Last Sunday morning TVNZ’s Q and A current affairs programme broadcast a 45-minute interview with the Israeli ambassador conducted by TVNZ senior reporter/presenter Jack Tame. The interview breached all the standards of decent journalism. In other words it was offensive, discriminatory, inaccurate and grossly unfair.
It wasn’t journalism – it was 45-minutes of uninterrupted and unchallenged Israeli lies, misinformation and previously-debunked propaganda. It was outrageous. It was despicable. The country which for six months has conducted genocide against the Palestinian people of Gaza was given free reign to pour streams of the most vile fabrications and misinformation against Palestinians directly into the homes of New Zealanders. And without a murmur of protest from Jack Tame. Even the most egregious lies such as the ‘beheaded babies’ myth were allowed to be broadcast without challenge despite this Israeli propaganda having been discredited months ago.
The interview showed utter contempt for Palestine and Palestinians as well as New Zealanders who were assailed with this stream of racist deceits and falsehoods with Q and A as the conduit.
Tame contented himself with nodding at almost every falsehood told and even offered the Israeli ambassador leading propaganda phrases such as the falsehood of the Palestinian resistance using “human shields”.
There was no holding the genocidal state of Israel to account – no questions about the grave breaches of international law or war crimes such as collective punishment or the use of starvation as a weapon of war. Nothing about the genocidal statements from Israel’s political and military leaders and how these genocidal intentions are being put into practice. Nothing but a few token pushbacks about the number of Palestinians who have been slaughtered in Israel’s Killing Field of Gaza.
And of course, as is typical with western media, and Television New Zealand in particular, Palestinians and Palestinian viewpoints were nowhere to be seen.
From the outset there was barely any pretence of journalistic independence with the interview taking place at the Israeli embassy in Wellington backed by Israeli and New Zealand flags which “bond” the countries and the people together as “fellow-travellers”.
We insist that:
- TVNZ issue a public apology to the people of New Zealand for this journalistic debacle and that you as TVNZ Head of News and Current Affairs take responsibility and resign.
- TVNZ publicly identifies and apologises for the lies and misinformation presented by the Israeli ambassador without challenge from Jack Tame.
- TVNZ give Palestinian voices the same time as the Israeli ambassador to respond to the ambassador’s lies and misinformation.
- TVNZ conduct an open inquiry into its reporting failures over the past six months whereby it has consistently prioritised Israeli spokespeople, Israeli justifications, Israeli explanations and Israeli propaganda while sidelining and ignoring Palestinian viewpoints.
Great article JM.
Can I add this. Israel fires missiles at the Iranian Consulate in Syria killing several officials. No condemnation from the West. Iran fires missiles and drones on Israel and the West is quick to announce outrage at this act and reinforce that it supports Israel.
Hamas conducts an unprovoked attack on Israel which was totally wrong even taking into account the history you have brilliantly explained. Israel responds with an invasion into Gaza and a vicious and disproportionate attack on the Palestinian people with over 33,000 people slaughtered including thousands of innocent women and children but no condemnation from the West which continues to support Israel and Winston Peters makes an announcement that NZ is declaring Hamas a terrorist organisation.
In Jack Tame’s tame interview of the Israel Ambassador, the Ambassador justifies the killing of innocent Palestinians, including women and children, claiming without a hint of emotion that Israel is routing out Hamas. In other words, “we don’t care that innocent women and children are being mercilessly killed – that is the price the Palestinian people must pay for our actions which the West support.”
I thought Jack Tame was meant to be a good investigative and probing journalist but his interview of the Ambassador was a patsy interview and it makes me wonder that Tame’s masters act at the behest of this current coalition government who fall in line with those countries who continue to support Israel despite its genocidal actions.
Nice reply but I hasten to add that it is not just this current mob who fell into line
Hi A O – point taken, thank you
Blaming the Coalition for Jack Tames failings is dreadful.
Hey – Bob the first. I was not blaming the coalition government for JT’s failings. I simply said “…it makes me wonder…” However, I respect your absolute right to criticise me.
