NEALE JONES is to be congratulated. No, no – it’s alright – I haven’t hit my head. It is just that I have always believed in giving credit where credit is due – and Jones deserves a lot of credit. Had I been on the receiving end of Kathryn Ryan’s and Bridgette Morten’s right-wing tag team, as Jones was on RNZ’s Monday-morning Political Panel, I’m damn sure I wouldn’t have kept my cool as impressively as he did.
Ryan is usually a lot more circumspect in revealing her personal opinions than she was on Monday (14/2/22). That’s as it should be. Her role on the Panel is that of moderator – at least, one hopes that’s still her role! She is there to put the questions to the panellists and prevent them from interrupting, talking over one another, and generally attempting to dominate the discussion.
That is not what happened on Monday. Ryan threw herself, boots and all, into the debate over the protest blockade of Parliament. She interrupted, talked over, and – not to put too fine a point upon it – hectored Jones, to a degree that bordered on the unprofessional.
Unsurprisingly, Morten was quick to follow Ryan’s lead. She, too, interrupted and talked over Jones – seemingly with Ryan’s blessing.
Jones, however, remained unfazed by this blatant breach of the Political Panel’s rules of engagement. He stayed resolutely on-message, stoically refusing to let Ryan and Morten rattle him. He didn’t turn nasty. He didn’t lose his temper. He just kept on talking sense.
It would have helped the listeners immensely if his levels had been set to match those of the two women – then we wouldn’t have had to strain our ears to hear him. But on Monday morning everything seemed to be set against him.
The most intriguing aspect of the whole encounter was the political line taken by Ryan and Morten. Both women consistently refused to accept Jones’s argument that the protest was inspired by individuals and groups in the grip of outlandish conspiracy theories imported from the United States. Nor were they willing to accept the well-established Far Right provenance of these conspiracy theories. Throughout the half-hour, Ryan and Morten attempted to paint the protest as the anguished cry of stressed-out Kiwi battlers determined to resist Government over-reach.
The fact that the so-called “Freedom Convoy” was always intended to establish a laager of motor vehicles within which a protest encampment in Parliament Grounds could be established and, more importantly, protected, in no way slowed Ryan and Morten down. They simply didn’t appear to be interested in exploring the strategic purpose of the Convoy’s organisers, or what lay behind their radical departure from the norms of New Zealand political protest.
Even more disturbing was the way they seemed to brush aside the unprecedented displays of aggression directed at New Zealand’s Members of Parliament and the Press Gallery. Wellington has witnessed many angry demonstrations in its history, but very few in which the rhetoric of at least some of the participants was explicitly homicidal. What was it that made Ryan and Morten so determined to re-focus the debate away from this deeply disturbing reality?
I couldn’t help being reminded of the Peter Ellis Case, where the most bizarre, outlandish, and obviously impossible accusations of the children interviewed were simply set to one side so as not to “prejudice” the jury. It simply didn’t suit whatever it was that Ryan and Morten were trying to do to have listeners reminded of the murderous fury directed by the protesters against politicians and journalists.
The least damaging explanation of Ryan’s behaviour is that she was overcompensating for what critics from the Far Right and the Far Left described as the Fourth Estate’s sneering, middle-class dismissal of the smelly protesters cluttering up its stately work environment. On-the-spot reports from intrepid Far Right and Far Left observers, reassuring New Zealanders that the overwhelming majority of the protesters were just ordinary Kiwis exercising their right to protest, have, as intended, shamed a number of mainstream journalists into revising their original stance. It’s possible Ryan is one of them.
Morten, however, is more than savvy enough to realise the damaging impact which the bad behaviour of the protesters, and the baffling failure of the Police to move them on, is having on the Government’s reputation. The longer the protest continues, and the longer the Government and the Police are seen to be standing by ineffectually, the better it is for the Opposition parties. Just because it would not be wise for Christopher Luxon to be seen taking the side of the occupiers, doesn’t mean that it is unwise for Morten to do everything she can to make it more difficult – from a PR perspective – for Labour and the Police to resolve the crisis.
The Jones boy, every bit as savvy as the Morten gal, knows this. Hence his dogged determination to keep his listeners’ minds focused on the true character of these latter-day “Freedom Riders”.
