Electoral Commission bans Planet Key satire

By
Martyn Bradbury
-
27
10

The Electoral Commission have finally come out and banned the Planet Key satire, this is their statement…

Screen Shot 2014-08-12 at 5.35.18 pm

…I call bullshit on this. Censoring satire is a pretty dark move by a group currently spending hundreds of thousands to convince you to vote.

I’ve asked the Electoral Commission what would happen if the blogs called bullshit on this ruling and decided to post the link ourselves. They have yet to come back to me, so until they do, here is the link, enjoy the satire before the Electoral Commission ban it.

Welcome to Key’s brave new world where the media can lie and make up as many things as they like about the opposition, but a piece of satire lampooning the Prime Minister is banned.

Planet Key from Propeller Motion on Vimeo.

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27 COMMENTS

  1. Shouldn’t that photo of John Key in an All Black jersy for the New Zealand Rugby Union magazine be banned too then?

      • Missed this, sorry. I’ve commented below regarding the ruling on the Rugby News cover.

        Without trawling through the legal speak in the Electoral Act they quite clearly state the only exemption is editorial content in periodicals. Guest spots outside interviews in the capacity of the PM on state run TV would seem to be outside this exemption.

        Maybe another complaint is in order.

      • Did you notice that the recipe he used was stolen from Jamie Oliver, who called for “4 skinless, boneless higher-welfare chicken thighs”? No points for guessing which were the only two words removed from John’s version…

      • Ooh. Was that a dogs breakfast?

        They could’ve really made a meal of it, if they had all the party leaders on at the same time – having a big kiwi breakfast.

        I reckon that’s biased media coverage – unless they have the leaders of all the parties on the show, doing the same thing.

        Opinion.

  2. Now of course the dynamic duo of the “Free Speech Coalition” David Farrar and Cameron Slater are going to come out in a frenzied attack condemning this decision. Of course they will won’t they?

  3. I’ve said it many times on many different blogs, we wont get real freedom in NZ until the press has some basic rules put in place to stop their undeniable bias creating an election result that it’s wealthy backers demand.
    As you say, the press can LIE as much as they want with UTTER impunity, knowing it’s highly unlikely they’ll suffer any ill effects (financial, legal or otherwise), but WOE betides anyone who DARES to say anything not to their liking about their man, who’s doing all the hard work for all those wealthy overseas lords who need serfs happy to work for them in their own country.
    Wake up NZ before it’s too late, you are being lied to, and what’s more you’re paying for that privilege (whenever you buy that comic the Herald). Start by boycotting the companies that advertise during the ‘news’ when such obvious lies and bias is shown. Hit them in the pocket, that’s ALL they care about….MONEY and power.
    When the left wing get in to Government, they MUST put some control on the utter freedom the press has to lie with impunity.
    Let’s have a Government department that people can apply to to get help to take the press on, when the press have lied. ………n.b. The press council is an absolute joke !!!!!……and of absolutely NO USE to help the wronged parties.
    Also let’s cut the cost of taking the press to court for lying.
    Limit the ownership of papers to only citizens, living in this country and limit the percentage of the ‘Lame street press’ one person can control.
    Otherwise HAPPILY accept the right wing will be in power way more often than the left and will strip NZ of it’s freedoms, e.g being spied on illegally (and if caught will change the rules to make what’s illegal become legal), having our money syphoned out of NZ and most of our land becoming owned by overseas based wealthy people who used (printed out of thin air money, backed by absolutely ZERO).
    We get the Government we deserve and the level of freedom we fight for………….so unless the NZ sheeple wake up we’re screwed beyond help.

    • Keep calm, the left needs its own msm outlet.
      Unfortunately it will require money, and lots of it.
      The Standard could easily slide into msm status.
      then the left will have a ‘word’ fighting chance.

      Backers anyone?

  5. I’ve just shared the link on my Facebook page and asked my contacts to pass on. Thank goodness for the internet

  6. So, about two weeks ago I sent my own complaint to the Electoral commission over the recent Rugby News cover seen here:

    https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfp1/t31.0-8/p600x600/10541396_10152606072995429_4979096729614657622_o.jpg

    I enquired about the legality of the cover in an election period. Below was the reply from Dean Shirley. I feel safe in reproducing it here because apparently the Electoral commission protects the identity of complainants.

    Dear Mr [………],

    The Commission has considered the magazine cover and article with regard to John Key in the Rugby News.
    The Electoral Commission is responsible for administering the Electoral Act 1993.

    The Electoral Act includes a regulatory regime that regulates election advertising. If a publication is an election advertisement, then there are particular requirements, including:
    • the requirement for a promoter statement,
    • written authorisation from the party secretary or candidate being promoted, and
    • rules limiting expenditure on election advertising.

