TDB Media + Politics Awards 2015 – The Year of Silencing Journalists

 

Toby Manhire has managed to articulate the end of the year horror from a liberal perspective perfectly…

As far as political drama is concerned, 2015 has felt like a thudding bloody hangover. The election of 2014 was an unprecedented, unimaginable binge on every available intoxicant, a blurred phantasmagoria of a campaign, peopled by unhinged attack bloggers, outlaw internet tycoons and even – down one of the psychedelic side-alleys – Eminem.

After the brief March excitements of the Northland byelection – hair of the dog, call it – it’s been one of the years where you want to nurse your exhausted self under the duvet, watching boxset television, occasionally recalling things that seem barely plausible. Edward Snowden live from Russia on the big screen in the Auckland Town Hall? Surely not

The 2015 hangover has been painful, too: a half-sleeping fever dream filled with blasts of garish, headache-inducing colours waved in your face, as if there were some sort of malevolent, ceaseless amateur flag design contest under way.

…I still can’t dream in colour since the 2014 loss. The sudden impact of knowing the majority of those who bothered voting rallied to the political sadism of Key makes you feel like a stranger in your own home.

I had no idea inflated housing valuations could excuse so much.

2015 has been a year of full spectrum dominance for the National Party. Privatisation of social services are now at full speed. Private Prisons, Charter Schools and State House sales are being ramped up while CYFs, Health and Local Councils are next on the chopping block.

As the economy continues to tank, unemployment climb and the property bubble expand at an eye watering pace, National’s ability to con NZers that the nations budget is the same as the household budget means cutting back on social services by privatising them becomes an obvious solution.

TINA (there is no alternative) becomes TIOA (there is obvious alternative).

Renters, Maori, beneficiaries, prisoners, students, women, the poor, refugees, NZers in Australian Detention, 305 000 kids in poverty and the 5.9% unemployed were all left behind by National this year while the property speculators, the corporates who benefit from the TPPA, Serco, Charter schools and the rich prospered as luxuriously as John Key’s son on Spring Break.

The harshest blow was reserved for those who held the Government to account. 2015 was the Year of Silencing Journalists.

• Nicky Hager had his home raided and his rights abused.
• Campbell Live was killed off for politically motivated reasons
• Dita De Boni and 3D were axed
• Resignations from Native Affairs s for editorial interference
• Jon Stephenson’s out of court settlement with the NZDF who had defamed him to weaken his criticisms of the SAS in Afghanistan.
• Bradley Ambrose’s defamation case against the PM.

By losing so many critical voices on broad media platforms lessens the quality of our democracy and makes it far easier to manipulate the electorate. When our watchdogs are lapdogs, a Government can push through anything.

Without further ado, here are TDB’s political and media awards 2015.

Worst Current Affairs Panel: The Nation & Paul Henry

On The Nation, they have a remarkable talent of selecting really weak representatives of the left wing and put them up against really strong commentators on the right. It’s about as fair as a 3 year old baby facing off against Art Green in the boxing ring. Paul Henry on the other hand only has 3 left wing people on his panel in an entire month of shows so its a tie between the unbalanced and nonexistant.

Most biased media network: MediaWorks

Mark Weldon’s connections to National always made the killing off of Campbell Live a political decision and not business one.

Fran O’Sullivan, hardly a card carrying member of the Communist Party, acknowledges that ending Campbell Live was politically motivated…

Campbell Live’s producers — and the MediaWorks news hierarchy — have stood staunchly by their star during the periods of occasional outright Government hostility.

But with new management at MediaWorks, the driving considerations have changed. Within the senior commercial world, it is said that when Mark Weldon applied for the top job at MediaWorks he drew on his relationship with Key and the public-spirited work he did outside of his prior role as chief executive of the stock exchange such as chairing an economic summit after the GFC to help build credibility for a role in a sector in which he had no prior experience.

He was also passionate about the role media could play in ensuring success of the broader New Zealand Inc.

The issue is whether his strong — and very loyal — relationship with Key has clouded his view as to the extent to which a strong media protagonist like Campbell should challenge a personal friend.

MediaWorks is of course Steven Joyce’s old company and the $43million loan the Government gave MediaWorks at an interest rate the company couldn’t get on the open market seems to have paid off an incredible dividend.