They are not honest toilers, they are people hell-bent on getting rid of the protections Labour has mandated to keep the real honest toilers safe. They do not have legitimate grievances – unless you reckon thwarting the sociopathic impulses of unvaccinated extremists constitutes a legitimate grievance. They are, however, people acting under the influence of individuals and groups with Far Right affiliations and aims. Scratch them, and you’ll bleed.
In summary, Neale Jones was not “smacked down” by Kathryn Ryan and Bridgette Morten. He was, however, interrupted, talked over, and made extremely difficult to hear. In spite of all these hindrances, he kept on fighting the good fight for close to half-an-hour with admirable clarity and forbearance. Unlike the other two participants in Monday’s Political Panel, Jones kept his focus on the dangerous realities of the protest taking place in and around Parliament Grounds.
For that he deserves our cheers – not our jeers.
I’ve pretty much tuned off RNZ. It was dull but objective and starved of funding but tolerable. Now it’s focus is on pure annunciation of Te Reo, oh, and a bit of news now and then. It’s gone woke and it’s pointless and boring. And its still starved of funding, just one of Labour’s many failed deliveries, this one to transform public broadcasting.
And some other stuff, the Panel for example. Trouble is the left ceased speaking to me sometime ago on it, probably coinciding with this Labour government.
Today as record housing unaffordabilty is announced, showcasing Jacinda’s chief failure in government, maybe a protest in MP’s faces on that subject would be easily justified. But somehow I don’t think any of the Panel trio would give that much thought at all!
‘annunciation of Te Reo’?? Nice!
Good point, “Enunciate” to be correct. Still announcement is not dissimilar
yea even as a propaganda outlet RNZ fails by being just shite, I’m sure soccer mums enjoy it though…but that’s NOT a positive
RNZ has a tradition of engaging Tory aligned interviewers from Maggie Barry to Plunkett, Hosking and Ryan and any number of lesser crawlers if you use your ears.
The cadence, speed of questioning, repetition, “sorry to interrupt Minister” all give them away.
‘they are people hell-bent on getting rid of the protections Labour has mandated to keep the real honest toilers safe’
CT – The virus doesn’t care if you’ve got a green tick on your phone.
We’re all getting it, green tick or no green tick.
We’re not vaccinating our way out of this, can we please stop pretending we are.
The sooner people wake up and realise herd immunity is the only way out, the sooner we can get rid of this ‘us and them society’ which is far more damaging than the virus.
Dangerous disinformation, ma.
Vaccinated individuals are much less likely to contract the virus, and, if they do get it, are much less likely to suffer its worst effects.
Calling for “Herd Immunity” is calling for the sort of death toll we have seen in Ireland, Denmark and Norway. It is also a fatuous call. While most of the human species remains unvaccinated, the virus is able to evolve new variants against which the “herd” has no robust immunity.
Chris
I have to say that I largely agree with Ma in this context. Although your point about unvaccinated populations leading to more serious mutation is of course correct and sobering.
But in terms of Omicron, I believe you are not quite right when you say vaccinated individuals are much less likely to contract the virus. Since Dec 29 2019, I have looked and looked at all available info on the virus worldwide, Israel, Singapore, UK, France, US etc and whilst I am not at all an expert, I’d like to think I have a reasonably informed view on the state of play. I am not talking social media, more journals, govt info and local trials. Double blind where possible.
Your comment is absolutely true of Delta but much less true or potentially not true at all, for Omicron. I changed my view on Mandates when I read the CEO of Pfizer’s comments that their vaccine would most likely not protect against Omicron and I think the terms were something like ‘If at all’.
Since then I have been trying to pin down whether our vaccines give us immunity from Omicron and in terms of non drug company studies, it is still unclear. Depending on what you read, there are studies (Israel) showing no difference in vaxxed and unvaxxed through to others claiming amounts up to 30%. So the jury is still out.
Your assertion that the vaccinations are hugely important for individual health outcomes is correct. There is a vast difference in the likely severity for boosted individuals than unvaxxed.
