RNZ considers unliking Twitter over ‘government-funded’ label
Twitter users might have noticed something different about the RNZ account in the last 24 hours.
The social media platform has decided to add the label ‘government-funded media’, which sits both in the page’s bio and above every tweet it makes.
RNZ is funded by the government through New Zealand On Air, which injects $48 million annually.
But the criteria for the Twitter label has a caveat that’s struck a chord with many outlets internationally lately, and the New Zealand public broadcaster on Monday.
The newly implemented policy outlines as follows on the site: “government-funded media is defined as outlets where the government provides some or all of the outlet’s funding and may have varying degrees of government involvement over editorial content. We may use external sources similar to this one in order to determine when this label is applied.”
Ok.
So Damien Grant, being the Libertarian Troll that we love him for, argued with Twitter that RNZ should really have a ‘Government funded media’ tag similar to BBC in what has become an Alt Right stunt to force Government Broadcasters on Twitter to add the tag as a ‘fuck you’ to the State.
All fun and games of course, right up until it happens, because Damien’s political prank has become reality and RNZ now has to have the tag on their Twitter account and all hell has broken lose.
The wokest wokes of Wellington Wokesville LOVE RNZ and LOVE RNZ Twitter, and for Damien to break their favourite toy means all the furry of vegans served steak is about to unleash on Damien Tiberius Grant.
I want to take the opportunity to state I barely knew him and believe revenge attacks and house arson, while utterly righteous, should be limited to people who actually knew him and while I certainly have done a political podcast with him for over a year now, I wouldn’t say I knew him, knew him.
We salute Damien and we release his body (if they ever find it) to the stars because he won’t be allowed to be buried on earth if the Wellington Woke have their way.
The Working Group is live 7.30pm tonight and if Damien is still alive, he will be on air.
I can’t guarantee for how long, but we will continue broadcasting until the shockwave of the first bomb blast!
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When you get to Damien’s age you are not cancellable. It will only take a few to stand up to these pricks in Wellington and not back down for the game to change. Unfortunately everyone is scared and don’t want to offend (Looking at you Te Reo).
Wow! Tiberius? Is that really his middle name? Twitter’s for twats. RIP Damien Grant, see you on the other side
Hilarious. God bless you Mr Grant.
But..
Let’s also see stuff, NZherald and the spin-off with the same label as they have also received government money ($55 million fund) in exchange for running the government line on treaty issues.
This 100% should see them with the same label according to twitters policy.
Doesn’t the truth hurt sometimes.
The Herald a champion of this government. That’s delusional
What incredible reading comprehension you possess wheel.
Simple facts:
NZHerald took money from government in exchange for having to toe the government line on treaty issues. That is in the terms and conditions for the public journalism fund. Fact.
That means according to Twitter rules they should have the same label as RNZ. Fact.
Nowhere did I mention being a champion of government – that would be what you do.
Did they take money from a National/ ACT government?
Does Newstalk ZB take money from Nact, genuine question?
Are they in govt, genuine question?
Whether the Herald took money from the last government (and I don’t know if they did) is irrelevant here. What is relevant and undeniable is that they accepted money from the present government, in return for aligning their editorial line with present government policy.
Here sleeps a true hero.
This epitaph also fits TDB. May both of you keep breathing and enjoy the sunshine on your backs.
The interview between Elon Musk and a BBC reporter is telling.
Russell Brand
“As the FBI arrests a 21-year-old suspected of leaking US classified documents, what did the Pentagon papers reveal, why did the press spend more time calling for his arrest, and is Elon Musk right about news networks being “state-affiliated media”?
https://youtu.be/fRDrU8dsxmk
Therefore, let me draw your attention to our very own no doubt all bought and paid for state media, rnz.
“Rich paying their fair share of tax, study concludes”
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/488161/rich-paying-their-fair-share-of-tax-study-concludes
@CB
Good summary by Brand especially emphasising that the NYT’s ‘taskforce’ tracked down the leaker before the FBI. I’m reluctant to give the leaker too much credit as it seems he was leaking for kudos on a gaming server not a whistleblower like Assange, Snowden or Manning. However it is a clear example of who’s interests major media outlets serve and the reality of elite discourse.
Musk taking down the hapless BBC reporter will never get old, and his ownership of Twitter has removed much of the censorship, a vast number of bots and ‘MAP’ threads no one likes to take about. So full credit where it is due, but Musk is not Robin Hood. His free speech commitment is inconsistent, he seems temperamental (as Bari Weiss and Matt Taibbi have discovered) and it’s always risky to trust such a powerful platform to the whims and biases of a single individual.
This type of bilge seems the 21st century equivalent of a “literary spat”–ie a discourse between various public self pleasurers over not very much.
Libertarian loon Damien Grant got it right this time – well done!
This is very much an own-goal by RNZ – if they were appropriately rigorous and balanced, there would be much less interest in slapping a “Govt-funded” label on them.