Winston Peters has pretty much scotched any attempt for MediaWorks to bludge some cash for beleaguered TV3:
Winston Peters kicked off his party conference by lashing out at the media, including MediaWorks, which on Friday announced it would sell its TV station.
The sale would put hundreds of jobs in jeopardy, including prominent broadcasters and journalists.
“I’ve got a message for my friends in the media, and it’s all bad,” Peters told the New Zealand First conference on Saturday morning.
He said he was sorry for some of the journalists whose jobs were threatened, but he had less sympathy for others. “For some of them, good riddance,” he said.
Speaking to media later, including Newshub’s political editor Tova O’Brien, Peters took a second swipe at MediaWorks and its business model.
When O’Brien asked how many more terms Peters had left in him, he shot back, “I’ve got more terms left in me than some of the people asking that question”.
MediaWorks wasn’t the only media company singled out for scorn, Radio New Zealand and Listener magazine also caught Peters’ ire.
Peters called told the crowd the Listener was a “rag” and Radio New Zealand’s use of te reo was also singled out and mocked.
Stuff
Winston must have been feeling a bit liverish yesterday, but he’s not wrong.
Corporate welfare is never good, and from the belligerent nature of Winston’s comments on TV3 it sounds like the luvvies in Labour will find it hard to get any form of subsidy or bailout past the wily old fox.