, and the environment.
In this case it’s probably more bad media than championing the Government. Though I think Eddie’s point is certainly possible enough to deserve a hearing, and most certainly not “losing the plot” as Daveski suggests.
And fair play to the Herald – if they’re going to wait for things to improve for this lame-duck government before having a debate on the flag, then they’ll be waiting a very long time …
I would of thought that this was more to do with Waitangi Day,
“I would of thought that this was more to do with Waitangi Day,”
See, here is the difference between yourself and Eddie… you actually thought about it.
If it’s about Waitangi Day they could have run the stories on, um, Waitangi Day.
And if they were serious about generating a cause for changing the flag they would have done a poll. not called up 18 people, labeled them patriots, and used them as the basis for claiming support for change.
this is transparent distraction tactics. If they hadn’t done this the front page story would have been the growing anti-national standards campaign. Actually, knowing the Herald it would have been a big picture of a sea lion or something.
Keep digging, eddie. The National standards will still be topical next week, Waitangi Day will be another year away.
I’m just fcuked off that it’s on a Saturday and ANZAC day is too! If Key wants my vote he needs to mondayize and fast!
antispam: mistaken. Sorry Eddie but you are definitely mistaken with this conspiracy theory
It’s not a conspiracy theory. It’s a widely practiced political tactic.
I just looked at teh Dominion and they don’t have nat standards on the front page either. Are they in on it too?
I don’t think you get it. No-one is ‘in on’ anything.
The Herald just doesn’t want to have to talk about the disaster of the government it got elected, so it’s trying to distract us with something that doesn’t matter.
It doesn’t require National and the Herald to get together and plan it.
You people don’t have a clue about newspapers. Stick to what you know about — bludging off the state.
You mean instead of bludging off human stupidity and prejudice the way that most journos do as they re-release press releases?
There are very few people here who ‘bludge off the state’. Most of those who do probably use trusts and other mechanisms to reduce their income levels to qualify for WFF. Is that who you’re referring to?
If you want to make factless assertions – just follow Scribes example. It’s easy and simple enough for him to understand it… He’s a scribe!
And guess whos behind the flag change – Ansell.
He knows publicity in his sleep. Make that publicity for the right wing noise machine
Expect more of these tired old going nowhere issues to be running next year.
Mostly to fill space to keep things like ….. Super City off the front page.
Bollocks. This is a legitimate seasonal story with genuine news value. It’s not as if they’ve just published a bunch of vox pop “I reckons” with no precedent.
You can complain all you like about how it’s meaningless symbolism, and how you’re a savvy transcultural iconoclast. But that don’t change the fact that symbolism — and identity — matters to the rest of us.
L
‘Look over here’ says Granny
‘Where, where’ says Lew
That’s right, Eddie, disagreement with you means I’m clearly part of the conspiracy.
L
who said anything about a conspiracy?
Geez you’re an odd one Lew. You claim to understand political rhetoric but you don’t seem to understand how political actors work.
The Herald is a political actor. It favours, indeed campaigns for, National governments. When a National government is in the sh#t is it going to want to cover that? No.
What they need is a nice meaningless poltiical story where Key will look good. So they call up 18 people and ask their opinions on the flag, slap together an image of all the union jack flags, and ‘hey presto’ national standards is bumped down the list and everyone is talking about something that doesn’t hurt the government that the Herald supports.
None of this requires conspiracy. None of it requires National and the Herald to plan together.
I’m not disputing that this sort of distraction is an effective propaganda technique, what I’m disputing is the assertion that this is the reason for the topic of national identity being given prominence in the three days leading up to our national holiday (such as it is).
The Herald is indeed a political actor, much as all media are. I’ve spent thousands of words here and elsewhere on how, outside of a few specific issues like the EFA, it’s no more overtly political than other leading media in the country, and furthermore how its political biases can easily be explained by means other than resort of a media-political conspiracy, which is exactly what is alleged here — not in this immediate case, but a long-term agenda of collusion.
