This article popped up in the Herald this morning. The first thing that I noticed was that it was sponsored content. The subject seemed slightly weird for sponsored content. Usually you expect to read industry specific news.
But this one decided to delve into the politics of Covid 19. The author, Radius Care executive chairman Brien Cree starts off by saying that New Zealand urgently needs a new agency, independent of the Ministry of Health and able to make quick decisions to help fight Covid-19. Sound familiar?
He then makes claims which are somewhat misleading. Such as it is taking five days to get a Covid test. There are some reports of delays of five days in getting test results but this appears to be localised and the exception rather than the norm.
He thinks that people with experience in large businesses should take over the handling of Covid. I am sure that would end well. He also thinks that the aged care industry were quick and the Government was slow. I thought the first lockdown and the roll out of the wage subsidy were classic examples of the Government acting quickly and decisively.
The whole article is a thinly disguised attack on the Government’s handling of Covid-19 and support of National’s lead Covid 19 policy. But it will not count as paid electoral advertising even though it is published during the election period.
The author Brien Cree is on the NBR rich list.
I appreciate that finances in the media industry are strained but corporate sponsored articles critical of the government during an election campaign period raise many, many issues.
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