Mainstream media desperately pump corporate “business as usual” messages to swamp and sideline alternative voices

By
John Minto
-
50
1465

Mainstream media have always pumped up corporate voices to crowd out alternatives and this last week they have been at it harder than usual.

Stuff has headlined Helen Clark calling for privatising of quarantine with the aim to bring in more people to meet corporate needs while the New Zealand Herald is trumpeting John Key saying we need to reopen the border and let in ‘rich’ Americans who want to build a house. Just a normal week’s work.

Meanwhile in a nausea-inducing move the Ardern government has put chief co-ordinator of the corporate response to the pandemic, Rob Fyfe, on the government payroll to provide advice and guidance on the covid response.

This is the same corporate media, and their political representatives, which chanted “there is no alternative” as successive government privatised public assets, destroyed local industries, smashed unions, undermined public services, ripped apart the welfare state, enriched the mega wealthy and drove tens of thousands into poverty from 1984.

Now the corporate sector are worried the rule of the rich could be destabilised by the coronavirus pandemic and they are desperate to get back to “business as usual” with its myriad social, environmental and economic problems. Ongoing poverty and inequality are necessary for the rich to continue to enrich themselves at our expense.

So alongside amplifying the voices at the big end of town the mainstream corporate media are doing their best to stifle and sideline alternative voices. For example the Alternative Aotearoa seminar held on 25 July was ignored – not a paragraph in any mainstream media.

There were no headlines calling for full employment, a decent state house-building programme (currently the state house waiting list is increasing at twice the rate Labour are building state houses) or the rebuilding of our health system.

The wide range of national organisations and the rich vein of alternative possibilities was sidelined and disregarded. Better to champion the pathetic voices of the mega rich via John Key than assist a wider debate about alternatives to “business as usual”.

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Expect to see more of this desperate corporate pumping of “business as usual” from the likes of the Herald and Stuff in the coming months as they fight valiantly for the rich.

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50 COMMENTS

  1. They don’t just sideline alternative voices, increasingly they are sidelining basic world news! We get a tiny drivel of one or two items of what is actually happening in the world on any day. Even major world events are given the short shift – a one to two minute mention. They show some horrific event, followed immediately by someone laughing and joking – not just the ugly ads, but the commentator rushing on to the next “cutesy” item. We don’t get real world news any more, not in any proportional way. So we live in an increasingly artificially presented world. We as a nation are in serious danger of losing touch with reality. imho

  2. John Key being wheeled out yet again to spout off his perspective is truly nauseating especially when his perspective exactly mirrors that of the National Party in an election campaign. It’s nothing more than a party political broadcast on behalf of National designed to undermine the Government and make it appear National have all the right answers. Hasn’t the man done enough damage to NZ? Has he forgotten that he actually very suddenly retired from politics for “whatever reason”?

    He tells the audience and more importantly the TV cameras that Covid-19 is no longer a health crisis, it’s an economic crisis. Oh far koff! It’s both and always has been. Just because we apparently don’t have community transmission at this time does not mean it’s no longer a health crisis. Go take your logic and bullshit to Victoria or the United States etc.

    Interoperate Key’s words how you will but they parallel those of Judith Collins.

    “Labour has done a good enough job managing the Covid health crisis but that’s all over now. NZ is now in economic crisis and as you all know from our brainwashing, National of course are the best and only equipped party to deal with the economic crisis”

    As for opening the borders to Chinese students and a foreign workforce. That is for our Government to decide if and when. They are managing the border carefully and prudently with all the relevant data….NOT arrogant John Key and the National Party who like always are adamant they know best. Most accept we have a growing issue with unemployment so Key’s answer again is to again dismiss the local workforce when they most need employment and again fill positions with an offshore workforce….so please treasonous John Key, take all your suitcases full of cash, farcical knighthood and go to a faraway land and retire, never to be seen again.

    • Yep the benefit of a corporate lame St media owned and controlled by the uber wealthy and there PURELY for the benefit of the same people.
      Propaganda at it’s most cynical.
      p.s. Here’s hoping Rob Fyfe’s appointment IS NOT a sign that Jacinda is just another Blairite.