The point I’m trying to make isn’t that it’s not convenient for the government for national standards to be eclipsed by something else — but that it’s fair enough for it to be so at this time of year, and given the national identity debates which have coloured our recent past (Foreshore and Seabed/Orewa/Nationhood revisited; the h debate; the tino rangatiratanga flag decision; the recent visit of Prince William, the recent drawing of Locke’s head of state bill; Ansell’s largely self-promotional campaign to change the flag).
I understand you lot want a news agenda which is relentlessly critical of the government, focuses strictly on basic material and dry policy concerns, and generally is very much like The Standard. I would recommend that you start your own paper, but you have one — and it’s very good, for that purpose and for people who care about those things. But others care about symbolism and identity, and these are important debates to have, never more important than now.
As Daveski says, national standards isn’t going anywhere. If it’s half the debacle the NZEI says it will be (and I’m confident of that) then it’ll be an albatross around this government’s neck for years to come. Waitangi comes but once a year.
L
I have found Lew’s analysis of media coverage etc to almost always be spot on. Nothing has changed here.
You must get frustrated reading the rants of morons who don’t know anything about the media, Lew.
Scribe, how am I supposed to stay in the left-wing club with endorsements from people like you?
What I get pissed off with mostly is people who think their own political views are objectively right. The reason I get pissed off with it is because such certitude is a barrier to progress because people think “we’re right, and the truth will out”, and don’t bother to actually examine why the “truth” isn’t outing in the way they think it should.
It’s something which afflicts people from all over the spectrum, but as far as I’m concerned the right and conservatives are welcome to keep deluding themselves — it’s the left and liberals I want to give a cold shower to, so they’ll (hopefully) realise that in order to win, you have to play — even if you are right, that isn’t enough.
L
The Herald is indeed a political actor, much as all media are. I’ve spent thousands of words here and elsewhere on how, outside of a few specific issues like the EFA, it’s no more overtly political than other leading media in the country, and furthermore how its political biases can easily be explained by means other than resort of a media-political conspiracy, which is exactly what is alleged here — not in this immediate case, but a long-term agenda of collusion.
The problem is that when it exercises its ability to push an issue, it causes immense damage not only to other people – but also to itself. I remember the NZH’s EFA stances which were blatantly political, aligned with their wish to keep high advertising during election campaigns, showed scant regard to the facts, and were fundamentally highly dishonest to its reading public.
Personally I’ll put the boot in every chance I get until I’ve worked off that level of annoyance. It will take some time. If the Herald goes under – then I won’t be shedding too many tears. Most of the activists on the ‘left’ feel the same way to one degree or another.
That’s fair enough — but you’re owning that you have an axe to grind, not claiming the moral high ground of truth and purity. I don’t have any problem with people criticising the media — it’s literally what I do for a living). But the point is that for almost any non-trivial political topic, you’ll find similar abuses by the established media. The Dom Post and their coverage of the Urewera Terra is one other apposite example.
It’s not even especially bad here in NZ, and this business today is particularly weak. It strains credulity to pick on marginal cases like this when there’s actual legitimate criticism to be had most of the time. It weakens the overall argument of media bias (which is a legitimate one, even if somewhat misguided), and builds into a widely-held impression of the (activist) left as terminal victims, conspiracy nuts, and oversensitive inveterate whingers.
L
I seldom if ever claim a moral ground on anything. I tend to leave that for the insane certainties of the truly faithful.
However I do have a tenacious memory and a strong urge towards making sure that no bad deed goes without retribution, regardless how long it takes.
Agreed the DomPost editorial staff were totally hysterical over the Oct 15 raids, and I definitely intend to rub their noses in it after August next year. But that was mere sensationalism.
The EFA hysteria by the NZH had a distinct aroma of both self-interested corruption and political grand-standing about it (actually the kind of aroma that I associate with McCully). It definitely merits more of my attention than the DomPost because the dickheads at the NZH will want to try it again. I don’t like ‘kingmakers’.
please say the password and show your identity card at the gate next time Lew, we wont let you in again without your identity card.
Personally I couldn’t give a damn about what flag we use. It is completely irrelevant.
