The things that surprised the NZ mainstream media in 2016 said more about them than the issues

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What a year of surprises for the NZ mainstream media eh?

Trump, Brexit, Kiwis living in cars, 560 suicides this year, CYFs killing and molesting so many children in state care, 1 in 100 NZers being homeless  and their latest shock that the private prison empire built by National is counter productive are all issues our mainstream corporate media didn’t see coming this year.

They couldn’t even properly investigate why their overlord John Key suddenly resigned.

The small exclusive elite clique club of the NZ mainstream media can be seen in all its glory on twitter where they self congratulate their insights and slap each other on the back for highlighting issues which have been obvious and in plain view to everyone else for 8 years under National.

Take the recent investigations by Stuff.co.nz that our private prison system is an abomination. They didn’t see the irony that while they were self congratulating themselves, they also ran their obligatory every year story on what prisoners will be eating for Christmas with all the subtext of ‘they’re-eating-a-lump-of-cold-roast-chook-with-two-roast-potatoes-but-their-victims-won’t-be’. They also missed the role of the very industry they work in promoting a ‘if it bleeds it leads’ crime porn mentality or the fact that our prison system is grossly racist.

The surprise by our mainstream corporate media that our neoliberal welfare state is actually damaging and hurting the poor and vulnerable they are supposed to be helping says more about the small bubble world they inhabit than the issues themselves.

That these sanctimonious elite  pricks have the audacity to bitch about ‘fake news’ is hilarious. NZME is 86% owned by the bloody banks, no wonder their editorial narrative is one that defends the pillars of neoliberal mythology with the same passion  of an addict to their dealer.

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The appalling clickbait that has overtaken real news on our main newspaper websites is diluting any of the good journalism they do manage to produce. It’s funny how all these exclusives have suddenly popped up right when the Commerce Commission is scrutinising their plans to form a monopoly.

For 8 years the National Party have waged a draconian war against the poor via the neoliberal welfare state, because most journalists live in the hip parts of town, it’s a war they simply don’t see so when they stumble over it, they are suddenly shocked. Their ignorance is a by-product of the strangulation of public broadcasting and it has turned our fourth estate into a barking dog with no voice.

Post Dirty Politics, the mainstream corporate NZ media have moved from secretly colluding with a far right hate speech merchant like Cameron Slater for scoops to simply tripping over their own class blindspots for news headlines.

In New Zealand, that’s called progress.

7 COMMENTS

  1. “They couldn’t even properly investigate why their overlord John Key suddenly resigned.”

    This. They couldn’t even ask questions about why this guy had done something so unusual that no comparison could be effectively made.

  2. “They couldn’t even properly investigate why their overlord John Key suddenly resigned.”

    The media are pathetic, shameful and discustingl,y implicit now with an ugly side to them as we see they have no backbone to cover these dirty political moves that impact on us day after day.

    Lazy bloody creeps.

  3. Of course it is a disjointed mishmash of faux outrage and institutionalised racism. Have a look at the adverts that lead the videos you click on. Things like new cars and hideously-expensive heating and air-conditioning units. The media companies are supplying firms with wealthy audiences to sell expensive things to. These audiences like to hear about how hard-working they are, not how their success is almost entirely an accident of birth; they don’t like to hear about how union organisers lift wages for the lowest earners (and all of us); and they certainly don’t like to hear about how their own personal greed, manifesting in the Auckland home market, is ruining other people’s lives, and the entire economy.

    Then, of course, those wealthy people believe whatever is told to them by the television because they are too busy looking up stuff for themselves, or too blinkered, or too heavily invested in the game.

    The rightward shift of society is almost certainly the product of this feed-back loop.

  4. The trouble with attacking the “main stream media” is that right wingers are using exactly the same line, for example, claiming the main stream media is run by supporters of evil Clinton against good guy Trump and so on. This is rendering attacks on the bias of the main stream media meaningless.

  5. Well said .

    —————->” They couldn’t even properly investigate why their overlord John Key suddenly resigned ”.

    —————-> ” That these sanctimonious elite pricks have the audacity to bitch about ‘fake news’ is hilarious ”.

    —————-> ” NZME is 86% owned by the bloody banks,”

    —————-> ” The appalling clickbait that has overtaken real news on our main newspaper websites is diluting any of the good journalism they do manage to produce ”.

    —————-> ” It’s funny how all these exclusives have suddenly popped up right when the Commerce Commission is scrutinising their plans to form a monopoly ”.

    —————> ” For 8 years the National Party have waged a draconian war against the poor via the neoliberal welfare state, because most journalists live in the hip parts of town, it’s a war they simply don’t see so when they stumble over it, they are suddenly shocked ”.

    —————> ” Their ignorance is a by-product of the strangulation of public broadcasting and it has turned our fourth estate into a barking dog with no voice ”.

    When I worked in security at a particular TV station, I saw a fair few of these types. There was one I remember , a pallid looking , greasy haired young guy that every time I saw him was greasing up to the ‘big names’. Obviously was a Nat supporter as he had nothing but ingratiating praise – and especially so for one particular individual in the political news section. Saying ” hes such a ‘hard worker’ , and really does his ‘background research ‘.”

    Turns out he was instrumental in derailing the Internet Mana party policy launch and trying to discredit that movement. And having a particular ‘interest’ in the resignation of Mike Sabin ,… it was obvious from certain statements in opinion pieces that this individual made ,… that he was also taking his cue from none other than the Whaleoil website at that time.

    So much for his ‘ hard work ‘ and deep ‘research’.

    Maybe he would have been better to have been a writer and author like Nicky Hager ,- who actually does do hard work and deep research – or at least made an effort not to have been tied up in one of Nicky’s books.

    That’s the sort of caliber we are dealing with in this country , and NZ has been royally had.

    I would also suggest the failed National party campaign manager , ex owner of TV3 , – Stephen ‘ Dildo ‘ Joyce – has had an inordinate and subversive influence on our democracy and in the strangling our media … it stands to reason that Joyce would willingly cut a deal with those 86 % banks interests in ensuring critical media voices opposed to their neo liberal agenda would be silenced. Dildo Joyce possibly would have stood to gain financially from the whole process via shares in doing so ,- if not politically.

    Starting with John Campbell and then a veritable of media people afterwards being forced out of critical roles.

    And this is precisely the sort of thing that WILL happen once the media looses its independence and is bought out by Oligarchs who only want the media to serve THEIR interests – not the public’s.

  6. Who’s really gonna investigate Key’s resignation, when they’re all secretly crossing their fingers in hope of landing a soft interview down the line, asking how Moonbeam is getting along, what books he’s been reading, how he manages such a close shave, and most importantly, how did it feel to be in the locker room with the All Blacks?

    If someone shouts “Give ’em a taste of Kiwi!” we all know damn well that they (the msm) will, and it will taste like cold chips and flat Steinlager, but they’ll all smile and say thank you, another helping please. I left home 8 years ago, and aside from my friends, whom I miss dearly, I just can’t see anything yet that makes me want to come back. Job prospects are gloomy, wages are shit, cost of living is diabolical, inequality and homelessness are two of our growth industries, and Judith Collins and Cameron Slater are still drawing breath. Instead, I watch a corrupt president (Park Gyeun Hye) torn from power after millions take to the streets in revolt, I enjoy a strong job market, cost of living is comfortably within even my meagre earnings, homelessness and violent crime are at levels far, far below NZ’s, and people are generally very, very friendly and welcoming. I miss NZ, but I don’t miss its problems, or the follow-the-pack mentality of the majority.

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