There will be those who claim this is just commercial. Seeing the huge amount of help the Government has given this private foreign owned media company, and seeing the dominance lax media regulation has given MediaWorks in our media landscape, one would argue their obligation to providing a critical fourth estate is higher to us than their profit share for their corporate overlords.

The neoliberalism Weldon aspires to demands the public broadcasting sphere is splintered and fractured so individualism and fake choice kill off any actual critical space that threatens to highlight the inequalities that choke democracy. Corporate Feudalism requires the next generation are brainless consumers, not aware citizens.

The most terrifying reality of this truth was spelt out in an interview with MediaWorks …

“We put news on, but only because it rates. And we sell advertising around news. This is what this is all about.”

Not, ‘we put on news because it’s a fundamental part of our fourth estate responsibilities to the free democracy we enjoy’, oh no. We just put it on to rate, so TV3 would then presumably play to the bigotry and ignorance of the largest percentage of that audience to make money right?

The network bosses decision to give Weldon another year’s contract after the meltdown that has become Scout suggests a level of management at a Titanic magnitude. Story has failed to rate, Paul Henry has failed to rate and their current affairs is seen as a joke. MediaWorks are a candidate for self-mutilation of the year.

Worst Journalist 2015: Rachel Glucina 

This was Amanda Bailey’s comment to Rachel Glucina’s exclusive scoop for the NZ Herald the day after her blog on the Prime Minister touching her was posted on TDB…

Earlier today, in good faith, I agreed to meet with my employers to address a side of this I hadn’t previously considered in too much detail, besides the obvious nuisance of reporters – the speculation that they failed to take appropriate action to protect me in my place of work. They asked me to meet with them at their home and join a conversation, via speaker-phone, with a concerned friend of theirs who worked in Public Relations. Their friend, Rachel, was concerned with how seriously this would effect their business, and wanted a better understanding of the situation, so that, together, we could proof and agree upon a statement to be released to the media by my employers themselves. A statement clarifying that I took issue with John’s behaviour, and that only, and not with them as my employers; that I had no intention of claiming any negligence on their part. We agreed that it would also be good to have a photo together to show that we had a good relationship and harboured no ill feelings, and for this sole purpose only.

Out of respect for my employers, and what seemed like their genuine concern for my well-being along with the future of their business (a business doing good things which I fully support), they introduced me to Rachel, by name as the employee behind the story, and Rachel said she would put together a statement for us to proof. We then waited for the e-mail she had promised so that we could look over what she had penned and discuss it further. Eventually a final statement would be agreed upon and my employers would personally forward that to any media. We waited. And waited. And waited. Questions were asked of me by Rachel, under the guise of a Public Relations expert working confidentially for my employer, and all responses given were with the effect of trying to separate clearly that the issue was a personal issue (personal, not political) with the way I had been treated by John, and not at all an issue with my employers, or their management of the situation, which they had not even been made aware of prior to Wednesday. ALL ANSWERS WERE GIVEN TO THE EFFECT OF TRYING TO HIGHLIGHT THIS DIFFERENCE.

As we waited for Rachel to e-mail the draft proof one of my employers read aloud to the other Rachel’s e-mail address. It began… RACHEL.GLUCINA and alarm bells went off. Sounded familiar, and I felt sick to my stomach – more than you’d ever imagine, a feeling I simply could not ignore. I gave in to my instinct and googled the name on my phone and one of the leading headlines that came up read “Who is Rachel Glucina and why is John Key always phoning her up?”. I questioned my employers over her name and they admitted that, yes, she works for the New Zealand Herald, but she was doing this as a favour for them for their personal use and not in her capacity as a journalist. I asked how well they knew her, if they trusted her, and they claimed they were confident in their judgement of her character, yet everything about this felt so so wrong. Rachel contacted them again and we expressed that I felt extremely uncomfortable with the discussions that had taken place as any comments I had made were made in confidence and good faith under the understanding that I was discussing an employment issue with a public relations specialist and had absolutely no knowledge whatsoever that the person my employers had requested I speak with, who was so determinedly trying to put the word “political” in my mouth, was a “feared” and “loathed” journalist from the New Zealand Herald.