I have a strong suspicion that I’m part of the majority in Nz about this. So to waste time having a ‘debate’ about it just bores the crap out of me. It is a cheap way of filling a front page for the herald with a topic that might interest their unrepresentative readership. It is useful as a diversion for both the Nats, and the Maori party.
But I grew up without the crass flag waving stupidity of 19th century nationalism, and I have no intention of getting involved in something so trivial now.
As the leading mouthpiece for the National party, the NZ Herald is aware of this. So I guess that Eddie us probably right. It is a good topic to wind up nutters and divert attention away from things of interest
At the risk of introducing facts to this debate (and therefore risking the wrath of the BOFH), if this is as you state, why does the Granny have on the front page as the leading national news story are less than cheerleading story on national standards.
With respect, eddie’s post is a crock and you should know better.
hmmm…serious debate eh ?…leading nowhere.
if Key re instituted knights and dames of the british empire he’s hardly likely to ditch the union jack, even if carly binding referendum said its what the people want.
It is a good topic to wind up nutters and divert attention away from things of interest
You really can be an arrogant prick sometimes Lynn. Just because you don’t care about an issue doesn’t mean you can diminish the right of others to care about it. Feel free to argue the merits of it being a front page news story, but don’t try and write people off as “nutters” because they have a different view.
I don’t think we need any more proof how out of touch Lew and Kiwipolitico is with what people actually want.
It might come as small surprise to you that I consider being thought “out of touch” by the more parochial and paranoid members of The Standard commentariat is a good indication that I’m on the right track.
L
I would think your readership stats were a better indication.
I don’t care as much about our readership numbers as about the quality of the discussion. If I wanted to expand my readership, I’d have tits on the front page every other day, gossip about Brangelina and moonbat conspiracy thories front and centre.
L
yeah. It’s pretty fortunate that you don’t care about readership. Would be tough on you if you did.
I love the the way that when someone doesn’t agree with your view you start tacky, childlike, personal digs at them. Little more playing the ball and not the man please. How does it matter what his website stats are for goodness sake!
Lew and I are mostly on opposite sides of the political spectrum, but i enjoy reading what he has to say as he does so in a well thought out, and concise manner, that more people should take note of. Very rarely does he start randomly frothing at the mouth about the ususal matière du jour.
I think that the flag issue, like politics, is something that people do get very emotional about. Having just got back from 5 years overseas there is a Kiwi camaraderie that is quite unlike anything i have seen from any other nation. We gather together around or flag like it is our sovereign territory on some foreign land.
To say that the NZ flag issue is meaningless just shows, in my opinion, just how out of touch YOU actually are. I personally think the flag should change to the silver fern, as that symbolises our identity much more than the union jack.
Basically it is nice to have a flag. But who gives a flying f* what the flag actually is. If it wasn’t a flag then it’d probably be a blowup football.
It isn’t the symbol that counts – it is what it symbolises that does.
Andrew, I don’t think anyone would seriously call me “concise”, but thanks anyhow.
L
good point … fairy nuff :o)
Would they be your tits?
antispam: unsuitable. indeed.
I hear Trav is available for guest posts 😀
No I didn’t notice. Because I don’t read it.
Along with whale oil, kiwiblog and fox news.
Go cry into your chardonnay Lew.
Catchpa: Amount
Oh yeah, that’s the sort of quality I’m talking about.
L
The Herald story is a pretty straightforward attempt run interference for the National government by muddying the waters over the flag ahead of any potential annoyance at seeing the Harawira’s heraldry floating over over government buildings on Waitangi day.
“A Herald survey of 18 of the 22 members of the Order of New Zealand”
god what a rag.
The Order of NZ is limited to 20 living ordinary members. They have additional and honorary members too, but it still doesn’t add up to 22.
There are 17 ordinary members, 6 additional members, 1 honorary member – 24. http://www.dpmc.govt.nz/honours/lists/onz.html
Speaking of which, I bet Clark was the one who didn’t comment. Not possible in her position.
The letters to the editor in today’s herald are mostly really good. The writers are getting stuck into the nats about their education policies founded on rhetoric.
