Comment: ‘Red Radio’ conspirators now have a smoking gun
At a select committee hearing earlier this year, National members of parliament charged Radio New Zealand with accusations of left-wing bias.
These sentiments in many ways mirror the views of social media users, who regularly refer to the broadcaster as ‘Red Radio’ in a derisory nod to a moniker used by National supporters in previous years.
The most ridiculous thing to come out of this Curran-Hirshfeld fiasco is the claim that it’s ‘proof’ that RNZ is ‘Red Radio’, in that it has a ‘left wing bias’.
What a load of bullshit!
RNZ is ‘Red Radio’ the same way I’m a ‘Blue Blogger’.
Radio NZ banned me for life because I defamed John Key. They then defamed me by claiming I had an early copy if Hager’s Dirty Politics book, a claim the Police manipulated to include me in their illegal search of me.
This is the Radio station that consistently has right wing commentators who are themselves always embroiled in Dirty Politics and who consistently breach standards on air far more damning than mine and they never get banned.
This is a station that had Lizzie Marvelly’s top 5 hated men on Twitter, Sean Plunket, as a host for 14 years for Christ’s sake!
Radio NZ had to be shamed by Willie Jackson into acknowledging they had sidelined Māori content and countered that by just pronouncing Te Reo correctly. More shallow window dressing than Tino rangatiratanga.
Remember the shameful way RNZ lynched Metiria?
Sure they have John Campbell, but let’s not forget that when he was first appointed the Wellington clique threw a Wellington wobbly and threatened to walk out on strike over his appointment.
The only difference between RNZ and the rest of the media is that RNZ is educated and as such have a depth to their reporting as opposed to a left wing ideology. It’s just when you hear RNZ it sounds different to everything else out there, they sure as Christ aren’t ‘left wing’ anymore than The Spinoff is ‘Left wing’.
The recently announced RNZ and Spinoff content share deal are a great fit because they are both perfect examples of middle class pretension masquerading as an intellectual aesthetic.
RNZ isn’t left wing, it’s elitist with a class snobbery and a misplaced sense of self-importance that imbues everything based in Wellington.
National Party MPs think RNZ is Left wing the way they think libraries are left wing, because you know, reading and stuff.
What happened between Curran and Hirshfeld isn’t ‘evidence of Red Radio‘, it was garden variety incompetence mixed with being dicks. RNZ will continue to be the elitist Ivory Radio Tower it’s always been regardless of what Curran and Hirshfeld do.
I have to say this whole drama stinks of intervention on behest of the previous political ideology status quo.
A new Minister speaks to a person who is willing to advance the broadcasting policy they campaigned on because it is clear the men who tin RNZ, one being Richard Griffin, formerly a Jim Bolger admirer and press secretary and I assume a National Party stalwart, don’t want a bar of it.
And as a last hurrah for these dinosaurs because Hirshfeld did not dot her I’s and cross her T’s she is sacked. For fuck sake!
There is a media vacuum in this country, that as we have witnessed for the previous 9 years has operated in tune with its political masters and corporate owners to do what’s right for elite of this country.
This is no scandal, it is not even a storm in a teacup. The only scandal is a decent broadcaster has been shown the door by a pair of suddenly diligent and upright public servants who lacked the balls to stand up to the previous governments attempts to run it into the ground through budget strangulation.
Who, I wonder, from Nationals good friends, benefited from buying RNZ property asset sales they flogged off, just to stay in business?
Fuck it, clear the RNZ board and executive of its Nat sympathisers and appoint Hirshfeld to the job!
There is a media vacuum in this country
na the vacuum is world wide, it’s like we don’t have an atmosphere anymore 😉
X-ray, I tend to agree with you vis-a-vis the old guard being sympathetic to National and wanting Hirschfeld out of the way. The irony is Griffen’s an old toff who’s time as chair is nearly up.
Claire Curran is incompetent and should resign.
She set up the meeting, told Carol Hirshfeld to deny it, then threw her under the bus.
So was jhonkey (incompetent) but dumb NZ-ders kept voting for him no matter how many porkies he told.
Was it the same bus key used Nick ? or another bus possibly one that hasn’t been decommissioned yet.
Or this is an over-hyped story that has no relevance to the average mn/woman in the street, Nick?? Most people wouldn’t care about this.
It’s a shame National didn’t devote this much energy to solving child poverty, low wages, and our housing crisis.
Troll tripe.
100% Martyn,
This was definitely a ‘parting attack’ by Steven joyce as he today says goodbye in parliament.
The timing was staged here, and this flurry from the right wing news hub breakfast show host Duncan Garner just laid it on so heavy in today’s breakfast show to confirm he was part of the plan to hit back at Carol Hirschfeld and RNZ at the same time just to raise the ratings for TV3-newshub you can bet.