Rachel’s story changed. RAPIDLY. Now she couldn’t possibly supply us with a proof because she would lose her job. She was absolutely acting in her capacity as a journalist for the New Zealand Herald and claimed that my employers had known all along, which they denied. I made it absolutely clear that all and any comments I had made were given under false pretences, not to mention completely out of context, and questioned whether her supposed story would still be published if I withheld my permission. Rachel simply responded that she would come back to us and read to us what was to be published, although she had no control over editors and sub-editors, and that she had to get in touch with the Prime Ministers office, and then they quickly ended the conversation. I later contacted my employers reiterating that I revoked any permission to use my photo or comments for any press release, and my disappointment that I had been mislead to such a gross degree whilst having my identity knowingly confirmed with the New Zealand Herald at the same time.

This must have been the “fun and games” that John was referring to; and as for the credibility of the New Zealand Herald if this is how they obtain their ‘exclusive interviews’ – no comment.

The Press Council would later issue one of their most damning rulings against a Newspaper for such a terrible lack of journalistic ethics.

Journalist of the Year: John Campbell

A long long time ago
I can still remember how
John Campbell made me smile
And I knew if he had his chance
He could make those politicians dance
Even after they had left spitting bile

But last April made me quiver
When Julie Christie began to slither
Poor ratings on the Throng Blog
and Rachel Glucina being an attack dog

I can’t remember if I cried
When I read that the show was being fried
Something touched us all deep inside
The day Campbell Live died
So

Bye, bye Aotearoa Pie
Drove my Mazda to NZ on Air but NZ on Air had died
Walden and Joyce were thinking risky goodbye
Singin’ this’ll be the way real news dies
This’ll be the way real news dies

Did you watch his show on GE?
When Helen Clark called him a little creep?
Even Russell Brown said so.
Did you believe that John Key Troll
claiming no Mass Surveillance role
And Campbell rolling his eyes real slow

Well, I know that we’re in love with him
‘Cause we’ve donated cash beyond the brim
We’ve all kicked off our blues
Whenever he’s followed the 6pm news

We were a lonely nation, a sitting duck
With the rich screwing us out of luck
But I knew we were really fucked
The day Campbell Live died
It’s started stingin’

Bye, bye Aotearoa Pie
Drove my Mazda to NZ on Air but NZ on Air had died
Walden and Joyce were thinking risky goodbye
Singin’ this’ll be the way real news dies
This’ll be the way real news dies

Now, for ten years he’s been in our home
Christchurch earthquake, Child poverty and combat zones
But, that’s not how the CEO want’s it to be

When Mark Walden sang for his king John Key
With a loan he got from the Ministry
He denied the voice that came from you and me

And while king John was looking down
Jono and Ben stole Campbells crown
The audience felt burned
No respect was earned

And while Henry read a book on hate
Hosking practiced for a slave state
And we all realised it was too late
The day Campbell Live died
It’s started stingin’

Bye, bye Aotearoa Pie
Drove my Mazda to NZ on Air but NZ on Air had died
Walden and Joyce were thinking risky goodbye
Singin’ this’ll be the way real news dies
This’ll be the way real news dies

Helter skelter in a ratings smelter
Key’s friends feed the rumour centre
3 terms long and falling fast

National started to harass
The viewers feared what was to pass
With Slater on the sidelines to lambaste

Now the 6 week review saw ratings bloom
but Mark Weldon wanted the show doomed
We all got up to dance
But Campbell Live never had a chance

‘Cause the management wanted to keep concealed
truths John Campbell continued to reveal
do you recall what fate we’ve sealed
the day Campbell Live died?
It’s started stingin’

Bye, bye Aotearoa Pie
Drove my Mazda to NZ on Air but NZ on Air had died
Walden and Joyce were thinking risky goodbye
Singin’ this’ll be the way real news dies
This’ll be the way real news dies

There we were, all in one place
an entire Generation misplaced
with no voice to call our own

Key was nimble and Key was quick
killing public broadcasting off with a flick
cause silence is National’s only friend

I watched Key on the election stage
my hopes and dreams chained in a cage
no press gallery journalist could yell
and break this Satan’s spell

And as the public sphere sank beneath the waves
replaced with the voices of right wing slaves
I saw National laughing amongst the graves
the day Campbell Live died
Key was singin’

Bye, bye Aotearoa Pie
Drove my Mazda to NZ on Air but NZ on Air had died
Walden and Joyce were thinking risky goodbye
Singin’ this’ll be the way real news dies
This’ll be the way real news dies

I met a child who’d eaten no food
and I asked her for some happy news
but she just cried and turned away

I went down to Pike River Mine and Gore
Where I’d heard people’s pain years before
But they said no one would speak for them anymore

And in Christchurch the people screamed
the insured wept and the buildings leaned
but not a word was spoken
all the hopes there had been broken

And the three journalists I admire the most
Nicky Hager, Jon Stephenson and Glenn Greenwald are toast
for a right wing media who have shifted all the goal posts
the day Campbell Live died.

