GUEST BLOG: Bryan Bruce – Beyond our latest domestic media feeding frenzy
If you only rely on mainstream television broadcasters for your news then your understanding of world events and their possible impact on our lives here in New Zealand will be limited in the extreme.
Take, for example, what is happening in Kashmir.
Recently the Indian government revoked article 370 of its Constitution which ,since 1954, guaranteed Kashmir its own Constitution, its own flag, the right to handle its own laws and matters that affect its own national security .
It was the first step in an apparent determination to simply annex Kashmir .
While political conflict between India and Pakistan over Kashmir has a long and far too bloody history to discuss in a face book post , one thing I think is clear – that the people of Kashmir ought to be able to have the right to self -determination through a plebiscite.
How could this conflict affect us?
Well, both India and Pakistan have nuclear weapons. While both countries say they will not be the first to use them it is worth bearing in mind that the two nations have engaged in four wars starting since their partition along religious lines in 1947 and a fifth is looming.
In times of war desperate decisions are made.
Then there is trade.
New Zealand is looking to increase its trade with India. What’s our government’s position on India’s effective annexation of Kashmir? Do they have a moral position on it? Is our government prepared to champion the self-determination of the Kashmiri people at the United Nations for example?
There is much our television newsrooms could be doing to keep us better informed about what is happening in our world and New Zealand’s place in it.
Bryan Bruce is one of NZs most respected documentary makers and public intellectuals who has tirelessly exposed NZs neoliberal economic settings as the main cause for social issues.
Kasmir is merely the tip of the NZ Media blackout Iceburg. All we seem to get is the US Version of extreme right wing propaganda on most all middle eastern stories. Iraq, nothing. Iran, US Threats and a big blanc from the EU, Afghanistan/Pakistan, don’t exist other than our Military coverups that get found in the bottom of the bottom drawer of somebodys low ranked desk drawer,. Syria and Israels incessant bombing raids? Duh??? The Houthis’s side of the story, sorry we lost that news feed-duh, Iran must have stolen it.
Simple Simon the Chinese Secret Police Pieman, well, that lasts 2 seconds then gets replaced with the Bride of Frankensteins hair on fire cat fight over Jacinda covering up and should stand down. Judith the Drsgon Slayer, just smiles with bad teeth and sharpens them before photo ops.
Our oversll media is a wannabe joke.
The RNZ coverage is so bloody full of Corporate scandal and economic/ social mayhem that it should be restricted to everyone under 106 with dead hearing aid batterys only.
The rest is drivel. Sorry, what was the question again???
Face it, we’re fudged and the rest of the story is prempted for the Rugby World Cup live at 9:46pm…