Another proven fact is that Omicron drives out delta, seemingly slower in Covid naive populations but over time it does. UK and US now both over 99% Delta free.
So a mandate in this context is much more about protecting the health service from being overwhelmed than it is about stopping the spread of the virus. And as we all know, the government had 2 years to prepare for this outcome but sat on its hands repeatedly. Tinkering with apps and traffic lights and levels but never going hard at our underlying problem.
I think at the moment that the stress on our institutions from the mandates esp. education and health is probably doing as much harm as good. Knowing that currently (and things could change tomorrow) we are very highly vaxxed and the unvaxxed are as unlikely to spread it to us (or possibly slightly more likely) as our vaxxed neighbour, that the mandates become a lot less necessary than previously.
We dont have the right to force people to get vaxxed, if they want to risk their health that’s up to them and as you pointed out yesterday for many of them, there is no choice to be made here because of their deeply held beliefs.
Ma’s comments on herd immunity were more about the confirmed information showing that unlike earlier strains, Omicron appears to protect against all earlier strains and its rate of spread is not a lot better than measles so there will be no hiding from it. So not the crazy herd immunity Sweden went for even as China was confirming reinfections but a real possibility of herd immunity via Omicron.
However, as the last 2 years have shown, this situation is very fluid and today’s herd immunity may not last particulary if the unvaxxed in poorer countries manage to mutate a new strain.
As an addendum, Chris I did want to stress that if we stopped mandates, we still must keep pushing vaccines, mandating masks and social distancing to slow down spread.
We should temper the “Herd Immunity ‘ stance with the knowledge that even mild Covid cases may increase risk of heart failure by 72% and stroke by 52% for a 12 month period.
Pipi it looks like you did your own research – was it facebook, youtube, twitter, tik tok? Trump also made those same comments and look how big a failure he was in protecting the lives and safety of American citizens. The UK and Sweden also embarked on herd immunity – how did that go.
Clearly didnt read my post Nikorima.
Go and find me a few quotes from the BMJ, Lancet, JAMA, JMA or similar that prove something different to what I have said and I will provide a very humble and copious mea culpa.
I am saying that herd immunity from Omicron may well be a different beast from Herd Immunity from Delta and earlier versions so get with the programme and at least read and digest my post before shooting from the hip.
Shocking take on this.
Neale’s main point was that these people (anti mandate protesters) had unacceptable views and should be held in contempt. His evidence was one or two people the media have labelled far right have spoken at the event.
The fact that 30% of the population of NZ support the protesters and that 28% of people oppose the mandates means that in Neale’s world, there are 1.8million kiwis who are Nazi’s. A surprising amount of those Nazi’s appear to also be Maori seperatists.
Now lets view this rationally. Neale’s opinion that others hold unacceptable opinions is very dangerous. Surely he wouldn’t want others to say his opinion is not valid and he should be ridiculed? But he is more than happy to put humans down and put himself far, far above them.
Neale represents the current political left, which does not care about the bottom 30% of people in NZ and only supports the elite who are not impacted at all by the mandates and lockdowns.
30% of our country is politically homeless right now, and Neale is pushing them farther away from mainstream parties with his inhumane attitude towards them.
Your article is a joke to anyone who listened to the RNZ panel.
I listened to the panel. I heard a bumptious ignorant right wing host and her overbearing mate( who lives in a well padded bubble) shouting down Neale Jones. Jones( and no I don’t like the guy either) was on a lower volume to the other two speakers. Jones was clear and articulated his position very well. His position was logical and sensible. The host and her ignorant mate were excessively gleeful( aggressively so?)in shouting over Jones.To hear Ryan pretending to give a shit was nauseating to say the least. Reminded me why I gave up listening to the wankers on RNZ a long time ago.This is popcorn moment for these patronizing condescending Wellingtonians. Jones put the government’s position well. And Chris is right.
Oh and over 60% of kiwis think the same.
No one is questioning the right of 60% of people who support the mandates (i.e support discrimination based on whether you have been “vaccinated” even though it doesn’t prevent the spread of omicron) to hold their views, even if they are inconsistent with the Bill of Rights Act 1990.