And we were singing

Bye, bye Aotearoa Pie
Drove my Mazda to NZ on Air but NZ on Air had died
Walden and Joyce were thinking risky goodbye
Singin’ this’ll be the way real news dies
This’ll be the way real news dies

Best News: One Network News

One News has gone from strength to strength. Straight shooting journalists like Corin Dann, Katie Bradford, Barbara Dreaver, Michael Parkin and Greg Boyed are now joined online by Andrea Vance and Dita De Boni to produce some of the best and most balanced journalism in the country. Their ability to hold the powerful to account has been professional and respectful with none of the blood sport feeding frenzy Brooke Sabin and Patrick Gower bring to the profession.

Best News Presenter: Mike McRoberts

Mike has all the charm of George Clooney with the intelligence of Edward R Murrow. He is respected and a leader in his craft. As a journalist Mike brings to the role a credibility you can’t buy. If TV3 can’t see that they are truly doomed.

 

Best Current Affairs: Q+A

With the obvious bias of TV3 you can’t take The Nation seriously any longer. Why any politician would risk going on The Nation to be ripped to pieces by Patrick Gower makes no sense because very few people watch the program. Far better to be on Q+A and face direct but fair questions. Straight shooting by Dann has built a real respectability and quality.

 

Best new feature of NZ media landscape: Spinoff & Villainesse 

There was much to mourn in the media, but two glimmers of hope were Spinoff and  Villainesse. Both are intelligent must read daily blogs.

 

Best columnist: Andrea Vance & Dita De Boni

TVNZ have intelligently picked up Andrea Vance and Dita De Boni as columnists, and they are this years best. Every column by each of them contain more genuine insight than most of the other news media combined.

Worst Column: John Roughan

There were no doubts the worst columnist for 2015 was Roughen, trying to work out which one was his worst however was near impossible. There was the time that John thought this about climate change…

if the worst that can happen is a rise of a metre in sea levels and a few degrees in mean temperatures over a century, I think we’ll cope.

The climate does seem to be changing. Auckland’s past two summers have been unusually long and lovely, this winter is unusually cold. Droughts and floods we can handle.

Science says otherwise, but not the sort of science that sends a probe to Pluto. Climate science is on a political mission.

That may be more exciting, more lucrative possibly, but I find all sciences more credible when their mission is the endless one into the unknown.

Only a man so welded to the current system of privilege could wilfully claim climate change will only lead to a meter rise in sea level and a few degrees increase in heat.

How this dinosaur manages to use a keyboard is beyond me. The science says no such thing John, the science says there is a growing possibility of catastrophic climate change and trying to determine ‘political science’ from ‘good science’ in the manner you have only further succeeds in highlighting your total disconnection from reality.

Pluto is more grounded to down town Auckland than John Roughan managed in that column.

His worst column of the year though had to go to his weird hatred of Sonny Bill Williams. Why anyone would want to rain on Sonny’s magnanimous gesture by handing his medal over to a young fan who was tackled by security is beyond all reasonableness. You read that column and the naked anger Roughan dished out said far more about the way Roughen views Muslims than any disingenuousness on SBWs side.

 

Best Party Leader: Andrew Little

Little has managed to hold the Labour team together tightly enough so that they are all more frightened of him than each other. The demotion of Cunliffe was as much a warning to everyone else as much as it was a fear Cunliffe’s oratory talents would overshadow Little’s. Little ended a very successful year for Labour’s rebuild. Polls have them at 31% (internal says 33%) and the infighting has been cauterised. The significance of Little’s first year is that instead of Key sleepwalking to a fourth term it will be a challenge. Little has done better than members, media and pundits expected and that has helped build him. While some could argue that Winston should have been awarded Best Party Leader for his win in Northland, it would be a one sided review of that by-election. Winston was always going to wipe the floor with the local chump they got to front the National Party campaign and Key’s taking of the provinces for granted was always ripe for political harvest. The only people this seemed a surprise to was the National Government.

