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EDITOR’S NOTE: Update – A win for common sense and reason! The NZ Herald just announced on Twitter that Cathy Ogders (aka Cactus Kate) will now be removed as a political writer on the Herald.
The Herald’s twitter announcement read: “To clarify, Bryce Edwards is still writing for http://nzherald.co.nz and Cathy Odgers has withdrawn from our wide-ranging election line-up.”
I only found this out via twitter last night and I am still in shock. Bryce Edwards, easily the best critical thinker and news analyst the NZ Herald has, is being stood down by the NZ Herald ‘for the election season’.
Just when we need Bryce and his reasoned brilliance most, he’s being stood down because it’s the election so as to allow the NZ Herald’s new political team of – you just won’t believe this – Josie bloody Pagani and Cathy Odgers.
Yes. Cathy Odgers. The very same Cathy Odgers who begged for Nicky Hager’s address to be published so that Nicky would be harmed. She’s the new columnist for the Herald. What happened? Did Bryce not threaten to kill enough people?
How on earth are Joise and Cathy ‘balanced’? Joise dislikes beneficiaries and Cathy hates beneficiaries – how the hell is that ‘balance’ in an election? Pagani is a Fox News Democrat that the right wing wheel out to create the pretence of a debate, and I have yet to hear her speak once and not sound like a National Party supporter.
How can someone who said this…
…be acceptable as an election commentator for Christ’s sake?
We are losing the voice of Bryce Edwards in an election for a right wing troll who wanted Nicky Hager’s address published so he would be harmed and another right wing troll who pretends to be a Labour supporter.
Right wing and crazy right wing is not balance.
Unbelievable, what a terrible call.
Bryce Edwards has written in to say his political roundup column will continue to be published online but he is being excluded from the analysis commentary published by the New Zealand Herald.
Bryce Edwards: “No – I’m not being stood down by the Herald. There might be some confusion here I think. Yes, it’s true that I’m not being used this year as a guest columnist for the election campaign by the Herald in print (as I was last election). Nor, it seems is Morgan Godfery. That’s absolutely fine. They’re using other people – Josie Pagani, Mark Sainsbury and Cathy Odgers. I agree that the choice of the latter is a questionable decision, especially in light of recent reservations. But I’m entirely free to publish my Political Roundup columns on the Herald website.”
See comments below.
The Empire Strikes Back
What happened to a free and objective press acting as the proxy of the people – that’s all people, from all political, cultural and religious persuasions?
It’s seems an extremely desperate FJK has the right wing msm in his pocket!
With the evil Cathy Odgers welcomed into the NZH fold and her penchant for causing grievous bodily harm to those who oppose her, NZ is now slipping into the realms of becoming the Fourth Reich, via a very biased media!
Sorry to see Bryce go from the Herald. He usually presented a balanced perspective on the issues, which will be missed.
Really? Free and objective? Please. How anyone can be naive enough to suppose the media are anything other than biased salacious power hungry ratings driven thwarted politicians defies belief. Dirty Journalism long pre dates Dirty Politics. IMO
That is appalling. Pagani will try and undermine Labour and left bloc unity all the way. I would not give fulsome praise to Bryce however because of his tendency to regularly stick it to Labour regardless. He is more of a recycler of others work than a brilliant writer at the Herald at least.
But to be fair he does point to some excellent blogs that readers might not otherwise go to.
The Heralds “balanced coverage” is just political welfare to help the lunatic fringe of ACT get at least some eyeballs this election.
Are you sure about this Martyn? please delete my comment if someone was having a little ‘joke’
Jeez you have to be fast these days! or maybe more patient…
https://twitter.com/nzherald/status/501859469664350208
Very strange decision. I had wondered where his column was.
Why have his update featured all year and then yank it now?
Good grief! What a disturbing decision to muffle the voice of Bryce Edwards until the election is over! What a nasty piece of writing from Josie Pagani! The New Zealand Herald used to be such a good newspaper too, back in the day. Not now though.
No – I’m not being stood down by the Herald. There might be some confusion here I think. Yes, it’s true that I’m not being used this year as a guest columnist for the election campaign by the Herald in print (as I was last election). Nor, it seems is Morgan Godfery. That’s absolutely fine. They’re using other people – Josie Pagani, Mark Sainsbury and Cathy Odgers. I agree that the choice of the latter is a questionable decision, especially in light of recent reservations. But I’m entirely free to publish my Political Roundup columns on the Herald website.
Good… so where are they? (Political Roundup columns)
Well, you’re a political commentator, and this is the most important political event you could possibly cover, so it is logical to expect that you would be asked to cover it.
I know for continued employment reasons you can’t exactly yell to all corners that the NZ Herald is trying to purge everyone and replace them with hate speakers and phony-left strawman commentators, but you are most definitely being stood down from commentary on events you would otherwise cover.
I wish you’d write more opinion/analysis – I know there was some poor reaction from other columnists when you first joined the Herald – but I thought you got it right. The dirty politics scandal partly reflects a media that had become insufficiently critical.
pssst…’scuse me Granny Herald, but your bias is showing!
