In a recent article it was revealed that the NZ Police had conspired with Interpol and NZ Immigration in order to dig dirt on two Australian journalists so as to defame and slander them and block them from entering New Zealand. It was also revealed that the NZ Herald played a key role in this conspiracy to silence overseas media, and indeed to silence local media.
The NZ Herald ran a story defaming the two journalists, Avi Yemini and Rukshan Fernando, using unsubstantiated allegations and slanderous misinformation. This same unsubstantiated and potentially libellous rhetoric from the Herald was then used, word for word, by NZ Immigration to ban Avi Yemini from entry into New Zealand to cover a protest against Labour Government policies. NZ Immigration even confirmed that their decision to ban Yemini was specifically because of what they had read in the NZ Herald. At this exact same time, it was revealed that the NZ Police had sent an email to Interpol to dig through the two journalists’ history to find any dirt that could possibly be used against them.
When independent journalists at the BFD revealed email evidence of the above collusion, the NZ Herald went into overdrive to claim that it was all ‘fake news’. These accusations were then blown out of the water when NZ Immigration confirmed that it was indeed all true. The NZ Herald, instead of apologising for their fabrications, then began trying to discover the “mole” that dared to leak the information from the police to the independent press. The Herald tried desperately to stop the truth from getting out.
Let’s summarise that. The NZ Herald learned that two Australian journalists were coming to New Zealand to report about protests against the Labour Government. Instead of flying to Wellington themselves to cover the protests, as any respectable journalist would do, the Herald tried to stop anyone else from being able to do so. The NZ Herald tried desperately to block the free press and, above all, to stop this Government from being held to account. Let’s bear in mind that the NZ Herald directly accepts money from that same Labour Government, with a written agreement (the PIJF), as to what is, and what is not, allowed to be talked about. It is abundantly clear that the NZ Herald is fundamentally opposed to all of the principles of journalism and to the principles of a free press. They have not only failed to do their job: they have actively blocked real journalists from being able to do it in their place, and have helped to push New Zealand into the not-so-select group of countries where freedom of the press is being lost.
The NZ Herald has also actively blocked other key principles of the fourth estate, such as to hold power to account and to be fair and unbiased. It is now abundantly clear that the NZ Herald can no longer consider itself to be a journalistic organisation, but rather a propaganda merchant and the staunch enemy of truth and journalistic freedom.
It is a very sad day indeed when the press itself wants to prevent the freedom of the press. NZ Herald, hang your heads in shame: you have helped to destroy your very profession.