The top man CEO of RNZ is a National plant and needs to be shoved under the bus as does the head of the board of RNZ Richard Griffin.
how many people did jhonkey throw under the bus?
And got a bloody knighthood for it as well!
Labour so far are underachieving at being a “warm, caring, “inclusive” gentle, transparent government as jacinda promised us, as she fought the election by saying this at her town hall speech but we still await for this and achieve these promises.
It appears the MP,s inside Jacinda’s caucus is letting her down as we saw happen with Donald Trump also but trump removed “ineffective politicians” and now surprisingly his approval rating in a poll today was at 42% and the report says this is a string signal he is being now accepted by the voters.
Perhaps Jacinda needs to have a crisis meeting with her caucus and play back her first speech at Auckland’s town hall at the start of her election time and tell her ministers to listen to her speech every day before parliament and honour her promises we voted for?
Yes Morning Report was particularly obnoxious this morning
…Missy Lee gunning for Clare Curran and sounding like a hissing snake ( Guyon lapping it up)
… and then Mr American intelligence spokesperson (spy?) par excellence gunning for Jacinda Ardern and particularly Winston Peters (Guyon lapping it up) for not doing a witch hunt on the Russians and routing out spies
( despite there being lack of motive and evidence that the Russians poisoned Skripal…and it could have been many other countries , enemies of Russia, with far greater motive to setup the Russians)
https://www.rt.com/news/422514-zeman-skripal-uk-facts/
https://www.rt.com/news/422501-italy-russian-diplomat-expulsion/
https://www.rt.com/usa/422418-skripal-poisoning-pretext-coordinated/
( Helen Clarke’s finest hour imo was holding the line against USA /British propaganda that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and resisting the pressure of declaring war and invading Iraq…As it turned out it was a USA and British lie and setup which resulted in an international war crime and humanitarian disaster….)
Guyon Espiner gave so much airtime to these two and was totally bereft of critical thinking and questioning…NOT high quality journalism!….RNZ listeners deserve better!
Labour are not good at PR at all and had better buy the best avaible help right now before their poll ratings sink.
Someone else referred to these also;
The media bs beat up over Clare Curran and Carol Hirschfeld.
Seems to be getting headline treatment and we even have opinion pieces front page from the likes of Brigitte Morten of all people……………… sigh!
Meanwhile the whole saga of Finlayson V Kim Dotcom slides awaaaaay……
Meanwhile the whole saga of rotting hospitals slides awaaaaay………..
Meanwhile the whole saga of willful neglect of infrastructure by National slides awaaaay…………
Labour needs to up their game in the whole PR battle, they’re currently getting a right shafting
All these issues need RNZ deep journalistic investigations going on or RNZ is ineffective as a good broadcaster.
shame on Guyon and Suzie!
Impossible. Incapable.
It was a relief to have Kim Hill, Todd Niall, and Philippa Tolley on these past few days.
RNZ is totally unequipped to deal with any international news connected with the foreign policy dictates of our 5 Eyes partners
I don’t know who Kim Hill’s researchers are, but they totally failed to inform her on all the evidence out there that Bill Browder may very well be a fraud, only given credence because of his political usefulness in driving Magnitsky Acts among the 5 eyes partners.
I’d like to hear Andrei Nekrasov interviewed. His doco on the” Magnitsky Act, behind the scenes ” has Browder transparently showing himself up as a fraud
Similarly , her interviews with Peter Pomarantsev,Luke Harding, Michael Wollf, indicate a woeful lack of impartial research of the subjects
https://pando.com/2015/05/17/neocons-2-0-the-problem-with-peter-pomerantsev/
https://100r.org/2017/10/magnitsky/
We always prided ourselves on not being like the poor Pravda dupes of the Soviet Union.The pendulum has swung
Nowadays it seems we do not want to have a fully informed populace, there is a foreign policy agenda and that trumps intelligent, informed and even handed discussion
And for pointing that out, I stand by for the accusations of being a Putin/Assad/Trump worshipper
Thats how far we’ve sunk, and RNZ is no help
RNZ is a propaganda outlet for business-as-usual industrialism and commercialism, which means money-lender sponsored looting and polluting of NZ and the rest of the planet. Hence the complete failure by RNZ to address Peak Oil and Abrupt Climate change, as well as all the other issues it consistently fails to address.