      • +1 to all that @JF and @KB.
        I for one am VERY concerned when I hear H. Clark advocating for private sector involvement in border control (https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/300075184/coronavirus-helen-clark-wants-full-inquiry-into-nzs-covid19-response)
        The myth of the private sector being “better/cheaper/faster” than the public sector has been well and truly popped over the last 30 years.
        There are some very unwelcome loud voices in the govts ear at the moment.
        Take note Labour – your supporters are giving you a once-in-a-lifetime chance to begin repairing the damage wrought by Rogernomics if the polls are correct.

        Chicken out, and you won’t see the Govt benches again for a VERY long time.

        • Hmmm would not count on it and or hold your breath for anything transformational from Ardern…and I’m referring to her comments earlier this week telling kiwis not to expect any big policy announcements or plan or vision or anything really except of course what they have already announced and done to date which is basically already banked and spent so there you go.

    • I’m so fucking sick of John Key. I wish he’d just fuck off to Hawaii and bloody stay there. You’ve had your turn, John. It was nine long years of unrelenting misery, interspersed with you not recalling things, and touching up women (and small girls) with ponytails. You’re a dishonest creep and we’d all be better off without your ‘contribution’.

      • You could say exactly the same thing about Aunty Helen. Appointing her to a WHO inquiry into China’s culpability in the coronavirus pandemic is like appointing Jack the Ripper to a health board inquiry.

    • I’d be more inclined to think that he is trying to keep Judith’s mouth closed from releasing any salacious information on him. She did say she had been “very very kind” to himself and Bill. I’ve heard several rumors about JK that curl one’s hair.

  3. They are not sidelining voices more so some people with good knowledge know the shit storm is about to hit “the team of 5 million”.

    Say what you like regarding Key (i’m not a fanboy while still being right wing) however as chairman of ANZ he has some very good insight into the true financial nature of our economy.

    • Key is on the ANZ board – not the chairman. That aside, his role in the finance industry was as a high stakes professional gambler so his insights were restricted to plundering other peoples assets to enrich the wealthiest, not running an economy to serve the the team of 5 million.

      • Brilliant assessment of Key’s real ability!
        By comparison his Governance of our country was managed as a professional gambler, “how can I make a profit from New Zealanders?”

      • Key is the Chairman of the ANZ NZ board and member of the board for Australian parent.

        Given his current positions it would be fair to say he has a fair amount of access to current information as to the current climate in both NZ and more broadly.

            • Bhahahaha – how is the JLR conspiracy theory going there Bert ? Last I heard he was going to bring down the National castle

        • Right you are Gordo regarding Key’s double dipping with his ANZ chairman and director roles – he didn’t get the message about conflict of interest when the RB Governor flagged it. As for comments based of facts, it probably depends on which hat he is wearing and whether he is making shit up again, so his credibility is very suspect.

          • Key is a known con man and prolific liar, sold approx a billion dollars worth of derivatives to mainly pension funds and small state governments.
            At 2008 the became worthless along with the assassins smile.

            He is a part of the “club” so shoehorned NZ into NATO without any mandate or consultation with Kiwis. One of the killer capitalist.
            Remember he signed the TPP in secret giving US corporate the right to sue the NZ govt over sovereign decisions.
            A traitor who has cost many lives.
            He should never be given another chance to influence NZs future.

    • I rate Key for creating the environment to allow his friends colleagues and supporters to gouge the good people of New Zealand to ensure their ever increasing wealth and sell the whole idea as ” delivering for New Zealanders ”
      In terms of real meaningful action he failed miserably and we reward him with a knighthood for his efforts.

    • Omg – they said similar (note similar, not exactly same) things about ol’ don-de-don in theusofa. How’s that working out I wonder.

    • It’s not our economy it’s his economy and that of his rich corporate mates.
      Still peddling the trickle down BS.
      I shouted at the TV so much after seeing and hearing Key i frightened the children.

      • Yep. Rule of the 1%ers, by the 1%ers, for the 1%ers.
        Plutocracy’s claws still clutching our shores.

  4. Now that NZ is seen as a desirable Covid-19 safe haven – the parasitic big money investors are aching to get in on the act with a dose of heavy ticket clipping. Let them go for it! No doubt they will be happy to meet the costs of State provided military guards (armed?) and Police. This is necessary as border protection is a Government responsibility. The companies would also need to meet the costs of contract tracing in the event of a miscreant hightailing it out of isolation and be able to cover the medical expenses in private hospitals, for anyone who subsequently becomes infected. Given the rapid rate of community contagion from Covid-19, the investors and private companies would need to have very deep pockets to meet their liabilities. That is what privatisation is about isn’t it?
    The sensible alternative is that we don’t establish a major new people harvesting industry, and leave the Government to allow maintain the present course and expect the border security and health issues remain in the control of taxpayers. On reflection, there is no place private sector opportunists in opening the borders.