The print version does not seem to have the Hone flag corruption story. I would have thought this would have been worthy of the front page.
Diversion anyone?
What’s the difference between education policies based on rhetoric (which I would otherwise dispute) and tax policies based on rhetoric (Labour stuffing up the tax system through ideology over common sense?).
As a broader comment – not aimed at micky at all – there still seems to be a blame culture as to why Labour lost the election ie it wasn’t Labour’s people or policies but someone else eg NZH. Until Labour excepts that the people voted them out and Nats in, they can’t stop the rot. Good for me, bad for you.
Bad for me, good for you, and this is exactly the problem: always someone to blame, always some cause to whine about how it’s not fair, always trying to convert people who make political decisions based on their gut with cerebral facts and figures. Honestly, it’s like they don’t even want to win.
L
I take it this is what you mean by rhetoric: “Labour stuffing up the tax system through ideology over common sense”
Exactly. Rhetoric is whatever the opponent says because I’m right and you’re wrong. It just that we have polar opposite views so each believes the other is speaking in rhetoric.
“The letters to the editor in today’s herald are mostly really good. The writers are getting stuck into the nats about their education policies founded on rhetoric.”
Darn them and their right wing bias… oh wait. Darn them and their left wing bias.
“The print version does not seem to have the Hone flag corruption story. I would have thought this would have been worthy of the front page.
Diversion anyone?”
Darn them and their left wing bias! Oh wait….
See how silly this game is Micky?
It may alarm some people to learn that the Herald has editorial discretion to run whatever story it likes, and that it is not a tool of National.
That it does not put on its front page an attack on the Nats doesn’t mean it’s in bed with National. It’s probably more to do with the general dumbing down of much of our news media. Flags are bright and colourful and are easier for many to understand than educational issues.
Scott, watch out — the people who don’t have a blog will criticise you for having a blog which gets fewer hits than The Standard if you carry on that way.
L
Yeah that I’d agree with. Because anyone who actually runs a blog knows how damn hard it is to write posts, moderate, maintain, upgrade, and generally keep the damn thing running. Just keeping yourself interested is always a major struggle. Thats why we run with lots of authors.
Having lots of hits? – the main thing you notice about that is how hard it is to keep the system going as the traffic increases. I was doing performance tests of the new skin for the standard this morning and thinking that when we make it public, I’d have to take a couple of days off work. There is no way that I can do more than guess the loadings from the available data.
Yes, but I’m confident my new series entitled “Which Politician has the Biggest Tits” will see an increase in numbers.
No contest. But how are you going to get Brownlee to take off his shirt?
The shirt stays on. I’m trying to increase readership…
😈 Ohhhhhhh……
That was pretty much what I said…
It is a cheap way of filling a front page for the herald with a topic that might interest their unrepresentative readership.
It may not be a direct tool of National – that is just how it acts. It probably does represent its local readers who are a relatively small subset of Aucklanders and few outside. From the ones I know, they’re relatively old, frequently conservative, and generally interested in stories that make them feel good. Which usually means looking at the misfortunes and miseries of someone else rather than feel-good.
What they’re mainly interested in is not having any in-depth analysis (that is largely on the business pages), but they want a superficial understanding of current issues so they can talk about things at work / bowling club / pub / etc.
In short they are pretty much like John Key. Which is why the Herald usually looks like the cheer-squad for National.
This whole left-wing/right-wing bias thing, aimed most often at The Herald, is so boring. People can easily cherry-pick stories to support their argument.
One can easily make the case that The Herald won the 2005 election for Labour by virtue of its editorial choices — EB on the front, now-imprisoned Mr Field on page 5 (or thereabouts). In such a close election, that decision was possibly enough — along with a few vans and some fast food — to get Labour over the line.
One can make the case that the Herald helped National win the election in 2008, but it was essentially a landslide, so it didn’t really matter.
Well apart from the wiingnut myth of Mangere 2005, you’re essentially correct.
The Herald targets their front-pages audience, a lot of whom are swinging ‘anti’ voters. Just at present that means they support National at the front page – at least that is what the polls say.