“Peak Oil” is entirely rhetoric (and you likely know this). Firstly there are constantly more viable extractable oil reserves being found (e.g. fracking and oil sands) which have massively increased recoverable reserves for the foreseeable future. Secondly, as electric vehicles become more mainstream, I expect the amount of oil required to keep transport viable to decrease, despite population growth and taking into account the fossil fuels needed to generate the power needed to recharge the batteries.
https://www.bp.com/en/global/corporate/energy-economics/statistical-review-of-world-energy.html
Page 12 basically refutes most of the hype surrounding “Peak Oil”. Viable oil reserves are increasing, not decreasing. I guess you have “alternative facts” from those that are actually producing it(?).
Whom does this shit benefit most?
The National Party.
They get to lob countless hand grenades at an increasingly naive and incompetent government with minimal effort. You can bet your backside that this crap will feature in National’s abolition of public broadcasting when they resume the government benches.
Because of RNZ’s toadying up to elitism there will be little sympathy for them from the great unwashed giving the Natz free rein yet again.
Tossers…
RNZ is not left wing in a real political sense, but in comparison to Newstalk ZB and the “panelbeater” stations, it is not as far right as those ‘talkback Taliban’ programmes
Maggie Barry and Mike Hosking had their time at RNZ too, and Kathryn Ryan sounds like an old fashioned tory to me, there are extensive archives of treasures and NZ history kept at RNZ which make it worthwhile, and its ratings rise will nonetheless have the right wing worried and they will be trying to neutralise any progressive tendencies under the new government
Is there no one in all the right-wing world who can spin the spin and emote the Outrage – other than the gloaty Mr Hooten?
Left-leaners come and go; he goes on and on and on forever.
Wellington-centric? Only an Aucklander could think so… Do we HAVE to listen to the endless moaning on about Auckland’s poor governing decisions – on transport, port management, poisonous suburbs, in-fighting. Neighbours from hell is an understatement.
And as for that trope about ‘what’s good for Auckland is good for the rest of the country…’ (so stand and deliver). Pinocchio – your nose is past the south end of Stewart Island by now and on its way to the subbies. Hush, little puppet. Hush.
The difference being, Red Radio is a state broadcaster, MSM, whilst political bloggers are not, they are just part of the murky internet, echo chambers of agreement, in most cases. Red Radio is certainly left wing, as is all Western MSM. As for this govt, how soon before it collapses under the weight of scandals galore? So much for being open and transparent,let alone being good for NZ.
Spot on Sonja, on all points.
Its funny we cant have “Red Radio ” should such a thing have ever existed but we can have ” Blue Radio ” and right wing current affairs on TVNZ.
What a twisted evil little country this is when we cant have a different political opinion catered for because it is not acceptable to the ruling elite.
NZ is a right wing state with no freedom of expression unless it conforms with the opinion of people like Hosking and others.
So much for the freedom of expression and tolerance.
the real reason the nationals hate RNZ is because in their best moments RNZ is fair and truth telling whereas the natural way of the nationals is lying, half truths, obfuscation and any other red herring that is convenient.
The nationals have an innate ability to lie when it comes to their interests and it is hope that the $38 million injection will go a long way to expanding the abillity of RNZ to be a more effective news gathering source and truth teller. and if they conjure up a new tv channel to show more documentaries and material off US PBS. the lack of in depth programming over the whole of nz media is a national disgrace and a glance at the tv listings from the NYtimes or the London Times shows just what we are missing out on. ps getting rid of the senile richard griffin would be a great start.
“RNZ isn’t left wing, it’s elitist with a class snobbery and a misplaced sense of self-importance”
Isn’t that the very definition of left wing?
Spot on, just as the Guardian is left wing.
Nope. If you could actually talk about socialism and reform with out being a victim and give general tips to your friends who are trying to be a useful idiot, this would be a good place to look for new meaning in your life.
Bomber, I can’t buy your argument that RNZ is elitist. Sure, it’s Wellington-centric just as TVNZ is Auckland-centric. But to call it elitist suggests that is either accessible to a few or high-brow in its content. Or both. It’s neither.
It is diverse in its content, just as the ABC and BBC are. That’s not elitist.
The only RNZ programme or show that I find purile and elitist is The Panel with Jim Snora, by way of who gets invited.
It’s populated with people who work in or around the news media or politics. The fact that the Peacock in a Bow Tie is still invited to wax lyrical makes me sick. And Michelle ‘bag of wind’ Boag, the pompous Brian Edwards, Bernard Hickey with his fake economics, and so on.
Where’s taxi driver from Te Atau, the teacher from Tokaroa or the taxidermist from Tarris? I’d like to hear their perspectives – not the worn-out popular wisdom of cranky old establishment types and dead in the water neo-libs.
Besides Bomber, how can any media outlet that has Karen Hay hosting a slot be called ‘elitist’?
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