I have some empathy for the journalists who have lost their jobs, but no more than for a tradie or a staffer in the back office of a government department. Having worked in the media for a lengthy period, I can understand the disappointment and no doubt frustration they are
There are too many past Prime Ministers who, having left office, continue to interfere in the politics of the present time. Current Prime Ministers who have been elected to do a job do not need constant input from their predecessors. Their jobs are hard enough without past ‘know it alls’
The Collins English Dictionary’s definition of a cot case in Australia and New Zealand is someone who is either to ill to get out of bed or too incapacitated by drink. The Oxford English Dictionary also defines the term as a person or thing regarded as useless or unable
Who remembers the song “Sailing Away”, the song that became the anthem for our hopes of winning the America’s Cup in 1987? The song, sung to the tune of “Pokarekare Ana” by many local singers and personalities, was number one on the singles charts for nine weeks: a record
Those who vote for a government have every right to expect it to carry out what it campaigned on, certainly its main policy planks. In the past there has been no end of criticism of governments who have failed to do so or, worse, have done something entirely different. This
The headline to this article will probably surprise very few. For quite some time now the news media in this country have decided that they are not interested in providing or presenting news in a way that is digestible for the majority of Kiwis. Their aim is to polarise the
According to Herald Media Insider, Shayne Currie, a number of well-known TVNZ faces, including Miriama Kamo, Jack Tame, Indira Stewart and Anna Burns-Francis feature in an E tu union publicity campaign – all lending support to the importance of news and current affairs. This, to my mind, is a pretty pointless
What should be done with TV One? In my view, the answer is an easy one. You have to look no further than across the ditch to Sky News Australia. In a country with a population of 25.69 million, 42 per cent, 11.1 million watch the channel during
The Weekend Herald article entitled ‘Inside the ‘unsettling’ efforts to cut costs’ was a revealing read in terms of the various government departments, their headcount and consultancy spending. The information was gained under the Official Information Act and not all had responded by the time the paper went to print.
Much has been written on the subject of Newshub joining Today FM in the media graveyard. A suitable epitaph might be something along the lines of… In memory of an organisation renowned for leftist spin ultimately leading to its death. Here lie journos who decided their opinion was the story
My previous article was headlined Is Labour a Spent Force? The headline for this article asks a similar question with a different emphasis, implying it most probably is, based on its performance in opposition to date. Bryce Edwards, in a recent article on the Democracy Project, gives numerous examples of
Normally after an electoral drubbing such as the Labour Government received last year one can safely assume that in another two or three election cycles there will be a path back to power. Voters will simply tire of the current lot and therefore there will be an appetite for change.
The Te Aka Maori Dictionary defines Mana and Myth as: MANA – prestige, control, power, influence, status, spiritual power, charisma – mana is a ‘supernatural force’ in a person, place or object. MYTH – the modifier (adjective) “mythical” in this example is defined as “Some mythical tales of the Pakeha should be told
The Labour Party is desperate to light a fire under the Government’s tobacco excise increases. Unfortunately they have a very weak person on the job. It’s the former Health Minister Ayesha Verrall, who, going by her performances in the House, would be hard pushed to light a cigarette,
The Curia Poll released last week was very revealing in terms of what its content told us about where the country is headed. National went up 2.6 points to 39.6% while ACT doubled that increase going up 5.6 points to 13.7%. The interesting point to note
The world is in the throes of two major international conflicts. I do not need to name them. I am writing about a third one: it is domestic. It is between the mainstream media and the Government. The fundamental question is this: are the mainstream media going to destroy the
