Infamous TDB Media Awards 2023
The NZ Media.
They were always the voice of corporate interest and neoliberal mythology and when everyone was making money from selling each other houses it was fine, but then covid ripped the security blanket from many who fell down rabbit holes and that collective anger turned on NZ media and we’ve been screaming abuse at them ever since.
Compounding this is the Stockholm syndrome most journalists now are held by woke cancelation social media Lynch mobs who will have you sacked for breaking middle class dogma alongside Qanon antivaxxers sending daily death threats.
The Fourth Estate in this country is a defanged lap dog rather than guard dog. It’s held hostage by activist cultural pressures and funded by crony NZ on Air self interested funding structures!
We now have social media platforms that are suppressing news in favour of conspiracy theory algorithms which are generating an electorate of brainwashed, incel, racist, climate denying, anti science, feral vaccine cooker cultists who have turned New Zealand into Q Zealand!
Winston’s claim that the entire mainstream media were bribed by the Public Journalism Fund is a Conspiracy Swamp Kingdom myth that claims the mainstream media carried pro-vaccination propaganda so Jacinda could take over everyones immunity systems for a shadowy One World Government child molesting satanic cult.
No issues there with the Deputy Prime Minister spouting full blown conspiracies as if they are the fucking proclamations from Christ himself?
No issues at all?
None?
No one?
We are so fucked for the next 3 years!
Here are the winners and losers of TDBs infamous annual Media Awards. Time to crack out those grudges and ensure another year of personal animosity.
Seasons greetings!
WORST DOCUMENTARY: Mister Organ Review – 1 star
Before I rip this awful shit to pieces, let me be clear: I have been a real David Farrier fan in the past. His Dark Tourist stuff, his Tickled and The Cryptid Factor have all been great work and I would have put me in the fan category, but his appalling character assassination of Sean Plunkett and the wet woke stuff at The Spinoff have all made me queasy and increasingly he’s used his platform to go on woke crusades and cancel culture lynchings.
In those woke social media lynchings you can at least accept that there is some ultra liberal identity politics value that is the motivation, unfortunately for his latest offering, Mister Organ, you can’t even give his work that pretence of higher motives because it’s not that.
It’s a vicious attack and public profiling of a suburban arsehole who David keeps losing to which sees David using the most graceless and unprofessional journalism to justify the whole documentary.
How did the NZ Film Commission give him $750 000 for this?
Is the NZ Film Commission actually saying the stunts and crimes against journalism committed by David in this documentary are the highest standards of journalism that they want to associate with?
Look at me getting ahead of myself!
As you can see, I think this is a disgraceful documentary, an appalling use of $750 000 and raises serious questions of the NZ Film Commission.
Let me rewind and start from the beginning.
I went with Damien Grant to the movies to review the documentary, he reviews it in his Sunday column today alongside this review from me and an anonymous review from someone who was in the scene that David Farrier explores.
First up, I knew Brent who David focuses on in the Documentary. I lived above his Bookshop in Grey Lynn, I was around for the Tuesday Night Poetry events and while I never talked to Organ, he was around that scene.
Organ was part of a subculture of Queens and gay life that was hurt and damaged around the edges in the mid 90s in Grey Lynn Auckland. Brent, my landlord, was part of that world and tried to give it some purpose and a home with his poetry nights.
The insinuation that Organ was responsible for Brent’s suicide is a grotesque over reach.
I knew Brent, I was aware of the dispute between him and Organ over that bloody model boat and while there is little doubt in my opinion that Organ is a hypnotic, overwhelming and intense arsehole, Brent was an exceptionally gentle and passive person who could feel intimidated by a gust of wind.
To make Brent’s suicide the gotcha smoking gun moment by Farrier is not the craft of journalism you expect from a Taxpayer funded documentary, it is a crass and sad conclusion to a documentary that increasingly becomes personal and where David, as far as I am concerned, let himself down horribly.
The documentary starts interestingly enough about the crazy mad buggers at Bashford Antiques who would clamp cars outside their arsehole antique dealership in Ponsonby. The rigid enforcement and glee the private owners felt when clamping anyone stupid enough to park there became the stuff of urban legend.
Of course Bashord Antiques could be as big a prick as they liked because it was their property.