  5. Thanks John for highlighting what i believe to be a serious issue confronting one of the facets of our democracy of our right to be informed by a non biased corporate focused public news service.
    In our rush to embrace the free market as there was you remember no alternative to our debt ridden state in from 1984 meant that we have voted away the control and standards we once cherished including non biased public broadcasting.
    What we have today is the result of allowing the corporate elite to expect that anything not broken down must have a profit motive and to suit its agenda keep everyone entertained but not educated or informed without an alternative view point in our case anything that is centre left.
    They have become ” big brother ” in terms of their complete domination of our media with no real serious safeguards to ensure as part of our so called democracy we must have a non corporate , state funded non biased fourth estate.
    In 2011 Key and his cronies abolished the TVNZ charter and replaced it with the Labour party highlighting the following.

    “Independent public media, not captured by vested interests, is critical to the health of a nation. New Zealanders deserve more than just ‘popular’ television. They deserve well-made, quality programming that reflects them and their communities.

    “Labour introduced the charter to do exactly that. A corporate mainstream media concerned first and foremost with profit won’t.”

    Mr Coleman says the dual mandate at TVNZ, having both commercial obligations and public service obligations, shackled the company.

    He says removing the Charter means TVNZ has “the flexibility it needs to effectively pursue commercial objectives”.

    With neoliberalisim watching over the shoulder of this current government i don’t see much hope in the near future for any real meaningful change.

    https://www.newshub.co.nz/general/tvnz-charter-abolished-2011071310

    • Wow Mosa so many facts in there Frank The Tank will be doing cartwheels. I wonder whether he’s prepared to dispute your facts or at least have one mate that would .

      • I have to say I enjoy you posts Bert. Those stories regarding Neve’s cake must have been mighty profitable ehh? Very right wing those.

        The amusing part is you actually think the current left wing parties in government will actually doing something other than playing around the fringes? I’m sure Jacinda’s time in Tony Blair’s office was anything but third way indoctrination.

        What you call neo-liberalism I call ‘enlightened socialism’ – it’s the same thing – taking the bullshit associated with capitalism and joining it with the horseshit associated with socialism.

        But please believe it’s going to be different with Jacinda and Grant. It’ll be good this time. Honest.

        Keep taking the blue pill.

  6. Yes agree with Jacinda fan, johnkey can piss off he had his long turn. When I heard his bullshit about privatisation of quarantine to suit the 1% that he propped up for his 9 year tenure providing them with a with a brighter future at our countries expense and now he is coming back for another dip. Nah! he can bugger of we don’t need this slimy prick he has already done enough damage.

  7. Yes agree with Jacinda fan, johnkey can piss off he had his long turn. When I heard his bullshit about privatisation of quarantine to suit the 1% that he propped up for his 9 year tenure providing them with a with a brighter future at our countries expense and now he is coming back for another dip. Nah! he can bugger of we don’t need this slimy prick he has already done enough damage.

  11. Wish I could be like Jonkey, no conscience or guilt. Fark wouldn’t that be nice to not give AF about your fellow kiwis.

  12. No we don’t want to be like john he can f..k of to the USA who cares what he wants its not about him and we don’t need his crap advice he had his 9 years of serving the 1% and destroying our country now he is back for another bite of the cherry.

    • Key advocating rich Americans building houses in NZ to provide work for Kiwi tradies is Machiavellian, especially when his govt was so monstrously negligent about providing houses for poor New Zealanders, and lied about there even being a housing shortage when New Zealand people were sleeping in cars, garages, sheds, doorways, and under bridges, bushes and cardboard boxes. He’s not just wanting another bite of the cherry, he’s starting to look like an estate agent. And why Americans ?

      He and Helen Clark are both energetically flapping the neolib flag for the Nats now, and quite unashamedly.
      I assumed that Key would quit this country when his fiefdom was over, and it is our tragedy that he didn’t.
      Nothing surprises me about Key, and nor am I surprised with Clark who I never liked anyway, but the privileged pair of them need to think long term, and not just for themselves and their cronies. Oh yes, we’ll be watching Ardern and co very closely.