The business and political pages have a more persistent bias towards business interests, and have done since I was a kid.
eddie now has more egg on his face than a fox in a hen house.
Unemployement stats are out and bad for the govt and lead the on line news.
epic fail eddie.
Bullshit. To date you’ve ‘proved’ absolutely nothing except that you woke up on the fatuous side of the bed today. Guess your partner took all of the brains allocated for the day huh?
Come on LP – you’re the grumpy one here – it’s in your JD.
If there was a conspiracy, the treatment of the unemployment stats shows this to be BS. Likewise, the home page (at the time of eddie’s post) still had the standards as its leading national news story.
How is any of that bullshit?
The NZ Herald website largely uses an algorithm for determining what articles hold the upper positions. It is largely based on date/time and user feedback in the number of page views and clickthrus. There is limited editorial control – most of that is exercised at quite a junior level.
The NZ Herald print run has no such feedback mechanism. Positioning is everything to a newsprint run and the decisions are made by editors pretty much on their gut feel.
This information is provided to you to prevent you from looking like a complete dickhead in equating the print runs with the website.
With respect, are we not talking about different things LP?
The world does not revolve around the printed version of the NZH unless you’re suggesting (as some seem to imply) that the only newspaper in NZ is the Granny and it is the only source of news for voters.
I think it’s too late to prevent you from looking like a Jafa dickhead 🙂
BTW Where I live (but not work) there is no daily news but friendly police … just ask Rocky!
Yeah, but almost all of the NZH print run is sold in Auckland. That is what the article was referring to.
The website ‘frontpage’ changes hour-to-hour and even in minutes with limited editorial control. So it’d be kind of pointless writing a post about its editorial stance. When the print edition was doing those bloody stupid editorial EFA attacks in 2007/8 on the front pages, the website edition would slide them off within an hour or so of writing. It was a pretty good indicator about how important the viewers though that the issue was.
I read the NZH print edition solely to find out the current editorial positions on topics. I read the website to get news.
I don’t have a problem with the Herald running flag stories. If it’s an issue that matters to them, good on them.
But we’ve just had a visit from the future head of state, whose country’s flag (and its relevance) is the central issue here. If the Herald feels so strongly, it could have raised the matter then. That really would have made an impact …
… an impact on the nice, soft, glossy coverage of Wills and John Key, blokes at the barbie.
Hmmm. I wonder why they didn’t.
Because fluffy celebrity stories sell.
It’s because there’s a conspiracy. That’s because the only people who vote read the NZH. However, the people who write the GOOD letters to the editor never read the Herald because they are pure and don’t want to be brainwashed.
There ya go eddie. I’ve written your next post for you 🙂
cut to the chase dudes.
of course granny will support anew flag.
then the desiginer will get royalties and granny can sell them.
doncha know that this is now new zeland inc. where everything is for sale including the truth.
go lprent.
but I must say it is a fruitless task arguing with idiots.
so just think of getting it all off your chest and dumping it on right wing sadsacks who haven’t got any money.
The scoffing at the shallow msm kind of falls over when everyone (including the people behind 62 standard comments) does indeed ‘Look over here!’
Sweet, sweet irony.
Maybe the standard should just not post on trivial matters where the intention is to decry news space being colonised by trivial matters?
You’re never sure exactly where the comments will arrive. Depends on the mood. But it is a pretty short post – just the comments were long.
the fact of the matter is that the herald is a right wing corporatised money making machine for its owners and stockholders.
people who are not known to the the writers or the printers but who neverthless hold the whip hand over editorial content.
as it is privately owned then the owners can do what they like and they have chosen to employ a whole cadre of right wing apparatchiks who wil do anything to ensure that they remain employed and their owners wishes are pandered to and then to compound it all they call it a free press ancd charge the punters for it.
nice work if you can get it.
The paper wants to sell papers so they can make more money – that is it – putting colourful flags on it’s front page would sell a few more papers i suspect… anyway my flag is the tino rangatiratanga flag so i have no real interest in what design they come up with, if indeed they can even get the ball rolling, because eventually it will go, and there will be only one flag.
‘sufferings’