Farrier did a hilarious series on The Spinoff about these lunatics and starts focusing on the clamper, who is Mister Organ. But when Mister Organ sues him for stealing billboards, the whole tone of the documentary starts turning as David gets more and more pissed off that someone he clearly detests is constantly besting him.
This draws Farrier into Organ’s world and his past and rather than simply shrugging it off and going about his next project, David keeps digging and the more he digs the less he finds, but the extreme nature of how far Farrier is prepared to go to get Organ leads to some truly disturbing journalism.
David doorstops family members of Organ for Christ’s sakes! He turns up at their door at night with cameras and tape running without their permission!
The only time you doorstop someone as a journalist is to catch a politician who has been involved in a scandal and is refusing interviews, a priest accused of child abuse who is refusing interviews and corrupt police who are refusing interviews, you don’t doorstop people for your personal documentary where you are attempting to slag their family member!
How is that level of gutter journalism acceptable for a documentary that ultimately is little more than a $750 000 vendetta?
I’m not defending Organ or his broken damaged world, I’m just saying you can’t justify 3 quarters of a million in taxpayer money on using your platform to shit on someone just because your ego can’t stand being bested by someone you think is beneath you!
This is such a shitty, nasty and needless documentary that I honestly can’t believe the positive reviews I’ve read!
At no point does anyone pull David aside and say, ‘Mate, there’s no story here, if we keep going down this path we are the bullies now’.
Watching David make himself out to be the victim in all of this is truly woke level snowflake trigger gas lighting at its finest.
Mr Organ may be a an unpleasant wanker, he may be a manipulative Rasputin, but it really does say something that the highlights of the documentary are when he’s giving David shit for his terrible journalism.
This has the distinct desperate feel of someone who was given a lot of money for a documentary that doesn’t have any real purpose and spends 90 minutes trying to justify itself.
“How the fuck did this cost $750 000 when The Working Group can’t get a fucking red cent” I said to Damien as we left the empty movie theatre.
How indeed.
1 Star
BEST SONG:‘Rich Men North Of Richmond’ – Oliver Anthony
The speed with which Oliver Anthony’s Ballard of working class pain has sped around the internet is proof positive of the incandescent rage of the working classes left behind by a rigged capitalism that benefits the wealthy.
The middle class woke clutch at their pearls and cry fat phobic at Oliver Anthony’s song of pain and anger at a neoliberal free market system he can never beat.
Anthony strikes the same chord as Tennessee Ernie Ford’s 16 Tons or Johnny Paycheck’s Take This Job And Shove It or Billy Bragg’s Which Side Are You On?
His lyrics frightened the rulers. That is always the mark of great art.
Best Album – Michael – Killer Mike – 6 stars
Killer Mike is one of the most important voices in modern America, from politics to culture to the personal, his flow is a force of nation and Michael is probably the best album of 2023. His intelligence, his art and his insights make for the best 54minutes you will spend this Summer.
Best Music Video: Doja Cat – Paint The Town Red
I know, I know. It looks like Doja Cat is riding a giant Jew Monster caricature and you suddenly fear she’s gone all Kayne West, but it’s just the opening sequences to Paint The Town Red, the best video of 2024. When she dances with the Grim Reaper, it’s so cool! I’ve had this song on loop for 3 months.
The Today FM cancel culture award for self harm
The writing on the wall here was apparent shortly after they launched this disaster!
The 5 year plan that all the staff are pointing to as their supposed lifeline was utterly dependent on them actually growing the audience over that time.
In the year of operation after MagicTalk, Today FM went down every single poll!
They went from MagicTalks 2.6 to 1.4 which represents the lowest ratings for any talkback station in NZ broadcasting history!
If Today FM had rated, if the idea was sound, they would have rated, yet even with a $9million branding and advertising push, the thing collapsed.
Why?
I find it funny that The Spinoff, who were so instrumental in cancelling MagicTalk, dare to offer an opinion on TodayFM.
The real story media are ignoring in Today FM meltdown is how Mediaworks Management got spooked by the woke Lynch mob David Farrier and The Spinoff launched against MagicTalk and Sean Plunkett last year.