You are saying 30% of people hold unacceptable views. I am not sure why you think you can be the arbiter of what views are acceptable or not while also wanting human rights removed.
The majority is not always right. I mean, the majority voted for Trump, Hitler, etc.
Majorities have done the most destructive acts imaginable for the “greater good”
History will not be kind on those who discriminate and ostracize their fellow citizens
why is it about acceptability???when was it ever??it’s a pandemic of a deadly life threatening virus mate. Wake the fuck up.The Public Health Act supersedes the Bill of Rights. Vaccination mitigates and slows the spread. It makes it less deadly and screws with the ability of the virus to mutate and keep infecting us. Vaccination Allows our overstretched health system to keep on functioning. NOT being vaccinated guarantees the spread of the virus at a greater faster rate, and increases hospitalization rates. Not using the available weapons to fight the spread is the call of those who whine a lot and have zero grip on the reality and refuse to comprehend th magnitude of what we are fighting.
What Shona said!!!!!!!
big tick shona
Very well said.
Hitler never attracted a majority of German voters in a free and fair election. A plurality, yes, but never a majority.
And Trump did not win a majority vote. He was about 3 million behind.
Thanks Shona – I listened to and you’re bang on.
I didn’t read the poll to understand what it was all about. 30% support the protestors? Their right to protest? Or that there should not be vaccine mandates? Or support those who want the Government to be chucked out?
And what does the poll result mean? Inform the Government that they should cave, not on principle, but on losing votes?
In October a poll had it that 66% of Republicans didn’t consider the January 6 Capitol riot to be an attack on the US government. I guess if the right wing extremists in Wellington could have roused enough enthusiasm from the rabble they could have attacked Parliament Buildings, invaded the place, thrown stuff around, smashed things and assaulted, injured and even killed defenders of the place.
Would a subsequent poll have it that it wasn’t an attack on the government? Those there that believe the vaccines are a big plot to take over the world, how would they vote?
Why are you talking about the US.
In NZ we have 30% of people who support the protesters and oppose the mandates.
These people are politically homeless. If you believe Neale, these people are far right,
Why mention the US? Because polls register the thoughts of the sane and the insane, the deluded and the rational. The poll shows that.
30% support the protesters to do what? Protest? Camp out? Trample the rights of others trying to go about their lawful business? Harass people for wearing masks?
Politically homeless? Big deal. Let them find refuge with extremists and nutcases there.
No, 30% of an online poll of people, of whom we have no idea of the distribution etc. Were they bots? What part of NZ were they from? Etc
Get real don’t be taken in by potential misinformation.
Our population is about 5 million The on line poll sampled just 520 Pfft
nazis are extreme nationalists, many on the right would say maori nationalists are extreme nationalists in their regular ‘slag off’ posts here..funny bedfellows numptyism makes.
Well that is a laugh, how many in Labour’s focus groups who are presumably telling them forget State housing needs of 24,000 people, forget about child poverty……….
70 % for, go figure!
It sure is a joke, I listened also, that guy is such a bully and he always talks over others as he knows it all and his view is more important than anyone elses.
Trotter has only written this because he is on the same side of the debate as that supposed ‘left’ commentator, if he is left then I must be far left, he is a constant apologist for our Labour government who have done squat about housing and poverty.
I am hoping the next sit in will be about poverty and housing, I’ll be there.
I am vaccinated but totally disagree with the mandate.
Agree Chris. There seems to be a narrative in the MSM that the protestors are ordinary decent Kiwis that have had enough and that all the threats and aggression are the work of a few maladjusted misunderstood samaritans.
Hip hip hooray. At last the screws are turning on Katherine Ryan’s right wing slant.
Just an observation, but it seems necessary these days to HAVE to interrupt a politician or a politician minder as they simply cannot have a two way conversation.
For when the politician (and their minders) get a head of steam up they talk, talk, talk. Raising the same point three different ways come Sunday. Simply to stretch the dialog out to suit the minutes available.
Ardern, Robertson, Nash and the Jones or Pagani’s of this world simply talk and repeat what they said in the first sentence.
Next time have a good listen and resist the temptation to yell “you flippin well said that three minutes ago – for the love of god shut up and listen for once”.