Worst Party Leader: James Shaw

Dr Invisible  hasn’t had much impact post a series of blunders. He tried to force the Greens to vote for pub opening hours so as to not seem like fun police, only to have a minor revolt by his caucus vote against it. He soured relations with Labour over the Red Peak shanking and he’s made very little impact in Parliament. Caucus has taken back some of the power however and strong ties between Labour and the Greens are apace despite it clouding Shaw’s Blue-Green aspirations. Needs to spark in 2016 or risks spluttering out.

Best NZ comedy: Funny Girls and that Jaquie Brown TV advert:

Funny Girls is easily the best comedy of 2015. The wave of angry reviews from boys not enjoying being the butt of the joke for once was almost as funny. More of this please. Jaquie Brown’s advert for gravy is also the funniest thing ever broadcast this year.

 

Performer of the Year & Best TV Show: Parris Goebel

Wow. Just. Wow. Amazing! Parris moves bodies in a way that is utterly unique. A national treasure – her TV show on Maori TV is the best of the year.

Best Commercial Radio Station: Hauraki

Matt Heath, Jeremy Wells, Angelina Boyd, Mikey Havoc and the Late Night Breakfast crew mixed with alt 90s rock. Heaven really.

 

Worst Commercial Radio Station: The Edge

The Edge are a depoliticised wasteland where a multi-millionaire money trader can waltz onto a youth station and  rather than face the wrath of youth being betrayed, he gets to wear a T-Shirt mocking Cunliffe’s statement on domestic violence and sexual abuse while the gormless hosts grin on. The Edge is to quality radio what I Love Ugly is to feminism.

 

Best TV comedy: Soul Mates & Kinne

The two funniest comedies that you need to be watching right now are new Australian comedy shows,  Kinne and Soul Mates on Comedy Central.

All we’ve had in terms of recent Australian comedy in NZ is Housos which manages to be as offensive as it is gross as it is racist as it is sexist so the bar has been set pretty low, but the genius of Kinne and Soul Mates manages to forgive at least a century’s worth of bad Australian comedy.

Kinne is bewilderingly funny. His ‘what if life was like Facebook’ is genius and his unfortunate bets gag is a joy. I’ve never laughed so much in 30minutes, Kinne is an Ozzie adonis with a wit larger than Tasmania.

Soul Mates is very clever humour, their time travelling story, their prehistoric Australians gag is brilliant and their hipster characters are so hipster it hurts but their ‘Kiwi Assassins’ from the Munistry of Defence is so perfectly Nu Zilind I laughed so hard I cried.

Comedy shows like Kinne and Soul Mates are very rare.

Best Twitter 2015: Hamish Keith

Simply one of the most decent human beings on Twitter if not the world. Always punches up.

Best News Story: Matt Nippert

A standing ovation to Matt Nippert in the NZ Herald for this astounding story of abuse at the hands of a state backed boot camp…

‘Forced to dig their own graves’
Young people sent to a state-run boot camp on Great Barrier Island were made to dig what they were told would be their own graves and concerned staff blowing the whistle were ignored, according to a Weekend Herald investigation.

Residents of the camp were allegedly subjected to a culture described as akin to Lord of the Flies that resulted in one boy circumcising himself with a blunt knife in order to leave the island.

The incidents have come to light following long-delayed High Court claims by nearly 40 residents of Whakapakari Youth Trust alleging horrific mistreatment between 1988 and 2004 at the Child, Youth and Family-contracted facility.

The claims, brought by Wellington law firm Cooper Legal, have languished for nearly ten years in the legal system and are still without a court date, sparking claims the Government is trying to cover up the serious mistreatment of children.

…the idea that as little as a decade ago we were funding abusive boot camps where children were hurt and abused is as jaw dropping as the Government’s constant attempt to bury this case and hide how badly treated these kids were.

Bootcamps don’t work, they merely sate the anger of the ill educated to give younger generations a kick up the bum to satisfy their own insecurities and chips on shoulder.

Nippert’s excellent piece of journalism follows another extraordinary piece penned by Jared Savage as he contextualises the appalling life of the young man who killed Henderson dairy owner Arun Kumar. It is difficult to see that young persons horrific past and not feel that as a society we have let that young killer down as badly as Arun Kumar’s family was let down.