MediaWorks management were right to move from a Boomer audience to a Gen X audience, but they did it with the blandest and most mediocre Talkback Hosts in NZ.
They followed a former ZB manager without appreciating that Bill Francis built ZB and everyone who followed Bill simply did as he had taught them. It wasn’t their talent, but Bills.
This former ZB Manager had no real research to back up this gamble, just a ‘feeling’ plus the fear of running foul of the woke Lynch mob.
Whenever I wrote scathing reviews of the strategy of the station, they were read out in Staff meetings afterwards as Management tried to calm nerves caused by my criticism.
The madness was that this could have worked, but the arrogance of the Management refused to acknowledge they had fucked up from the beginning.
Now, I may seem gleeful watching this entire cluster fuck implode, and that’s 100% true.
I did Talkback on Radio Live before it became MagicTalk and I was a political commentator on MagicTalk as well as their host of the 2020 Election Night coverage (where we called the election first), until I was culled when it mutated into the deeply flawed Today FM.
The rest of the media are totally ignoring the reasons why they moved from MagicTalk to Today FM because no one is allowed to mention Sean Plunkett or The Platform.
What is so insane about all of this, is that it could have worked, but the Mediaworks Management refused to listen.
By the way, The Working Group, out rates Today FM every single week in the NZ Podcast ratings.
Go woke. Go broke.
Best Election Interview: Rebecca Wright – NewsHub Nation
No one watches NewsHub Nation which is a shame because I think the best interview the entire election was with Rebecca Wright destroying Christopher Luxon in a train wreck interview that highlighted just how much of a stupid boofhead he is. Like really thick. It is an indictment on how bad Labour were hated by the electorate that Luxon was able to get elected after this interview. He’s a fucking meat puppet with more obvious strings! Like Thunderbirds meets asian sex doll. God he’s stupid!
Best Bloggers: Gordon Campbell, No Right Turn, Bernard Hickey & Graeme Edgeler
Gordon, No Right Turn, Bernard and The Edgeler continue to be the best Political Bloggers in New Zealand and their salient points on legislation and accountability are probably the best this country produces. Gordon continues to bring insight and oversight, No Right Turn’s extraordinary skill sets in reviewing legislation and the The Edgeler is so good at political law, everyone automatically defers to him on any issue relating to it.
Bernard deserves specific praise because his Kaka site gives the best political and economic insights in New Zealand. If there is anyone’s news you pay for in NZ, it really should be Bernard’s.
BEST NEWS: Newsroom
Continues to be the best news source in New Zealand.
They do actual journalism without fear or favour and are a daily must read for anyone wanting to have an opinion on current affairs.
Excellent and insightful commentary, the only reminder that adults are still in charge of a news room somewhere in NZ.
Best Election Interviewer: Moana Maniapoto – Te Ao with Moana, Māori TV
The most fascinating insights into our politicians was done by Moana on Māori TV. Her David Seymour interview, Chippy interview, Winston interview, Māori Party and Green Party interviews were all brilliant and produced surprising interchanges that were unique and human and deep. Moana’s skill as a broadcaster is built on her intelligence and empathy. She produces what Seven Sharp and The Project should be doing if they weren’t dumbed down crass vehicles for advertisers. That Chris Luxon refused to appear speaks volumes about him as a leader. Imagine if Te Ao was primetime TVNZ and how much this kind of broadcasting could have shaped the debate? If there is a God she will be Kim Hill’s replacement.
Best Debate: Paddy Gower
He asked questions that forced the Leaders to adapt their rhetoric into everyday examples. Watching Luxon argue he would send in paramilitary police to start a riot at Gang funerals should never ever be forgotten. When Luxon said he didn’t know Winston Peters, Paddy yelled, ‘Everyone knows Winston’. Here’s another person Luxon doesn’t know…
BEST DOCUMENTARY: The Food Crisis
Bryan Bruce is the only TV journalist left making actual documentaries in NZ.
60% of the news rooms are female now and the focus is identity politics and ‘you-go-girl’ feminism.
I’ve argued previously that this journalism using only the lens of identity is intellectually weak and petty.
Remember when Carmel Sepuloni who has done so little in Welfare was feted by the NZ on Air groupies over at Spinoff?