Politicians and their minders don’t do conversations, they do lectures, they use berate and belittle tactics in generate never ending sound bites. Hence the need for interruptions.
Politicians and their minders, need to learn to listen as well as speak to get a dialog going.
But that means going down to the “river of filth” and have a grown up conversation with the deplorables. How to do that is not in their university communications degree training manual.
Yes so true, Pagani is so full of herself and her importance and so is Jones and the rest of them. This idea that they are on the right or the left also is rubbish. They are nowhere near the left in my view, just apologists for Labour and how wonderful they are, despite their lack of work on child poverty and housing!
Yes so true, Pagani is so full of herself and her importance and so is Jones and the rest of them. This idea that they are on the right or the left also is rubbish. They are nowhere near the left in my view, just apologists for Labour and how wonderful they are, despite their lack of work on child poverty and housing!
I see Russell Coutts has joined the protest too. Is he also a Nazi?
Meanwhile I have three friends, two were teachers and one a soldier who are looking for work because they refused vaccination. The mandate is abhorrent.
Nah, he’s just a rich prick mercenary yachty who was pissed his latest venture was canned during the Delta outbreak.
Yes Xray a rich prick that was happy to take tax payers money
if he turned up there must a quid in it for him
Your friends chose to be unvaccinated Andrew.Therefore their unemployment is the result of that decision. Personal responsibility for one’s decision making is what allows one to mature. i.e. it’s their own fucking fault they are without work!So suck it up! Russell Coutts is a grandstanding water thief and a rich prick with zero political nous or the ability to do hard graft on others behalf.Who gives a fuck what that prick thinks?
I would employ them if i could. The government is mandating discrimination for no benefit.
Care to explain how the unvaxed are more of a threat than the vaxed now that omicron is here?
Thats right, you can’t
where did I or anyone on here say the unvaxxed were a threat or more of a threat????
I didn’t. The unvaxed are a threat to children who are not eligible to be vaccinated.
The unvaxed are a threat to all of us with respiratory conditions.
The government is NOT discriminating. The government is acting in the best interests of the majority of the population ( we live in a democracy ) to control the genetically engineered virus.
Why don’t you understand this it’s fucking obvious.?
Unemployment as a result of not being vaccinated is personal choice.
Your obduracy does you no credit.
The Glens of the world are the problem, they promote hysteria.
boulderdssh shona. when the choice is 1. get the vaccination or 2. you’re out of a job thats not a situation where you are given fair and reasonable choices.
Yes it is.
We are fighting a dangerous virus.
Contingencies are a personal responsibility.
People have a choice of vaccinations. They do not have to get the mRNA vax.
The government’s messaging has been clear on this.
Obduracy and pig ignorance are NOT valid reasons for being unvaxed.
And yes I have friends who are unvaxxed. I fear for their health.
Not one of them has put up a valid argument for being unvaxed.
No ,I have not ostracized them and yes I worry I may infect them and make them seriously ill.
So the human rights argument does not stand up to scrutiny at all.
The unvaxxed need to own their decisions and stop whining.
ohhhh so you wan’t a ‘FAIR AND REASONABLE’choice now ok then.
…I choose not to breath the miasma from an unmasked numpty,
I choose not to be exposed to anti-vax morons..
.is that fair and resonable…fair and reasonable is in the eye of the beholder ‘straight’ all I’m asking for is MY FREEDUMBS.
freedumbs don’t do responsibility personal or otherwise
For all they care about their jobs your friends may as well be mercenaries. As for Russell Coutts, he’s not a fascist, but a self-obsessed member of the gentry trying to turn water into a private property right, who has means and motive to enable an ugly mob.
He’s a one-percenter, $55 million plus
Soldiers get vaccinated for everything out there especially when in a armed conflict and I’m not providing a link its so fucking obvious! If us vaccinated people were not trying to stay away from you anti vax retards we would be right up in your face with with a real argument. Your like little children who throws stones and run away, I’m glad they haven’t brought the batons and tear gas out if just go’s to show, if a right wing government was in power you fascist pawns would have been skittled days ago.
Listening to the interview I thought Jones was reading out talking points.
