Hey Clint & Hone – the msm are sharpening their knives

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Garth-Hughes-Clint

The decision by Patrick Gower to screen Gareth Hughes asking his advisor a question on the Labour/Green electricity policy and Claire Trevett’s unflattering appraisal of Hone Harawira’s performance in the house must be a reminder to the political left that the honeymoon extended to John Key and the right is never there for the left.

Gareth is one of the bright stars of the Greens in and out of Parliament while Patrick Gower is the chief head kicker at TV3 who manufactured the leadership coup at last years Labour Party which was the catalyst for the creation of this blog.

Hone works one of the largest electorates in the country and as the only member of the Party spends far more time out of the House in the street with the many flax roots groups MANA work with than many other MPs. Claire Trevett is from the corporate media there to perversely insinuate Hone doesn’t work for the people but in fact lives the high life.

Both are examples of how the corporate media will quickly form an attack line on the political Left the very second it looks like that political Left may damage the interests those corporate media represent.

The Left can expect a level of criticism that is never applied to the Right. It is an inbuilt double standard that has always existed and with Labour and the Green signaling that the neoliberal consensus is over, the Left must expect that double standard of scrutiny to soar to atmospheric levels compared with what the political Right are subjected to.

The corporate media have vested interests to protect and if the Left challenge those interests it can expect a savaging. That’s why the political Left must adapt and work their social media strategies far better than they currently are. It can’t rely on the msm to be objective in any way shape or form and must bypass it to speak directly to voters.

The signs are there that the 2014 election will be a fully fledged ideological war and that the msm have already taken sides.

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16 COMMENTS

  1. “The Left can expect a level of criticism that is never applied to the Right.”

    I hear exactly the opposite of that from the right. Seems like the MSM can’t please anyone.

    • Going by the extreme hysterics from share brokers, merchant bankers, et al, over NZ Power, Pete, I think Martyn’s assessment of next year is on the ball.

      It’ll be nasty. National will be so low in the polls (as has been predicted) that it will provoke a negative campaign from the Tory’s Party strategists.

  2. If my memory serves me correctly, Helen Clark’s government enjoyed a reasonable honeymoon period from the media that was decried by parties on the Right as being too lenient.

  3. That’s the nice stuff. Pretty soon they will be able to spy on the left with impunity and leak their information to the press, bloggers etc (may already be happening, of course). Emails, any online activity and cell phones are probably the victims’ most vulnerable points.

  4. I think your reports of the death of the neoliberal consensus are exaggerated. Please try to be a little more realistic. One mildly interventionist distributional policy release is about as effective as a signal of left Labour militancy as a single swallow is at heralding summer.
    PS I’m a baby boomer, so you probably blame me anyway.

  5. Come on.
    Gareth is not seeking any legitimate point of detail here.
    Bereft of any opinion he asks: ” Are we pleased? “, waits meekly and uncritically while he gets his answer, then recomposes his features and resumes his politician tone of voice to regurgitate his master’s voice.
    What’s not to criticize?

    • Perhaps time stamps on the footage would show how events unfolded.
      You assume that there was no editing, Don?

      The media can easily put things out of context or in incorrect chronological order to create the desired result.

    • I thought Gareth was satirising the hollow men of Kiwi politics in a very beautiful way when he asked Clint. Of course, the problem with satire is that it goes straight over many people’s heads.

        • No he’s not, Gosman. Someone like Key could have carried it off when he was seen as “blokey”. But not now, as he’s seen more as a buffoon.

          It was a relatively minor gaffe from Gareth and he even poked fun at himself on Twitter.

          But regardless, it’s a timely reminder for Green and Labour MPs and candidates to keep it professional; keep it On Message; and stay disciplined.

          The Left can’t afford to indulge in levity too much. It can easily be mis-represented by msm (good headlines) or the Right Wing (good ammunition).

          The election campaign, after all, started on 18 April.

  6. “The Left can expect a level of criticism that is never applied to the Right.”
    Then, if you try and counter it, those of the right scream about how left wing the media are….???
    Tossers, all of them!

  7. So let’s think about this, is there a parallel situation to Hughes on the right, can we imagine one? When Don Brash called Gower a ‘deceitful bastard’ after Gower had repeatedly misled him about the nature of interviews, what happened? Can you imagine Rodney Hide or John Banks making the same move as Gareth Hughes did and expecting any mercy? It’s hard to imagine them even trying it, but I’m pretty sure I know what Gower would do if they did. Take, for example, TV3’s repeated playing of Hide’s tripping over an ACT sign upon assuming the ACT leadership in 2004. You can gripe about the media and TV3 in particular if you like, but to say it’s some sort of conspiracy against a particular view is wishful thinking. As for Harawira, there are three single member party leaders in the house at the moment, and while Dunne has an advantage being Wellington based, Harawira is certainly an exception by simple stats from the hansard.

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