OPINION

One of my favourite truisms in politics is “explaining is losing”. Yet that is exactly what the NZ Herald did yesterday with a Waitangi Day article explaining to us all why it is that they are impartial, honest and independent. Yes, they really went there.

Explaining is losing. If you have to tell everyone that you are honest, then you really aren’t. If you have to tell people that you are impartial, then you really aren’t. If you have to tell people that you are independent then you really aren’t.

So let’s examine their claims.

Honest:

Our principal responsibility is to the truth – and to our communities and audiences. By being a member of “New Zealand’s newsroom”, we commit to ensuring our journalism is of the highest quality possible and earns the trust of our audience in all that we do, no matter the platform or the story. Trust is hard-earned and easily lost.

NZ Herald

Let’s look at just one example of inherent dishonesty, namely David Fisher. He wrote about Kim Dotcom, essentially from within Dotcom’s camp, when everyone else was against him. What readers didn’t know was that he and Shayne Currie cut a deal with Dotcom’s lawyers early on, for the inside running. Then David Fisher wrote a book about Dotcom, and pushed his agenda right up to and including his attempt at election interference. Never were we once told of the special relationship that existed between the two.

Then there are his constant attacks on me, culminating in an article he may well live to regret, or at least his editors and the management of NZME may well live to regret. He made a false claim that I had lost a defamation case when the case had not even been heard. Yet, according to David Fisher, I had lost it. It took a further four years for that case to be actually heard, and no Herald journalists were there to witness it. The judgment hasn’t even been issued yet, and yet the Herald and David Fisher maintain the fiction that I lost it.

Have I lost it? Who knows? Until a judge enters his judgement then I haven’t.

So, if the NZ Herald claims they are honest, above are two facts that suggest they have fallen a long way short of that claim.

Impartial:

“We must ensure we are impartial – we take no sides and aim to be fair to all sides.”

NZ Herald

I use those two examples above to also prove the case that they are also not impartial. There are many other instances, that occur on a daily basis.

They’ve never been fair or impartial to me, especially David Fisher, who was hounding me while I was in hospital after my stroke. (They claimed I had two strokes when I only had one).

They also availed themselves of millions of dollars ($6,880,099.25) from the Public Interest Journalism Fund, which required that they adopt the heroic and historically wrong definition that the Treaty of Waitangi was a ‘partnership’ and they should adhere to the unwritten and unstated “Principles of the Treaty”. Hardly impartial when you take the Labour Government’s monies and then run their desired propaganda.

Then there is their attitude towards the pandemic and how they became Jacinda Ardern’s handmaidens in silencing dissenting voices, labelling them “conspiracy theorists”. Again David Fisher was to the fore in their scurrilous attacks against me, and the likes of Voices for Freedom.

You also aren’t independent when you struggle to find a bad article about their biggest real estate advertiser. If there is a bad news story about that firm it is invariably never mentioned. The same cannot be said about that firm’s competitors. Impartial? I think not.

Impartiality is a cruel joke from the NZ Herald.

Independent:

You really can’t be independent when you take millions in government funding to run their propaganda, not to mention the multimillions they receive from advertising from government agencies.

When your editorial slant aligns with the former government then you aren’t independent.

When you employ biased or dishonest journalists then you really aren’t honest, impartial or independent. You are the equivalent of a dodgy Rolex bought in the back streets of Bangkok. It looks the part, but isn’t even a Citizen watch in reality.

Why have I written all this?

Well, because we have no funds splashed on us by the government, either in loans, subsidies or grants, nor the substantial advertising budgets that the MSM can trough in from government departments.

We get by on the smell of an oily rag.

We refuse to compromise our integrity by taking public monies.

We are funded almost entirely by our members with a small percentage coming from advertising.

We respect our members and subscribers. We write what we think and feel, and we don’t run agendas. We seek truth.

We want to do more to challenge the corrupted and dishonest mainstream media, but we can’t do that without your help.

For those who are already members, thank you. It is very much appreciated.

I urge you to become a member if you haven’t already. We are a truly independent media outlet. We don’t trough millions from government coffers then lie to you by claiming we are honest, impartial and independent.

Please consider becoming a member today, or make a donation using the form below.

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As much at home writing editorials as being the subject of them, Cam has won awards, including the Canon Media Award for his work on the Len Brown/Bevan Chuang story. When he’s not creating the news,...