John – Right -o, we can have wall to wall coverage of Hamas puppets, or we can have balance coverage…
Translated into real world speak means – I make things up.
Enough said.
A O – Solid comeback…shame its made up
What John is really upset about is the Ambassador wasn’t wearing a yellow Star of David.
Or had no horns greenscreened on by Q+A. And there was no blood on his hands .
Ada’s lies (and imagination) are getting more pathetic …..
What a clown.
If you think the interview with the Israeli ambassador was balanced you need to get a dictionary to find out what the word actually means.
Bonnie – I have. Have you…Diversity of thought is very important
You only want to listen to one side and then have the cheek to claim that diversity of opinion is important? I don’t want to see any Jews suffer but that is no reason to allow some of them to destroy the Palestine people.
Bonnie – No, I listen to both sides…then I ask three questions
1. Can Arabs live in Israel, yes, they can – 20% of Israel of Population is Arab
2. What has Hamas done for the Gazan people…not much, apart from death and pain
3. Would the Gazan people be better off without Hamas…yes
What is your though process?
As Bonnie quite rightly pointed out, there is only one side of this tragedy to you, but then of course, the best way to enable genocide is to continually deflect attention away from those committing this act. Give yourself a pat on the back for being a masterful enabler.
Meanwhile, we had a very one-sided interview from which no amount of deflection can hide.
Shame that 2017 Hamas Charter which never revoked the genocidal 1988 one debunks your point.
Much like Nathan, hiding genocidal actions through deflection fools no one here.
And again, turning to deflection just further reinforces just how one-sided the interview in question here, was.
Are you really saying that charter is not genocidal? What an amazing deflection from the root cause of this conflict. The ambassador should have quoted verbatim from it.
Two points
1) This was not balanced journalism. Deflecting attention away from this point simply confirms this point.
2) Israel is committing genocide. Deflecting attention away from this horror, again, confirms this point. As for your deflection, here is the so-called genocidal charter. I am sure you can point out the passages that denote genocide. It will be illuminating for everyone to see what constitutes genocide in your eyes, remembering of course, that these are words, interpretations, maybe, in your case, and that these words pale in comparison to the actual actions being committed against the Palestinian people today.
“Hamas in 2017: The document in full” – https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/hamas-2017-document-full
And speaking of actual genocidal actions today:
“Database of Israeli Incitement to Genocide”
https://law4palestine.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Law-for-Palestine-Database-of-Israeli-Incitement-to-Genocide.pdf
“List of war crimes and crimes qualifying as genocide committed by Israel in Gaza between 7th & 14th October 2023”
https://www.yanisvaroufakis.eu/2023/10/15/list-of-war-crimes-and-crimes-qualifying-as-genocide-committed-by-israel-in-gaza-since-7th-october-2023/
Oh no! Not ‘puppets’ (human beings) who don’t think you zionists have the right to rape and kill kids for sport. That’s awful!
So, this was the hot topic at our recent protest. End result being, much the same as presented here…communicate with TVNZ, express our disappointment (and what not), urge them to redress this situation and to do better, be better prepared in the future. On top of this, to appeal to Winnie while we are at it (in our case) So, from this I take – we still believe in our media, we still believe in our government, despite their actions…despite their actions. In a world where genocide is taking place right before our eyes, we still believe in the media covering this tragedy and we still believe in the political sphere from which this trauma has both arisen from and allows to continue on. We just have to appeal to both of them to do better – that’ll do the trick!
Righto, time for me to break out my favorite Mangatainoka brew because the powers-that-be and their media machine can rest easy…pressure therefore change, is not going to rise up from this side of the political equation.
We all lived for through NZ’s Covid “journalism”. This is nothing new.
Jack Tame has been celebrated on the TDB on a number of occasions,what’s happened to the TDB poster boy?
John Minto – that’s what.
Yes.
100% agree with every point John Minto has made ,,,, but I’d like to add the perverting of reality and the truth in JT’s show continued after it was presented.