Stuck to his lines very well.
“The most revolutionary thing one can do is always to proclaim loudly what is happening.” Rosa Luxemburg.
Our pencil pushing stenographers should do well to remember that.
and we all know what your lot did to rosa don’t we ‘cheap banger’
Chris, serious question can which of the 9 demands of the protestors do you agree or disagree with and why (I agree with 6, the others, specifically around mandates to me, are extreme libertarian in a pandemic but hardly frothing-at-the-mouth-far-right).
Throwing around this elitist rhetoric that characterises the whole of the protest by it’s worse supporters shows people that the is no home for them on the left. Like Hillary Clintion’s ‘basket of deplorables’ it’s a masterclass in driving people with legitimate grievances into the arms of the right.
By focusing on the worst of the protest rather than engaging with the best of it you also give cover for some righteous bureaucrat to slide the country towards authoritarianism. (The new left cheers digital un-personing now comes financial un-personing, do you trust anyone with authority has the wisdom to navigate this and not let it become a revenge fantasy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGLJ6sYYDqg)
You fear fascists? They will only prevail if we become so fearful of our fellow citizens that we empower the state and corporatists to ‘protect’ us against them.
Chris you’re part of the problem.
Hear hear
Can I just say, and thank you @ CT for giving me this opportunity, that I love Kathryn Ryan. Or more specifically, I’d love to see her go in to early retirement then be hastily forgotten.
Has anyone else noticed that ryan shusshes her Esses ? God I hate that. She’s like those others who replace ‘T’s’ with ‘D’s’ so instead of saying ‘little’ they say ‘liddle’.
She replaced Kim Hill, didn’t she? That’s like replacing a witty trauma nurse with a boring hit man.
Hill was up there with the first to go during the Great Neoliberal Media Purge of the late 80’s and 90’s. Kim Hill being replaced by the stale soul of kath ryan. That, was when I began to turn my radio off at 9.00 AM and have never turned it on again until after midday report. It was at about that time that they killed off the Listener too.
I listened to Hill once nail roger kerr of the Business Round Table down. He tried every trick in the dirty little book of tricky tricks but Kim Hill was on him like fox terrier on a mouse. I remember thinking back then ” That’s the end of Kim Hill.” and it was.
The neoliberal scum have a lot to answer for as they waddle about with our money stuffed down their underpants. The bastards bedevil our AO/NZ aided and abetted by a neutered MSM. As someone once said ” The devil isn’t in monsters, fire, brimstone and eternal damnation. The devil is in the devious, the bland, the average, the mediocre.
well put countryboy
Kim was a shining light in the 90s, a dark political time after the initial MMP Govt. when she used to skewer Winston Peter’s “tight five” with their dirty dog sunnies and all. She has ripped many a self aggrandised tory to shreds.
“They are not honest toilers, they are people hell-bent on getting rid of the protections Labour has mandated to keep the real honest toilers safe. They do not have legitimate grievances – unless you reckon thwarting the sociopathic impulses of unvaccinated extremists constitutes a legitimate grievance. They are, however, people acting under the influence of individuals and groups with Far Right affiliations and aims. Scratch them, and you’ll bleed.”
Unbelievable I am reading this from Chris Trotter, what deep black hole haas he slipped down lately? Can he be saved from his own overly intellectual waffle?
Hard toilers like the businesses shut down due to lockdown restrictions?
hard toilers like the working class people who lost their jobs because they didn’t want to get a big pharma vaccine?
who are these right wing people you allude to? where are your siurces?
I popped down to the chch camp yesterday and the place was a hive of Maori nationalist rhetoric: waning their land back etc etc If this is what the right wing are pushing then the must be into black power these days
“Hard toilers like the businesses shut down due to lockdown restrictions?”
Hard toilers who have closed their Wellington businesses because of protesters.
“hard toilers like the working class people who lost their jobs because they didn’t want to get a big pharma vaccine?”
hard toilers like the working class people who kept their jobs because they wanted the vaccine to protect themselves, their work colleagues and their loved ones.
bert would it be ok if it were a ‘small pharma’ vaccine….or even better a herbal infusion or a homeopathic dilution of st johns wort…would that make you happy…?