If Odgers is in fact back in NZ, it is time for the Law Society to look at her conspiracy to suborn an assault. The evidence is all there IMO. The fact that the blubber slug actually published the address could be considered the action which turned their conspiracy from the abstract into reality.
How can any person who does such a thing be an officer of NZ’s court?
Not just the Law Society but also the NZ Police. There are in fact three lawyers whose actions here should be looked at by both the police and the Law Society-Odgers, Williams and Collins. All three appear to have committed crimes and surely the Law Society must, based on the information produced in the book, be considering taking disciplinary action against all three.
I have checked on NZ law society site and both Collins and Odgers hold current practising certificates. I am unable to find one for Williams.
Whether or not Odgers is based in New Zealand, she holds a New Zealand practicing certificate, so is a New Zealand lawyer.
You can file a complaint about her – or any other practicing New Zealand lawyer (including, say, Judith Collins or Jordan Williams) – here: https://www.lawsociety.org.nz/for-the-community/lawyers-complaints-service
That Cathy Odgers should be up before the court for what shes done! Im absolutely Astounded!
The herald has No honesty or Integrity anymore.WHO is paying the herald!! The ROT in our Country is metastasising at an Alarming speed!
If anyone has a petition going round I will Gladly sign and share it with our 15,000 strong fb group.
I’ll start a petition. Tell me specifically what you want and who you want to send it to. Won’t take me a minute to set it up. 😀
Does this mean Aucklander’s will no longer be called “xenophobic” when questing the causes of our housing crisis and foreign investment?
That’ll be nice 🙂
People still read the Herald?
So…does that mean he’s free to write for The Daily Blog?
Desperate times require desperate measures, I wonder what comes next. National launch at the weekend they will come out the stocks dirty fighting.
Not that I subscribe to conspiracy theories, but I am having a dark suspicion here:
Hasn’t the Herald also bought the exclusive on the remaining Slater emails? I am wondering whether we will see any of those surfacing before 20 September. Looks to me that the Herald is under neoliberal damage control…
As I mentioned before: Cleaning the filth from the Beehive is not going to go far enough. Not by a thousand country miles…
Is interesting that Cactus pulls out and “Whaledump” stays in, for now.
Hasn’t the Herald also bought the exclusive on the remaining Slater emails?
Can anyone confirm that they have or is this merely conjecture?
Black flag. The Herald has a huge depository of the emails and Facebook coms. But money and exclusivity isn’t a part of it.
That said, it’s a smart move to have the Herald’s David Fisher working through it. He is respected and excels at this kind of thing.
If it’s true and they did buy the exclusive on the remaining emails, they may be just positioning themselves for a major newsbreak on Nationals dirt after a Labour led Govt takes office.
Face saving
Cathy Odgers and all of the others named should be arrested and prosecuted for conspiracy to murder, alternatively conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm to Nicky Hager.
That Odgers would even be considered for work at the Herald is monstrous.
What the hell is going on when this kind of criminal activity is lauded and abetted ?
Stop making things up Martyn.
I will not be writing the column but wasn’t removed and I sent Bryce the proof of that.
Who cares, the end result is great, the Herald won’t be publishing the opinions of a nasty bigot now.
Give Bomber’s name to your chop chop mates. That’ll teach him. We must respect the Cactus. She is a serious commentator. Haha, what a joke.
You won’t publish my address now will you Kate?
It’s a win for left wing bias
Nothing more, nothing less
Interesting.
As for Ms Odgers, if I were her, I’d keep my head down. Those are serious accusations swirling around her. If she loses her practicising certificate, her career is over.
Ha !!!…..na mate…..she can always go work for the ‘Family ‘…in Sicily…they always seem to need a lot of lawyers for some reason….
Guess she better take along alot of black paint to smear on her hand, as well….
Reckon she’d fit in well with that lot…
Well, I can’t possibly comment. I have not read a line of the Herald I think nigh on forty years. It looks as though I won’t be in an all fired hurry to make the change any time in the next forty.
LAW SOCIETY just renamed LORE society…this be same society that admitted ex deputy police commissioner rape accused to the bar??
Dewars out on patrol..sorry parole now .19months served for perversion of justice in Nicholas case,proclaiming his innocence???also his wife saying publicly she doesn’t hate Nicholas any more?
????? and john key arrives at election meeting in 150 million dollars costing military helicopter and no media mentions that? eqc shortfall is 2 billion,and those helicopters have eaten up that 2 billion in purchase/running/upgrade costs so far imho. So 3000 unpaid eqc claims less needed than pms flashy transport??? Sorry new Zealand…time for sheep to become shepherds now. Not sure I want Israeli funded whaleoil in bed with justice and prime ministers…if that’s our leadership emailing what they consider legal, WTF are they talking about privately?? Lets all just kill ourselves and make these scum redundant…I note the youth of northland have started on that task in ever increasing numbers lately. tic.
“dirty politics” mr hagar,your penchant for understatement ,is unequalled in this universe.
Have you ever considered about including a little bit more
than just your articles? I mean, what you say is valuable and everything.
However think about if you added some great visuals or videos to give your posts more, “pop”!
Your content is excellent but with pics and clips, this website could definitely be one of the greatest in its niche.
Terrific blog!
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