    However, there is an express exemption to the definition of election advertisement for the editorial content of a periodical. A periodical is defined to include a magazine established for purposes unrelated to the election and that has been published at regular intervals and generally available to the public. The John Key article in the Rugby News magazine is covered by this exemption. It is therefore exempt from the rules in the Electoral Act regarding election advertisements.

    Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

    Kind regards

    Dean Shirley | Senior Advisor Legal | Electoral Commission | Te Kaitiaki Take Kōwhiri | PO Box 3220 | Level 10, 34-42 Manners Street | Wellington http://www.elections.org.nz

    The Rugby News cover is conveniently covered by this extremely narrow and singular exemption, funnily enough.

    Actual art is not.

    • Good on you Weepu’s Beard for making the effort, team Key must have read the Act and sleazed in the free promo with their rugby mates.

      As usual this exemption assists those with power and conservative networks. Small non right parties like IMP or Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis are unlikely to make the cover of Rugby News (not that they would hopefully want to) or other mainstream periodicals. I expect Key to appear on the cover of Fishing News too before the election. He was on one of the TV fishing shows before last election, treated like the godKey naturally.

  7. Its online. Its probably gone viral.

    If the Electoral Commission seriously thinks that their issuing a “ban” on it will stop it from spreading or being viewed…. then they’re living in the dark ages.

    Idiots.

  8. It’s just an awesome music video.

    The electoral commission should mind their own business.

    John Key will put a stop to it though won’t he, and when he does, well, he will merely be emphasising the current censorship situation that he has developed and deployed.

    Still, he can’t stop people burning effigy’s, or defacing the National hoardings on the roadsides, or chanting FJK! I don’t find it offensive at all. It’s great.

    Good to note how scared he must be getting. I wonder how much money he will lose, when he loses the election – which of course will halt some of his ‘payouts’ from China and the USA. Awesome.

    Anyway, I think that if the owners of this video and music and words wanted it to be an ‘election advertisement’, then they would be paying for airtime to play it on MSM, and it would likely also have some form of political party emblem on it. But they haven’t, and it doesn’t, so it can’t be, and hence the proof.

    Someone should ask FJK on live telly, (or in Parliament – oops, that’s right we don’t have one at the moment), if the video scares him, or if he will censor/ban it.

    Freedom of speech is a human right, and FJK should not be allowed to tell his mates at the EC to ban the video. FJK nor the EC own the internet. Everyone who pays for internet access has the right to access this video – it isn’t against the crimes act or anything. There are heaps of much worse video clips out there. Check out all the ones where FJK is telling porkies – I find those ones really offensive. The one saying he doesn’t have to take on the results of any public referendums and all the others too numerous to list…

    Freedom of speech: You can legally say anything you like as long as you use the words opinion, or opinion and belief. Because everyone is entitled to have an opinion, and a belief. I don’t think that law has been revoked yet, so the EC can do nothing!

    Freedom. Coming soon, next month on the 20th!

    FJK.

    Opinion and belief.

  9. Kevin can you please post what you have written on the John Key Facebook page. It might make a few people think ( a lot of them need to.), before they remove it.
    Great post.

  10. For those of us old enough to remember, the obvious parallel is McPhail and Gadsby.

    Was it 1978? They had a popular comedy show on the telly, which featured political satire, among other things. McPhail’s trademark portrayal of Muldoon was apparently too much for the Nats to bear, so TVNZ invented a rule out of thin air, stating that political imitations were not allowed during an election period.

    But that was in an era of a all-powerful paternalist micro-managing Prime Minister with strong authorian tendencies and little regard for the rule of law.

    Oh wait…

  11. Well now the Electoral Commission have made it clear who they bow to. They are supposed to be independent, but we can now see that they are as independent as Fiji’s Electoral Commission. These people have allowed themselves to be browbeaten and misled by National. They are not up to the job and should be replaced by people that are. I’m available for the job but unfortunately my CV won’t say something like ” is a National Party yes-man” which is probably a pre-requisite for appointment.

  12. Isn’t this what the Third Reich did, ban information and communication they did not approve of? They hated the truth being exposed as well!

    Welcome to the fascist state of NZ!

  13. The power of the Keyremlin is growing! Minders, bodyguards,biggest propaganda department ever,boverboy bloggers,a complicit media. Three more years of this? What a beast the Keyremlin will be then!

  15. Hhmmm – so much for artistic freedom in New Zealand. Which minister is in charge of the Electoral Commision or are they – theoretically – independant? Who is on the board and who appointed them? I think probably the reason they found this video ‘electioneering’ will be discovered by answering these questions.

  16. Now we know the real reason why National didn’t worry about Fijian dictator Frank Barmy Rama coming here. They wanted some tips about how to make sure the playing field is always tilted your way and who better to ask? Don’t you think its just a little odd that the man McCully was so scathing about less than a year ago is allowed to come into New Zealand and preach his lies without a murmur from the government?

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