Another Labour leader has resigned and as per usual, the media lost its mind

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Another Labour leader has resigned and as per usual, the media lost its mind.

I know the Labour party has its problems and I’m not even going to try to prescribe what should be done about it. But what I do know is that the media speculation has been unnecessarily over the top and unhelpful.

Look at the front page of the Weekend Herald for example. Paparazzi style pictures of David Cunliffe on a beach near his home burying his head in his hands and a caption saying that it shows the ‘desolation’ of the Labour leader. I see this as a waste of time, energy and irrelevant to what we should actually be talking about.

By all means, have debates and discussions about where the party should go from here amongst people who are qualified to do so. But leave the guy alone and be respectful of his privacy.

The last thing I want to see is the New Zealand media follow even further on the path of Americanisation with regard to the obsession over public figures. Why everyone goes crazy over what goes on in the private lives of these people is beyond me.

Where Cunliffe goes to retreat is no one’s business but his own. To be the leader of the opposition who had an important decision to make already put him in a high-pressure situation. The least productive thing is to put these pictures on the front page and have the most theatrical caption on it.

But unfortunately, I’m here bracing myself for what the next few weeks will bring on everyone’s favourite newspaper.

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Oh boy.

6 COMMENTS

  1. Quite so, Latifa, not to mention there’s a myriad of reasons DC could have been “burying his head in his hands” which have nothing to do with “desolation”.

  2. We all know how the media runs in this country. But its people like Robertson and Mallard this morning who are feeding the media exactly what they want to here. Of course, this is falling perfectly into the media’s narrative, it’s in the media’s interests to advocate for a right-wing Labour Party. And you’d think the Labour Party would be for the people, wouldn’t you. But they’re working for themselves rather than their members and affiliates they represent.

    At least we know the National Party members are working hard for big corporates and their lobbyists. It’s not fair… we don’t even get Hone in Parliament any more as the spokesperson for the many of us in poverty. The Greens seem to represent the middle class. Their little dance with National was an insult to those who wanted a genuine alternative, instead of a reaffirmation of the status quo… No, this is enough… we need something more.

    We need a party for the workers. If Labour drift right, we need a party that doesn’t go in that direction. We need a party that the unions who represent workers’ true interests can actually back…..

    >>Why doesn’t David Cunliffe break away and form a new party to do this? <<

    Yes, it might divide the Labour caucus. But I'm not too interested in seeing a 2017 Labour Government with a right wing agenda and that only lasts for one term (just for another 3 of National shortly after). We need to think long term here, and though we may suffer in the short run, it may well be worth it. From the last election result, what more do we have to lose, when there is so much to potentially gain!

  3. Surely the post is purposely naive.

    Herald being ‘unhelpful’?

    puh-lease

    Cameron Slater’s dropbox The NZ Herald is being as destructive as it possibly can toward Labour and Cunliffe and still pretend to be a newspaper.

  4. Sure is a real shame Mr Cunliffe didn’t catch the puffed up little shits spying on him and give them the one finger vertical salute…

    …or the Scots welcome by lifting his kilt and showing them this is what their faces looks like….

    But then …our Mr Cunliffe is a little too refined for that sort of crass demonstration….but just once…just once …I wish someone could stick it to the bastards.

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