The lack of care we subject the young and damaged to should be a national shame, the fact that a stupid flag debate has been allowed to take so much media attention away from the way we are treating them is an indictment upon us as a community.

I very rarely have anything pleasant to say about the NZ Herald, but their coverage of those two stories are surely some of the best journalism the paper has done this year.

TDB Activist of the Year 2015: Helen Kelly

Helen Kelly has been a human rights crusader all her life. She is a hero in the Union movement and does more to stand for worker rights than most Governments ever have. Her battle against the constant war on workers waged by John Key and the National Government over the last 7 years has been tireless and her call for real safety legislation so workers can come home after a long day at work makes her a national treasure.

She has done more than most Union Presidents to reach out and engage and her activism to highlight how the Government watered down the recent health and safety laws demands respect.

News that she is fighting Cancer shook the activist world in NZ, but in the usual Helen Kelly style, she is taking a new battle in her stride and that battle is to demand change in NZs ridiculous cannabis laws…

Terminally ill Council of Trade Unions (CTU) president Helen Kelly plans to ask the government for permission to legally access cannabis oil for cancer pain relief.

“I’m actually going to write to Peter Dunne, who’s got permission to give me cannabis oil, and I’m going to ask him to do that,” Kelly told TV3’s The Nation on Saturday.

Having exhausted legal pain relief medicines, she was “brassed off” about having to go onto the black market for cannabis oil because “you don’t know what you’re getting”.

…we are almost alone now in the developed world to refuse to acknowledge the medical benefits of cannabis. Our denial at the harm cannabis prohibition creates borders on the delusional. Apart from criminalising people like Helen seeking pain relief via cannabis oil, we lock NZers up for pipes, bongs and cannabis for personal use like never before.

TDB New Zealander of the Year 2015: Jane Kelsey 

Jane’s leadership against the TPPA has been extraordinary. She has re-engaged the responsibilities of public academics. In an environment where political interests are threatening academic freedom, her courage to take a stand for NZ is even more impressive. The manner in which she destroyed Mike Hosking in less than 8minutes was one of the most popular blogs TDB did this year.

 

 

Best Political Story 2015: The Waitress and the Prime Minister

I think the young woman at the centre of the Prime Minister’s bewilderingly abusive and arrogant privilege is a hero. Amanda Bailey showed courage and fortitude that is pretty rare. To tell the Prime Minister to his face to stop touching her took enormous strength when you consider the power dynamics.

I would offer the story of the Waitress and the Prime Minister as the most important political story of 2015 because it did three important things.

The first thing it did was show the Prime Minister acting like a bully. Enjoying his power over an obviously resistant worker who made it clear she didn’t want to be touched on over 10 separate occasions isn’t just a quirk, it’s a mindset.

The authenticity of Amanda’s story touched a nerve with the many women and men who go to work daily and are bullied. They knew what she had written was true because it merged so seamlessly with their own experiences.

Before this story broke, Key was always in the 40s for preferred PM, after this story he sunk into the 30s and never recovered. Amanda’s courage to stand up to bullying did more to damage John Key than the entire Political Opposition combined.

The second thing this story did was spark a fierce debate by women for women about their experiences of being bullied in the work place. The realisation that this is so widespread and that males also experience bullying managed to expand the debate and find common cause in a unique way.

The third thing this story did was highlight the manner in which some in the mainstream media operate and manipulate news. Rachel Glucina’s deception mixed the already murky world of journalist/pr consultant while managing to paint Amanda out as an extremist. The Herald knew this and did nothing. Mike Hosking attacked Amanda for going to a blog, yet we saw what credibility the mainstream had when they got hold of the story. The communication between the owners of the cafe, Rachel and the Prime Minister’s Office on the day the blog broke is a story yet to be told.

It also showed the power of blogs to not only unearth stories, but get them out to readers minus the tainted interests of gatekeeper media.

With critical Journalists being driven from the mainstream, we here at TDB are considering launching our own weeknightly live streamed current affairs show next year. We are thinking 7.01pm Monday-Friday so that you all have a chance to see what weak sauce Story & 7 Sharp are serving up before switching us on. It’ll be a progressive politics show reviewing the news of the day because this year proved a large chunk of intelligent viewers are being utterly ignored by TV.

We can blame the media or be the media.

More details next year.