Yesterday 15:50 Mary Lambie was a guest on Tim Roxborogh’s show and decided it might be a good idea to not only promulgate a piece of fake news but to also suggest that it would be good if supporters of Donald Trump would all inject themselves with poison. It was heard and is now quite the storm on social media.
The precise quote was “If all Trump supporters injected themselves with disinfectant, it would not be a bad thing.”
When I saw this I went to NewstalkZB’s website to grab the On Demand audio, but for some strange reason that audio simply doesn’t exist.
It says that “The media could not be loaded, either because the audio is not yet available or network failed”. She’s wishing a painful death or at the very least serious harm, on people simply because of the way they voted.
But here is the thing, all other media before and after loads. Then if you grab the url for the audio from their code and try and get at it that way, the audio file 404s. Internet parlance for “not found”.
In other words, NewstalkZB has a problem, the intemperate comments of one of their guests. Instead of front footing it they’ve decided to go for the cover-up.
Cover ups never work. All NewstalkZB has done is make the matter far worse.
They perpetrated the coverup later by releasing an edited version which stripped out the offensive comments like they never existed. You can hear the bump when you scroll to the end of the clip with 1:11 remaining, the cut occurs at 1:08 remaining.
Inciting harm is a crime. No wonder NewstalkZB is trying to cover it up.
There will be legal reasons to withhold the audio which means it’s bad.
Other guests have been banned from the air for much lesser violations; will they police one of their own?
Mary Lambie is a media luvvvie who runs a media training outfit called Socius.
They have many customers which they proudly display on their website. Presumably, some of those will be supporters of Donald Trump. Moreover many of them will find her comments extremely distasteful.
She is also used on MagicTalk:
TVNZ:
and Radio NZ:
Do those media organisations also endorse her comments?
Will they continue to use her?
Willie Jackson and John Tamihere were run off air for much less; so too was Paul Henry. What are the bosses at NZME going to do about this incident and cover-up?
Despite numerous calls not a single one would reply.
Indeed!
I contacted Shayne Currie, who made an impassioned plea recently to the Epidemic Response Committee for government funding.
Hi Shane, the other day you made a case for responsible and trusted media to grab a greater share of government funding, rather than purveyors of what you called fake news or untrustworthy outlets…
He hasn’t given me the courtesy of a reply but I did ask him if he considered the disgusting comments of Mary Lambie on air to be responsible or trustworthy?
I also asked him why the audio had fallen into a black hole…
Mary Lambie knows how bad this is, putting her Twitter profile into protected status:
Mary Lambie sells crisis management advice, I wonder how she is going to handle this storm?
I wonder if she is advising NewstalkZB on this crisis?
Mary Lambie was contacted about this issue on her published Crisis Management number. Strangely for a Crisis Management number, it went unanswered. A message was left but at the time of publishing, no response has been received.
Shayne Currie, the Managing Editor, was contacted about this issue, both via phone and text. A message was left but at the time of publishing, no response has been received.
Jason Winstanley, head of radio at NZME, was contacted about this issue, both via phone and text. A message was left but at the time of publishing, no response has been received.
It seems that when it comes to protecting their own a cone of silence is the preferred method to avoid addressing the issues. Run and hide is clearly the preference for this trustworthy media organisation that is currently blagging for a government bailout.
What’s the bet she is back on air next week as though nothing ever happened.
Imagine if Mary Lambie had called someone feral, then her computers would be targeted for hacking and Nicky Hager would write about her. If Little Miss Nice-as-Pie, ex-Breakfast radio host says things like that on air, just imagine what she says when the mics are turned off, or when she is sipping mocha soy lattes with her media luvvie mates. Imagine what would be said with a skinful of Chardonnay.
They aren’t so nice when the mask slips.