With the Minister of Finance owing 50% and the Minister of Broadcasting owning the other 50% and they throw $36m at it every year. I guess we can accept it is the Governments Propaganda and Public Enlightenment Broadcaster.
Are we getting value for money?
Oh! Also, the Herald ran a poll on this Protest and Occupation in Wellywood two days ago.
They killed off the poll when it got to 49% ‘for’ and 51% ‘opposed’.
I wonder where that poll is now?
As usual this forum gets bogged down with its own brand of philosophical clap trap. I’m no friend of this government but they don’t have the time or privilege of taking sides in vax non vax, mandate non mandate discussion. They’ve made their decision and must now stick with it. In my opinion the protesters have a right to protest legally without disrupting others. They aren’t protesting legally and they are disrupting others , they’ve made their point and should now go. Unfortunately this government and its police force are showing us they can’t enforce their own laws. No surprises there.
Yes but for how long, the mandate will be gone in 2 weeks maximum.
” He was, however, interrupted, talked over, and made extremely difficult to hear ”
And that approach has been used been used by the TV networks in this country going back to the emergence of Paul Holmes in 1989 and if you were coming from the position of being on the left the exact same of treatment was meted out to you and any political interview ( National versus Labour ) it was always two against one and I thought then that this was blatantly unfair as the people listening at home could not her the left persons reply to the question as they were talked over and constantly interrupted so I stopped watching like a lot of other people disgusted at was once a honourable profession had become nasty and bigoted.
Friends from overseas were shocked at the blatant bias and unprofessionalism of the interviewee and the tactics employed to denigrate the victim which would have caused an outcry in their countries.
Radio New Zealand National radio was always boring but their news reports were always professional and it could be relied upon to give a factual background of the events so the public was informed without the hype , spin and bias we get now.
I stuck with them even after Joyce filled the organisation with right wing sympathisers to break what was always ridiculed as ” red radio ” and got that nickname because they didn’t spout endless pro National party propaganda like ZB and others yet it was perfectly acceptable to have to listen to a right wing one sided opinion if you wanted your news from another source other than the National programme.
But once Thomson and others got to work the focus and content changed to what we have now. Its either National party friendly ( neo liberal ) or stops getting funded , and after years of this people are now talking about free speech !
I stopped listening to RNZ precisely because of the points made by garibaldi and of course Keith they have taken a anti government view but the actual irony is they have to have a enemy to fight and agitate against but the current Labour party is as right economically as they are in other words they support the two tier class system of neo liberalism “
Totally agree Mosa, the babble that Holmes put out was absolute rubbish, the rot set in from there, the bastards gave him a Sirhood for obfuscation.
Ryan comes across as a Natz shill, anybody rural/ business gets the royal treatment to their favour, it’s almost Thatcher’s dreadful TINA!
RNZ news & current affairs has gone downhill, regularly there are reports where there is absolutely no balance what so ever, mainly reporters reckon’s about what has been said by some pollie or business wonk pontificating after talking to Ryan/Ferguson/Owens/Dann.
They appear to have forgotten that their job is to present both sides of the unadulterated news & leave it up to us to decide, click bait sensation reigns supreme.
The only highlight is Bryan Crump/Karyn Hay on nights, Colin Peacock media watch & Kim on Saturdays the rest is pretty ho hum.
ever was it thus, the difference is ‘objectivity’ and losing it like the bbc lickspittles did with their cringing pro-brexit stance….that’s rnz problem it’s not 2 sides of the argument just right and extreme right, so the right looks like the milder option…..and never ever ever ever any genuine lefties under any ANY circumstances…the woke glove puppets rnz puts up don’t count.
I’ll do a Bomber first up and say “I loik Kathryn, really I do -But….etc., etc., etc.”
Apparently Bovver Boy Trev reviews QT and his rulings, presumably in a bid for self-improvement each day.
I’m wondering whether Her with the balanced portfolio should do the same once in a while – or maybe she’s auditioning for (my idol) Kim Hill’s replacement.
