Cultural Norm
Isn’t it strange to see how the government’s ‘$55 Million Media Club’ is working its black magic?
Strange may not be the word – enlightening might be more appropriate!
Look at the way our trusted media have treated two petitions on the same subject – a topic that should be dear to the hearts of most New Zealanders.
One is calling for New Zealand’s official name to be changed to ‘Aotearoa’ and the other to ensure that ‘New Zealand’ remains as just that – the official name for our country.
Previous media and professional polls taken on the subject have weighed heavily in favour of retaining the country’s name as it has been since 1642. Up to 80 per cent of those polled have backed retention.
Yet now we have the Maori party, representing a small segment of New Zealand’s population, having gathered more than 50,000 signatures for its poll to become ‘Aotearoa.’
In contrast, collection of signatures on the petition of Hobson’s Pledge to retain ‘New Zealand’, having reached 16,000 within a day or so of opening, has slowed significantly. Today (Tuesday, September 28) the total sits at 17,396.
How could this peculiar pattern of success and failure occur, you might ask?
Well, here, at least, lies part of the answer.
It turns out that Hobson’s Pledge sent the media release announcing the petition to 87 media outlets throughout New Zealand.
But only three picked it up and gave it air and publicity.
One of these, Scoop, publishes all media releases sent to it. The two other outlets to run with it were The BFD and Taurange’s Sunlive, which referred to it in an interview with Simon Bridges, the city’s MP.
In contrast, the Maori party’s petition received blanket coverage.
As the Hobson’s Pledge website states:
Censorship of news and blacklisting unapproved information is a basic problem for any democracy.
This is because the active participation of the people, as citizens, in politics and civic life is one of the four cornerstones of democracy.
The other cornerstones are a system for choosing and replacing the government through free and fair elections, the protection of the human rights of all citizens, and governance based on the rule of law.
Once “unapproved information” is censored from public discussion, citizens are prevented from active participation in civic life, and one of the four pillars of our democracy crumbles.
Click here to sign, and like and share the petition page.
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