On John Tane’s youtube channel it gained a lot of comments fairly quickly,,, these comments were encouraging as at least 95% were denouncing the interview,,, with a lot of them debunking the endless stream of blatant lies and atrocity propaganda that poured out of the Israeli Ambassadors mouth.
Most of the posters were obviously from our country and it was a great example of how Israels actions have shattered it’s reputation with their propaganda fooling hardly anyone anymore … It’s a bit like a little child with chocolate all over their face denying they ate the chocolate ,,, except in Israels case it’s Civilian blood all over their face ,,,
Anyway when I revisited the thread the comments had been purged and deleted ,,,,. Deleted presumably because there were so many posts proving the Israel Ambassador was a outrageous liar,,, and a obvious scumbag for the reasons he was lying ( to justify the mass killing of children and Civilians, amongst other monstrous crimes).
Now,,,, did TVNZ delete the comments? ,,, or did youtube do it? ,,, was it a collaboration between the two?? ….
If John Tane makes no mention of the comment section on his Channel being Purged and deleted, which is protecting and shielding Israel’s Propaganda ,,, then he’s a collaborator, a sell out, and a fraud…..
…. Same goes for TVNZ who will have very quickly identified themselves as again part of the Dirty Media on which Dirty Politics relies….. Censoring the truth is the same as telling lies,, and an essential part of Propaganda.
Posters are not happy with the deletions, which are ongoing, and deleting many of those complaining about the deletions ,,, https://youtu.be/CgM8iS7kstw ….
…. Regardless, Israels international lying machine is like the Wizard of Oz ,,, people have seen what’s behind the curtain ,,, their mountain of lies is failing ,,, and more often serves as an example of how rotten they are,, proving themselves lower and lower and lower.
At least the worse and more depraved their lie,,, the easier it is
to disprove,,, this resource is good for just that
https://www.oct7factcheck.com/index ,,, it really puts on display and debunks the the outrageous and non-stop lying that zionists engage in ,,,
Between gaby, nathan, Ann e, Im right, they have used every lie at that link,,, with gaby in particular DEMANDING full genocide from his first posts, much more crazed and vocally blood-lusting than normal for him,,,as he had 40 beheaded babies moral high-ground on ‘his side’ ,, which he howled about.
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@ Bob the f,,, unlike a one eyed hypocrite like yourself,,, good or better people than you praise good behavior and criticize poor behavior,,,. You’ve demonstrated this is not what you do when you post,, or even seem to understand….
That’s why JT is getting criticized here at TDB ,,,, as to why he did what he did ,,,, perhaps he’s an arsehole like you ,,, but was way way way more sneaky about being one ,,, or perhaps he was ill-informed ,,, the Jury is out for him at the moment ,,, but we will find out about him one way or the other in short order.
…. meanwhile you can keep on proving what a low-grade hypocritical arsehole you are,,, every time you ‘win’ by being one.
Champ.
Gosh what a stupid rant based on nothing.
Nothing to Bob the champ … https://www.oct7factcheck.com/oct7factcheck/White-flag-executions-by-Israel-5313b9bf8e82432e92abd6e61cef6963
Gosh sorry to upset you so B Awakesky.
Gosh Gosh what tosh ,,,, no need to apologize for what you didn’t do ,,, Bob the champ 😉
You are a funnny person B Awakesky.
Pleased to hear I didn’t upset you.
Carry on old chap.
Israel and their ambassador ‘carrying on” https://www.oct7factcheck.com/babies-hung-on-clotheslines
I’m the champ appointed by B Awakesky a troubled person.
Bob the Champ has a certain ring to it.
Er … Oct 7 fact check link … the link that has been removed? … well fancy that … the “fact checkers” wouldn’t have been lying now would they?
What are you talking/ telling lies about about now Ann e ? …. https:www.oct7factcheck.com/index
https://www.oct7factcheck.com/oct7factcheck/The-Blinken-story-6b6bd13a0d494c0287f769301e2e5b26
I do note that google has been ‘getting evil’ in their pro-zionist pro-war crimes actions …. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/apr/18/google-fires-staff-protest-israel-contract … ”
…..”Schubiner said internal conversations with fellow workers who found themselves giving trainings on how to use Google Cloud directly to the Mossad, Israel’s national intelligence agency, revealed the Israeli military is a primary owner of the contract – and that the contracts were not primarily targeted at civil services and civil society, as Google had claimed.”
