School Lunches Are the Media’s Top Story?

Matua Kahurangi
Just a bloke sharing thoughts on New Zealand and the world beyond. No fluff, just honest takes.

You know what really whūks me off? The New Zealand media and their obsession with school lunches. It has become the most embarrassing fixation in modern journalism. Every time something happens involving a school lunch, every newsroom in the country treats it like a national emergency. Fly in the food, it was cold or, last week, allegations of mould. Boom. Front page. Lead story. Panels. Outrage. Think pieces. You would swear the fate of the nation hung on a bruised apple.

Honestly, it grinds my bloody gears.

Because while the media is busy losing their kaka over lukewarm pasta, they flat-out refuse to cover actual stories of substance. Serious allegations involving Labour MP Willie Jackson and the Manukau Urban Māori Authority. Silence. A Labour-linked activist, Jordan Rivers, pumping out attack content while masquerading as an average citizen and failing to disclose his political links. Silence again.

Serious allegations against Willie Jackson and MUMA raise alarming questionsMatua Kahurangi 4 Dec

Explosive allegations have emerged from veteran political figure Matthew McCarten, raising deeply troubling questions about Labour MP Willie Jackson and the Manukau Urban Maori Authority (MUMA). If McCarten’s account is accurate, Jackson has used his political influence…

Suit and Tie over on X nailed it. “If National or ACT had a social media influencer pumping out attack ads without disclaimers, media would be going into meltdown.” But because it is Labour, not a peep. Not even a raised eyebrow. Might write a little bit more about this at some stage.

Since when did the Fourth Estate become the lunchbox police?

New Zealanders deserve a media that reports the things that matter. They deserve journalists who chase accountability, not soggy sandwiches. Instead, our mainstream outlets have decided that school lunches are the hill they want to die on, turning every minor complaint into a moral crusade.

For whūk sake, make your own kids lunch. It is not the responsibility of the state to feed your children. Yes, the cost of living is tough for a lot of families right now. I feel it too when I spend $150 at the supermarket and walk out with two bags of food. But you can still pack a basic lunch without needing the government or the media to step in as your household manager.

Meanwhile, real stories are sitting right in front of them. Political scandals. Integrity issues. Questions of transparency. Things that should actually matter in a functioning democracy. Yet the media is too busy obsessing over sandwiches and fruit cups to bother lifting a finger.

New Zealand deserves better than a MSM that behaves like a PTA committee with a megaphone. Maybe one day they will remember their job is to hold power to account, not inspect the inside of a child’s lunchbox.

Until then, the decline of our media continues, wrapped neatly alongside the school lunch saga they cannot seem to let go of. Rant over.

This article was originally published on the author’s Substack.