MEDIAWATCH: It’s been a terrible week for the ZB Troll Farm

By
Martyn Bradbury
-
47
2550

Jesus wept it has been a terrible week for ZB!

The NZ political right have spun a narrative that the left over reached with Covid and used fear to force people to take vaccines (that saved their lives).

 

According to the ZB Troll Farm, the cyclone wasn’t too bad and the left are weak wimps who get scared by spiders in the sink and whom only want to control everyones lives with fear.

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Normally an entire radio network downplaying a cyclone and being proven horribly wrong would be hilariously humiliating for ZB, unfortunately because the telecommunications network fell over, many could only get ZB and were basing their risk management on ZBs crusade against lefty wimps who are afraid of rain and utes.

It was more important for ZB to spin imaginary attack lines at the Left over their use of caution and fear to ‘control’ the people than actually;y tell their listeners about the worst storm this century.

By the way, as an aside, not one radio mast was taken out during Cyclone Gabrielle because they all had resilience built into them,  so don’t those broadcasters using that radio network have an extra civil responsibility during National Disasters?

Anyway, ZB were caught out horribly over the cyclone, yet the hot takes kept coming!

Here’s Kate…

…um, weren’t you just denying a cyclone a week ago Kate?

When Kate denies it, it’s nothing, if Chippy attempts to calm down wild speculation of a mad max apocalyptic looting landscape where Gang members are eating dogs and stealing generators, then it’s full blown denial of reality by this Government is it Kate?

Then there was this extra hot take regarding any suggestion that the rich are taxed for rebuilding from a cyclone ZB didn’t even believe…

…ummmm, yeah. How much are you on now Kerre? Wouldn’t these new top tax rates hit you love?

Yeah.

So ZB didn’t believe in the cyclone, but now they do and they don’t want to pay any tax for it and it’s an out of control Lord of the Flies free fire kill zone that is Chippy’s fault?

If Today FM can’t make milage out of their woeful Fox News level cluster fuck of toxic journalism, Mediaworks should close it down and replace Tova with a ladder infomercial.

 

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47 COMMENTS

  1. What is even worse is that the very same media only exaggerates on certain topics in the eyes of Kate, Kerry and Mike. It is not overblown hype if it suits their narrative. Really? So the media only hype certain headlines but the rest of the stories are just telling it like it is.

  2. I think there’s a debate to be had as to whether ZB were originally downplaying things because they rationally expected that a paranoid MetService would pump up their predictions to avoid being embarrassed again as in the previous event, or whether it’s ideological. Certainly mainly the latter at this point.

    The open denials of looting and intimidation of lollipop men by Hipkins are just ridiculous though. One hopes that the media have put in OIA requests for the relevant documents already, maybe the DPMC won’t manage to delay them until the election.

    • Give me a break. I heard a woman this morning complaining about potential crime not be taken seriously and then openly admitting she didn’t report her own potential incident! How do the f’ing police know if you don’t report it ffs. There was another sensational headline about a neighbour having to ask some people to move on from a property as they looked suspicious. They moved on! You could find an incident like that everyday for the last 30 years.

  3. At the very very least ZB needs to develop a protocol for screening callers in the event of disasters etc, where the normal credulity extended to all callers is restricted to first-hand accounts only. Despite Woodham being aware of official reports debunking some specific tall tales , she still couldn’t break the habit of taking all but the most extreme stories at face value, because of course that is talkback radio’s bread and butter.

  4. Today FM ate too busy with excellent cricket commentary.
    Sort of a cross between sports round up and Radio Pacific and don’t understand how to steal ratings from ZB.

  5. So is Woodham an economist, or is she just paid to spin an anti-government narrative ? Hawkesby’s
    “ smacks of Jacinda” comment is a meaningless statement, but presumably meant to be disparaging, and also anti-government. Crises and tragedies being politicised in this way is deplorable policy on the part of their spin meisters , irresponsible, and unfair to the people doing very challenging work out in the battered community. This is not the time for inane party girl chirpings.

  6. Time to take their license off them.

    We will have a debate on the pubic good without them, as there are many many other right wing voices – they can’t complain about that.

    But when ZB first feed misinformation, at best, or outright lies, at worst, about the cyclone. Then to have then doubled down on this type of bullshit in the aftermath to score some cheap political points. It’s not a debate, or broadcasting in the public good – its just propaganda and quite frankly I’m sick of propaganda – being from either the left or the right.

    So take their bloody license, and if you broadcast radio in this country – do it in the public good, not as some partisan hack shitfuckery. That’s what we have the internet for.

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