  13. Yeah remember when he (john k) said that mum and dad investors were going to buy shares in our state owned companies and other assets. But he didn’t say mum and dad lived in Germany and they were a very wealthy family (not even kiwis) and he didn’t say they were going to buy heaps of shares. (in fact he said to protect us these shares would have a limit on how many shares per customer) What a fucken liar.

    • did he? well good on him for helping all those foreigners it’s the kiwi way to help out those that come to our shores skilled and unskilled. look I say let’s just open up the borders and start handing out the visas again and that will fix everything. Meanwhile, labour and Ardern govt “nothing to do here now, we’ve done it” don’t expect any transformational policy from us for at least 3 years. ROFLMFAO its the biggest con job yet!!

  14. did he? well good on him for helping all those foreigners it’s the kiwi way to help out those that come to our shores skilled and unskilled. look I say let’s just open up the borders and start handing out the visas again and that will fix everything. Meanwhile, labour and Ardern govt “nothing to do here now, we’ve done it” don’t expect any transformational policy from us for at least 3 years. ROFLMFAO its the biggest con job yet!!

  15. on a serious note, Lotto is the only way out for many of us so don’t forget to buy your lotto ticket for this Saturday

      • You seem mighty agitated for someone that is ‘yesterday’s run

        Question for you all on the left – is he speaking up now because he is tribal National or is he worried about the economy and if the former why does Helen Clark appear somewhat in his corner?

        Not my favourite person however I get the feeling he knows something truely horrible is around the corner….

  16. For those trying to resuscitate a fossilising dinosaur, yesterday’s little man is NOT what is needed. Even the conservative New York Times has noted that “It’s the End of the World Economy As We Know It”: NYT World Economy Coronavirus

    It’s time to let go of the past and to look far more attentively into the future.

    • The New York Times is anything but conservative. That’s like calling Simon O’Connor a progressive MP.

      • Frank, This is a genuine question: What would you say are the top half-dozen or so things in life that you value the most – that you truly value? I mean in the full spectrum of life, which can include money etc, or not, whatever. Just that it is honest for you. I am interested, in what people value the most in life. (Been thinking about it for myself.)

  17. The good news is, the entire corporate system is collapsing, and the mouthpieces of corruption and fraud will soon see their propaganda systems repeatedly decimated until they vanish entirely.

    https://dailyreckoning.com/falling-into-the-abyss-between-wall-street-and-main-street/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dailyreckoning+%28The+Daily+Reckoning%29

    The bad news is, the bulk of the populace is totally unprepared for what is underway, and the Adern government is still heavily embedded in corruption, lies, incompetence and gravy-training, as demonstrated by:

    ‘Meanwhile in a nausea-inducing move the Ardern government has put chief co-ordinator of the corporate response to the pandemic, Rob Fyfe, on the government payroll to provide advice and guidance on the covid response.’

  18. Tuibelle are you high on something maybe you have been sniffing the grass too much aye! Our Maori whanau will be putting up more road blocks if they open the borders willy nilly. We saw what happened in Samoa with measles, 80 dying and mostly young children. And I see some of the Aboriginal peoples have followed suit doing their own road blocks in Victoria.

  19. Frank john had his turn he left on his own free will, why? why did he leave again can you remind us ? didn’t he say he did not like being disliked. Now an important part of being a good and successful leader is to be able to to make those tough decisions, being able to handle being disliked from making those tough calls and being able to say you made a mistake and then trying to not make the same mistake. Does that sound like your dear john that now all of a sudden cares about all of us, nah! As for aunty Helen all I can say is foreshore!

    • Covid is pa – I think Key said that he wanted to be liked, rather than that he didn’t wanting people to dislike him. He might have thought that being ostentatiously rich would make people like him – that’s the way kids think.

      He’s quite an interesting anthropological specimen. Composing music, making a scientific discovery, breeding the perfect spud, saving children’s lives, building a house, enhancing peoples’ well being – the sorts of achievements which others get admired for seemed beyond Key’s ken – he only knew one about thing, and apparently only one way of doing it – not the most useful sort of person.

      If he was really unable to make unpopular calls, then that could be psychologically crippling, but it doesn’t gel with his ‘smiling assassin’ moniker, so we’re well rid of him and his ilk.

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