I’ve just been through it for the first time using all the buzz MDIA 101 techniques – (Content Analysis et al)
As She does during other segments – such as Sport with Sem Ekamun, sure as shit, Her with the balanced portfolio definitely injected herself and her perceived expertise into “the conversation”.
But, we should not forget: this is Her “show”, and may ahe continue to get an earn from it so I don’t have to picture Her as one of those peculiar Wellington identities in the future. Not unlike that bag lady a while back, or the ‘Wart Lady’, or various others whose friends She’d helped build their careers deserted them.
Traj eh?
Often the best bits of RNZ Neshnool are when the locum gets to be in charge
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Actually, I’ve just had another bran fart. If Her (with the balanced portfolio) doesn’t have the time because she’s following a strict work-life-balance regime, she could probably ask one of her little protoges to do it for Her – whose career She’s helped build in that space, going forward. Maybe the Corduroy Kid (who’s a good journalist and a thoroughly thoroughly nice chap, but a real pain in the arse when people have ever had to do psychadelic drugs with Him, or if you think he’s ekshully down with the reality of the indigent and dispossessed.
Nice guy, albeit with his rehearsed (Deep breath, ummmm errr) mannerisms and comfy lifestyle, shame about his efforts to push what He thinks is a left-wing perspective. The left-wing version of a Doncha know who I am.
Cue Gentle Annie
This protest is Dirty politics #6 or is it #7, a right-wing hate jacinda Tory/Act circus supported by USA and Canadian $$$$, White supremist and gun lobyists, etc. Luxon and Seymore and their ministers should confront their people, the protesters and tell them to bugger off. They are just and embarrassment and cringeworthy.
Well said. There’s enough right wing comments and misinformation here to suspect this place is being deliberately targeted too
well daryl if they feel the need to target then this blog must at least be aneffective irritant to them and that makes me happy,
A broadcast debate taking place within the membership of the political class changes nothing on the ground, where the people have shown themselves to be more than a match for a colonialist regime which has emphatically failed.
The abandonment of the elimination strategy, the ludicrously mis-named “vaccine pass”, the “no jab no job” policy and the petty, vindictive responses of the regime to the presence of protesters in Wellington are part and parcel of a consistent series of mis-steps by the government and the regime as a whole.
Now a group of people, using the tactics tried and tested at Ihumaatao and numerous other sites of conflict with the regime have boxed the regime into a corner. They may lack the ideological and organizational coherence of the kaitiaki of Ihumaatao, but that that has not stopped them from bringing all the misguided plans of the state to nought.
Rant and scream as much as you like, call in the police, the army and the SIS but whatever you do you cannot thwart the will of the people.
Best to get real Chris. Neale Jones is not going to save the regime from its own stupidity. Just remove the mandates and get on with it. You are going to have to remove them sometime in 2022. Why not now, or, if you want to save face, give a date a month out from now?
Will of the people? Hardly. 2/3 of NZ supports vaccine pass/mask mandate, 95% consented to vaccination. Half the country still supports Labour/Greens. National and even ACT agree with the overall approach.
Only a few thousand of the dregs of society protesting LOL. A combo of Alt Right/Trumpian Trumpeters Counterspin/Uncensored/Investigate/Nexus nutters, Destiny Church, Gangs, washed up Hippies, New Conservative Party, Vision (Destiny Party 2.0), Advance/NZ Public Party, OneNZ, Outdoor Recreation, Maori 1835 Declaration/Separatist Extremists, Blood & Soil, RWR, Anti-1080, anti-5G, Gun Fanatics, anti-3 Waters, some Homeschoolers, some Offgridders/Survivalist-Apocalypse preppers. Anti-social uneducated/ miseducated contrarians. All those parties of the right fringe couldn’t get 5% combined.
hear hear cg
The crap mixed in with their ‘case’ makes it difficult to take the protesters seriously. Sorry the police couldn’t deal with them, with their universal dissatisfaction they imagine is someone elses’ fault.
Kathryn is very competent, listen to her every day I work. But she’s not for the people, a post 2000 person. RNZ was overtaken by non-social democrats.
I don’t even know if the great Kim il-Hill was a social democrat.
But she produced inspiring interviewees in those dark days and pissed off freemarket power figures.
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