The manner in which Cunliffe has sought to address rape culture vs Key’s dismissal of it yesterday is a remarkable contrast as stark as the bias over Cunliffe’s holiday vs Key’s holiday.
Key takes weeks off to pose for selfies with his son at his multi-million dollar Hawaiian mansion, no headlines of a filthy rich Prime Minister sunning it up while quarter of a million children live in winter’s poverty. Cunliffe has the flu for 2 days, spends some time with his family for 3 days in Queenstown and he is apparently a sell out slacker who is mingling with sex offenders??????
How the living Christ can that level of clear cut bias be any attempt by the media to be objective months out from the election?
Cunliffe apologises for the mainly male on female violence that underpins rape culture and he is whipped by the media as some sort of male hating wimp. Key shrugs off with his usual casual fascism any responsibility to Tania Billingsley and refuses to apologise.
One leader who accepts a moral obligation for the protection and justice of those abused. One leader in utter denial who refuses to take any responsibility for a situation completely of his Government’s making .
Will we see the media point out this stark double standards? Of course we won’t, they are the ones who create these double standards. Cunliffe is enduring one of the most vicious character assassinations NZ politics has seen, his chance to change that unfair narrative happens on the campaign trail and in the debates.
We have appalling political journalism in this country and every passing week shows how extreme the bias towards the Right is. I love how these are the same journalists screaming Dotcom should reveal things now so that they can quickly discount it and ignore it.
Not this time.
Kim’s meeting is purposely 5 days out from the election BECAUSE the political journalism is so shit and immature in this country.
Roll on September 15th.
If women vote for Key after saying that an apology to Tania is not a “serious” issue, then they are truly fools. The man is a sexist oaf,and I wonder if he’d feel the same ay if it was his daughter??
JK owes that Green activist NOTHING.
He owes her what he owes every New Zealander and that is respect, but something that in his arrogance he has forgotten. If he were man enough he would also acknowledge his insensitivity to her feelings about the handling of the whole situation. Yes there was an apology in part by McCully on behalf of the government, but Tania specifically identified how belittled the Prime Minister made her feel and that is what he needs to apologise for. But he is not man enough for that, only the inadequate refuse to step down from the safety of their high horses.
We see a female human who has been assaulted and insulted. Firstly her assailant, and latterly by the officials charged to safeguard the interests of all New Zealanders.
You and Key see a political opponent, and nothing more.
Why should anyone vote for a PM who does not have the interests of the nation’s people uppermost in his mind?
Mark, you are sick. By being a Green activist, does a person lose their human rights? What you’re saying is pretty close to stating that it’s ok to assault, sexually or otherwise, people who have different politics to your foul self. You sick piece of shit.
Martyn, I want to talk about your language in this post.
You say “…political journalism is so shit and immature in this country” and I just wanted to point out that this is probably an understatement and would encourage you to be more accurate in the future – although I’m not sure what words you would use…
Agree 100 percent. The lamestream media is plumbing new depths right now. They are so biased, that it is breathtaking.
Now we wait for msm demand John Key resign for his handling of the whole issue of sexual assault and family violence!
But it won’t be forthcoming, because Key in his openly lackadaisical response towards sexual and family violence is held up as “the man” for trivializing the appalling rape culture blighting NZ! The message our PM is giving is abuse is OK!
In one instance Key wanted the Malaysian diplomat case swept under the carpet and in the second situation, he ridiculed David Cunliffe for taking a stand on sexual and family violence.
Now we all know Key’s position on sexual assault, he has clearly demonstrated he is neither fit nor suitable to hold the privileged office of Prime Minister of NZ!
It seems the right wing media has this subtext- it’s all about feeling David Cunliffe’s balls..like it’s a new experience for them and they really can’t get enough of them; that, and Whaleoil’s obsession with dominatrix type women, as in: are right wing women more sexy? (as he dreams of trysts with a revenant thatcher type)
John Key, away for *10 days* on the back of the Tania Billingsley affair and comes back and totally belittles her! You can’t say what he said without having no sympathy at all to a person! Look at the words!!! He just seemed bloody angry to be asked!!!And some twerp in the media asks David Cunliffe – note not Metiri Turei -“Do you think Mr Key is just wanting to wait until after the court case to comment?” OMG!!!!
That barstool is only teflon because the rotten media have chosen this election for us -like a pack of dogs!
On a more positive note, our family is now saving a fortune as we have cancelled all our paper subscriptions.
At last someone is beginning to notice how low a standard journalism has reached in this country – but it has been like this these last 40 years. As far as I am concerned, there is not a single journalist (properly speaking) in this country worthy of the appellation ‘journalist.’ The whole bloody lot of them are lazy, incompetent, and illiterate and innumerate into the bargain.
Worthless the lot of ’em. Bought and sold: tarnished goods, spoiled merchandise, damaged ware. I am ashamed to think that they might actually be fellow New Zealanders. So far as I am concerned they might all as well improve the planet, and go stick their heads up a dead bear’s bum. Don’t expect much accuracy from the report back.
I think the fact that key said he’d apologise if he knew who she was, then retracts that promise says everything about the man. He’ll say anything to get what he wants.
Not only do I have political issues with the man but also moral now. He’s not the sort of man I want making decisions about this country on my behalf. As proved by his actions, once again.
Totally agree with you Martin. I’m appalled at just how low the media is stooping to denigrate David Cunliffe while at the same time fawning all over Shon Key.
Noam Chomsky has plenty to say about how compromised the media are, not only the old chums clubs of the corporate world and the linkage of advertising determining content, but also the symbiotic dependency on the governmental powers:
“The mass media are drawn into a symbiotic relationship with powerful sources of information by economic necessity and reciprocity of interest. The media need a steady, reliable flow of the raw material of news. They have daily news demands and imperative news schedules that they must meet. They cannot afford to have reporters and cameras at all places where important stories may break. Economics dictates that they concentrate their resources where significant news often occurs, where important rumors and leaks abound, and where regular press conferences are held (the seats of government)
To consolidate their preeminent position as sources, government and business-news promoters go to great pains to make things easy for news organizations. They provide the media organizations with facilities in which to gather; they give journalists advance copies of speeches and forthcoming reports; they schedule press conferences at hours well- geared to news deadlines; they write press releases in usable language; and they carefully organize their press conferences and “photo opportunity” sessions.
Because of their services, continuous contact on the beat, and mutual dependency, the powerful can use personal relationships, threats, and rewards to further influence and coerce the media. The media may feel obligated to carry extremely dubious stories and mute criticism in order not to offend their sources and disturb a close relationship. It is very difficult to call authorities on whom one depends for daily news liars, even if they tell whoppers.
Powerful sources regularly take advantage of media routines and dependency to “manage” the media, to manipulate them into following a special agenda and framework. Part of this management process consists of inundating the media with stories, which serve sometimes to foist a particular line and frame on the media and at other times to help chase unwanted stories off the front page or out of the media altogether. This strategy can be traced back at least as far as the Committee on Public Information, established to coordinate propaganda during World War I, which “discovered in 1917-18 that one of the best means of controlling news was flooding news channels with ‘facts,’ or what amounted to official information.”
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