Overview:
They publish dishonest articles and are surprised when they get push back.
First, let me say I am excluding The BFD and Newstalk ZB from this article. My reason why is that these two media outlets have given a true assessment of the happenings at Parliament since the Convoy arrived. Barry Soper has been there daily, even under the threat of consequences from bully boy Mallard. To threaten a journalist in such a fashion is tantamount to saying he doesn’t believe in democracy. Cameron Slater has been there. Ex-National MP Matt King has been there. Hearing from them you could be forgiven for thinking there were two of these events going on at the same time. One they are seeing and another that the politicians are watching.
Now the media are starting to have a cry. They are having a ‘woe is me’ moment. First cab off the rank is, not surprisingly, the media arm of the Government in the form of Radio New Zealand. The poor little civil servant socialists in this establishment are evidently copping some abuse from their fellow Kiwis at Parliament. According to Tim Brown of RNZ the anti-mandate protests in Wellington and around the country have a strong anti-media sentiment.
Tim should not be surprised. He says reporters have been abused and threatened. One far-right activist has gone a step further and, as part of a targeted attack on the media, has published a graphic image of public executions of Nazi war criminals. Tim says this has become a popular meme with the far-right ecosphere. Virtually the whole article is a diatribe focussing on the far right. Tim fails to recognise his own mistake. If he writes extremist articles of this nature then he shouldn’t be surprised if he is abused, threatened or witnesses anti-media sentiment.
If he wrote articles of a more realistic mainstream honest nature he might avoid the response he’s complaining about. It’s hard to fathom why he’s wasting time trolling the far-right ecosphere other than to write the type of article I am referring to. Is this at the request of someone higher up? That’s probably unlikely, as that would be unnecessary. Radio New Zealand is Jacinda Ardern’s media hotbed of socialism falling over themselves to project her narrative.
Television is nightly stoking the fires of misinformation.
If they were your only source of information your impression of what was going on would be at odds with the reality. One News too often sings the praises of Ardern and too often reflects her narrative. On Newshub, hardly have we had time to celebrate the departure of Tova O’Brien than up pops the equally obnoxious Jenna Lynch. Leftie journos seem a dime dozen like rugby players. There is a stark difference though as rugby players have talent.
However, the people they are supposedly criticising have become aware of the brusque treatment some of the journalists have been receiving and have taken steps to ensure this ceases. They have organised for a media liaison person to escort them when inside the Freedom Village. As I said in a previous article these people should be running the country.
These people put the politicians to shame.
The media need to get a grip on themselves. If they are going to spin a dishonest narrative they have only themselves to blame. Worldwide, trust in the media is about on a par with politicians and used car salesmen. The Ardern media is not endearing itself to the public.
This is a lesson for the media – you reap what you sow.
To end on a bright and surprising note in a previous post I criticised both David Fisher and Simon Wilson for their take on Convoy 2022. I have great pleasure, delight even, in referring you to an Opinion piece David has written in the Weekend Herald. He is spot on with his observations and every politician should read it.