And google is trying to frighten off internet users from seeing anti-Israel truth,,, which they flag with dire warnings but in reality is the ” inappropriate content.” part of their warning,,, inappropriate for those seeking to justify war crimes and genocide, ie; https://www.oct7factcheck.com/beheaded-babies..
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Ann E (E for extremist) is world famous at TDB for denying ( telling lies ) that Israel does not support terrorists ,,, despite her zionist heroes clearly admitting that they do, and have ,,, all from their own mouths,,,
conveniently a few examples of that are compiled here in one place, which only takes a couple of minutes to view,,, https://youtu.be/8clMNOmX_kk?t=196
…. So we can see and ‘fact check’ for ourselves what a bitter old zionist bullshitter Ann E ( for extremist is ) …
Her word is worst than nothing ,,, if she says it, then the opposite is more likely to be true.
She”s claimed to have a Masters degree ,,, but for what?,,, can you get one for being useless and see through ??? … what’s that a degree in I wonder.
Nathans almost smarter than her ….
Oh golly gosh. Even Duck Duck won’t go there. https://www.oct7factcheck.com/oct7factcheck/October-7-Fact-Check-44250004f0fe4cc98c43ecda539aa7b8
Who uses old duckduck no go ,,, perhaps their contract with Microsoft serves your purpose Ann E-xtremely bad liar…
“former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer says “Microsoft is as much an Israeli company as an American company.”
Fact checking Ann d- Extremists refusal to condemn Israels use of terrorists,,, that Israel officials themselves confirm,,, but which Ann now says is a lie ( she used to say it was anti-semetic to even bring it up) ,,,,, https://youtu.be/8clMNOmX_kk?t=196
Confirmed feeble lie from a confirmed ISIS and al qaeda terrorism supporter,,, when the terrorism is for her and Israeli causes.
Conclusion ,,, shes a recidivist liar and she does so deliberately… She is marginally less septic than trans-gaby ,,, but still posts with the utmost bad faith and lack of ethics…. another uber-zionist ….
Did you even know fact checks are supposed to link to the allegations made? Please link directly to my comments rather than a propaganda video by a whiny Syrian (or is she Australian?) who glories in defaming Jews, can’t tell the Western Wall from the mosque on Temple Mount and thinks IDF 36th division withdrawing from Gaza is an attack on Rafah. Geez fella, are you besotted with her or what.
Is the Israeli DoS attack failing?, (Denial of Service) ,,, thanks for highlighting the obvious attempts ,,,
it’s a shame for you lot of sneaky zioinsts ( not so sneaky in Ann E’s case) that they can’t just delete the links like youtube comments….
https://www.oct7factcheck.com/baby-repeatedly-stabbed-and-thrown-in-trash
eh Ann E ,,, perhaps the E is also for ‘Extreme bad liar’
B Awakesky you are becoming very boring with your high school level comments,you sound like a left wing high school essay,dopey.
Are you a Zionist Ann E?
Have you found Bravery’s article yet?
As you know, great hero for justice, quite a lot of ‘free speech’ stuff about now, mostly by way of for rich-rule. But still a bit to think about re that in Tame’s obviously incompetent interview. Could we find counter-factuals elsewhere? In the evening with this production I’d be as blood-red baying as anyone.
These youngies the ms media delegate to for ‘junior’ jobs are often ignorant. I like TV 1’s guy in America lately.
John Minto – that’s what.
There’s an unfortunate history here. The Crusader states who invaded Palestine were pushed into the sea when support from Europe dried up. Israel cannot stand alone amongst so many enemies without Western support. Losing our public support is Israels fatal flaw.
And the main stream media wonder why people no longer trust them.
Tame is a performer it’s all about him.
It’s that simple.
The truth hurts for those who support raping, murdering, torturing, beheading, abducting terrorists. How does it feel?