OPINION
I have news for the news media. They are flogging a dead horse. Their favourite nag, the Labour Party, has broken down. It’ll be lucky to get near the starting gates, never mind start. The hurdle to jump, the election, is a jump too high. All bets are on them losing. As I started to write this, I came across a very good piece on the news media written in a similar vein by the eminent historian and former politician Michael Bassett.
He lamented the poor performance and bias of journalists both in television and the press. Some of them he was kind enough to name. The NZ Herald’s Simon Wilson was the first to be named and shamed. Bassett said little of what Wilson thinks is journalism seems to pass muster. As an example, he was caught out saying Luxon’s figures regarding the 15 per cent tax on foreign buyers didn’t add up, when the real problem was Wilson’s shaky sources.
Bassett also says several other Herald journalists peddle their personal politics but not as blatantly as Wilson. He points out that Claire Trevett, Audrey Young and Michael Neilson slant their reporting to the left. Some, like Newsroom’s Jo Moir just can’t help themselves. He then goes on to tackle the CTU advertisement attacking Luxon and says the owners of the NZ Herald, NZME, need to exercise more care. They should have thought twice before allowing the CTU, in the middle of a campaign, to take over the front cover of the paper for a personal attack on the leader of a major party.
Bassett accuses the current government of over-empowering the unions once more and, until this is rectified, the CTU are indulging in what resembles corrupt practices in defence of their newly found privileges. Turning to television, he says Amelia Wade shows her colours more than she should. Amen to that! He is critical of Jack Tame, saying he is more interested in avenues of attack than discovering the background to the issue. In my view Tame wastes precious interview minutes by asking the same question over and over trying to score a point. No wonder so few watch.
I watch current affairs on Sky News Australia and, boy oh boy, Jack is an amateurish version of any of the many presenters on that channel, if Sunday’s Q+A was anything to go by. Yet on Monday in the NZ Herald Thomas Coughlan described the interview as a train wreck for Luxon and said Jack Tame kind of wiped the floor with him. These journalists really need to look outside the bubble they live in. The train wreck was caused by Tame’s flawed attempts at point scoring.
Michael Bassett makes the point that the Public Interest Journalism Fund was not so much about Covid-19 as exercising control over the media. I would add Jenna Lynch, and to a lesser extent Jessica Mutch McKay, to the list of offenders known for showing political bias. The results in the Newshub poll on Monday night were such that there was no room for Jenna to show any bias. She put together a very good piece.
Journalists need to understand that the election is gone for Labour. The reasons are there for all to see. The most obvious figure is the one that says two-thirds of the country thinks it’s going in the wrong direction. The other reason, related to that, is the inaction of this government, particularly in the last three years. The only action people have seen is wasteful spending. The media and the left keep asking National where the money’s coming from to pay for their tax cuts and other policies.
Stopping wasteful spending, which is in the billions, and cutting the Humphrey Appleby’s from the public service will be a good start. When National say they will be able to achieve their goals without borrowing, the average political journalist (and they are very average) is completely mystified. Like their friends in the Labour Party, they seem baffled as to how it might be even remotely possible. Is this ignorance or deliberate bias?
If the journalists were doing their job objectively they would be reporting the likelihood of a Labour drubbing and giving the reasons why. The majority of the voters can see it but the news media choose not to because it doesn’t suit their narrative. They continue to show their bias and back a horse that three years ago was a certain favourite at Ellerslie but now wouldn’t even get a start at Alexandra Park.
