The BFD | Stuff, Where Dishonesty Comes First, Journalism Lastfacebooktwitterlinkedin

Stuff like to prate on about how great they are, how professional and ethical they are. But they have become shills for the government, ‘presstitutes’ in effect, taking government largesse and toeing the party line. Add to that their proselytising on climate change and their smearing and damning of people who dared to think for themselves during the pandemic with their rockumentaries and attack pieces. That’s when you start to realise that for Stuff dishonesty comes first, journalism last.

Recently, in conjunction with a scolding, bossy, trans activist they decided to attack and smear a Christian school near Tauranga called Bethlehem College.

Their “journalism” has been found wanting by the Media Council.

Paul Shakes, Chair of the Bethlehem College Board of Trustees complained about the statements that:

there were “death threats, chants, violence and sexual shaming”; and
“The abuse included chants of ‘kill the gays’”.

He noted that an internal investigation carried out by the College “found the allegations [Stuff] published were false”.

He complained:

That the author does not appear to have spoken to anyone actually present or verified the statements;
It was a breach of Stuff’s code of ethics to report these allegations as if they were true and verified, when they were false and unverified;
The College was given no opportunity to comment before the article was published; and
The College was offered no confirmation, beyond an assurance by Stuff, of the claims by Shaneel Lal that hundreds of students had contacted them.

Stuff was petulant, unrepentant and postured in their response. The complaint reveals the dishonesty of Stuff in taking a message posted on the school’s Facebook page some weeks before the story and making out that it was in response to their story.

The article concluded by drawing on a “statement to media” from Paul Shakes, Chair of the Bethlehem College Board of Trustees that spoke to the special character of the school and its commitments to that character through, among other things the College’s Statement of Belief. It did not provide any context as to when or why this statement to the media had been made.

[…] The final version also clarified that the media statement referred to in the first version (relating to the College’s Statement of Belief) was a message that had been posted to Facebook the previous weekend.

Media Council

So they made several attempts at getting details around the media statement, when it in fact wasn’t a media statement in any way related to what the article was about.

Worse still, Stuff took hundreds of comments from Shaneel Lal’s Instagram account as gospel.

Stuff states that it did verify the claims made by Shaneel Lal, noting that it has viewed hundreds of public comments both on Lal’s Instagram account and on a petition calling for an inquiry into discrimination at the College. In any event, it confirmed the numbers with Lal, who stood by their statement.

Media Council

How condescending. Stuff believes looking at comments on an Instagram page is verification. What a joke. That’s not verifying anything other than the number of highly suspect comments from like-minded individuals. It most certainly isn’t journalism.

Stuff’s pathetic defence was ultimately futile:

[30] The Media Council considers that Stuff ought to have given the College an opportunity to comment before the first version of the article was published. The article raised a number of very specific, and potentially shocking, claims about the behaviour of one group of students at the College against another at the school. The demonstration itself was in support of the Day of Silence (which is aimed at spreading awareness about the silencing effects of bullying against the LGBTQIA+ community). Clearly, there would be interest in this article. We accept the article occurred in a broader context. However, it was predominantly an article about alleged harassment at the demonstration. In this situation, the College had an appropriate expectation of being asked for comment on the specific allegations in advance of publication.

[32] We consider that it was not enough for Stuff to rely on a statement by the College posted on Facebook addressing general issues, which was all that was published to give balance. It should have gone to the college directly for comment before publication, and if comment was made as it seems likely it would have been, include that comment in the article. Given the hours the article remained unchanged on the Stuff website, the later changes following the College’s public statement were not sufficient to defuse the unfairness and lack of balance.

[33] The article did not give a fair voice to the opposition view, when fairness required that. The Media Council upholds this aspect of the complaint.

Media Council

That is rather damning, to say the least.

Decision: The complaint is upheld under Principle 1 for unfairness and lack of balance as a result of the failure to seek comment prior to publication.

Media Council

It’s official: Stuff is biased, unfair, and lacks balance. This is what happens when news organisations become beholden to campaigning activists.

I can’t wait for the Media Council to address the shameful mockumentary, Fire and Fury. Stuff haven’t a leg to stand on with that complaint, and the words and actions of Paula Penfold in justifying abandoning journalistic principles as they sought to smear and denigrate people without a right of reply will sink them further.

This is precisely why we are going to power up The BFD so that we can act like a true Fourth Estate, holding the powerful to account, and that will mean going after the powerful media duopolies that exist and holding them to account with as much vigour as we will hold politicians to account.

If just 100 of you donate $1000 we can get cracking on building out our NewsDesk capabilities. Are you one of those people who would desperately like to see some real competition, free of government bribes and control? You can help us today by donating to the NewsDesk fund.