Read The Spinoff, Stuffs and NZ Heralds review of her appointment and it’s all identity politics soaked in ‘you go girl’ feminism that champions her being the first Pacific Island Deputy.
There is no reflection whatsoever on her time as Minister presiding over the very weak and vulnerable that those woke newsrooms profess to care about, because when we do that, the gloss strips away very quickly.
That’s why Bryan Bruce’s documentary is so different. It’s not the low hanging fruit of identity politics journalism, it’s an actual journalistic examination of the economic dynamics of why our food prices are so high, and quite frankly it’s the kind of journalism that NZ on Air should be funding, not the woke identity politics junk.
He points out the free market structures that stops NZers enjoying the food grown here.
He points out the harm to our environment and animal welfare.
He points out the damage to our health.
He links the ongoing food prices to neoliberal changes in the economy.
He points out how the big players have manipulated the low regulation environment in NZ to cement into place their market dominance.
He points out climate change and the selling of our productive land.
He points out how the Trucking Industry have fucked us.
He points out how free trade has fucked us.
Christ he even talks the solutions TDB has been championing: A subsidy to NZ Farmers for domestic sale, a sugar tax, free food in schools, protecting our productive land, pushing more community gardens – the list of good ideas keeps coming!
Bryan has done more journalism in one documentary than The Project and Seven Sharp has managed in 3 years.
Why can’t we have actual documentaries that point out the economic and class failures of the system that can lead to common ground and broad based solidarity?
Best Media Cheerleader – Ryan Bridge, AM Show
Look. I’m just going to make an assumption that Ryan Bridge has recently purchased a house, because his gleeful Cheerleading of anything to do with the value of property and mortgage rates seems deeply personal. You feel like he now has very firm views on capital gains tax. He’s like a poor Mike Hosking. Ryan is 3 months away from being the face of a new property app that helps Millennials get the best mortgage rate. He’s also the new host of TV3s 7pm current affairs show, ‘Burning Bridges’. I think home owners will be treated like Gods on his new show and Ryan will demand lambs to be sacrificed for Landlords.
‘She caught them all’ Weinstein Award – Alison Mau
Dumbest Podcast byline – TOVA – whipsmart
Oh the Irony Award – Peter Jackson and purchasing Union Building
One of Wellington’s worst-kept secrets has been spilled with Sir Peter Jackson revealed as the buyer of the E tū union building in Rongotai.
Last week the Herald on Sunday reported the Miramar-based billionaire hadprogressively acquired nearly every property in a waterfront block adjoining Wellington Airport over the past six months.
Company LB HC – understood to stand for Lyall Bay Holding Company and directed by Jackson and partner Dame Fran Walsh with their Wingnut company as ultimate shareholder – acquired seven of eight properties in the block bordered by Kingsford Smith St, Lyall Parade, Tirangi Rd and McGregor St.
The final piece of the puzzle, 7 McGregor St, became the centre of a horseshoe of Jackson-owned properties. It was owned by E tū union and, until earlier this month, had been used as its headquarters. A sale agreement had been signed, but all parties were tight-lipped as to the identity of the buyer.
The deal settled on September 11 and property records now show the new owner is LB HC.
Worst Crime against Public Broadcasting – Victoria University’s Democray Project
Best cultural symbolism – Oppenheimer vs Barbie
I’m amazed that a Corporation reliant on the plastics made from the petroleum industry and who has fucked with the body image of women for decades is now suddenly a ‘you-go-girl-feminism’ cinematic triumph.
That this corporate pink washing advert manages to beat Oppenheimer, a heavy duty examination of the power of atomic weapons perfectly sums us up as a global culture right now.
Funnily enough both are inspired by Germany. Oppenheimer was born to German parents in New York and he studied in Germany, Mattel based Barbie on a right wing German adult cartoon character and toy, Bild Lilli, who was a high end prostitute who partied with the far right.
How charming.
Watching Barbie to bond with feminism would be like watching He-Man and his roid rage muscle Mary mates to understand masculinity.
To paraphrase Oppenheimer, “Now I am become Death, the tedious ennui of worlds.”
Best NZ Comedian – Kiedis Haze
Worst Media 2023: Reality Check Radio vs The Platform vs TVNZs Lifestyle section vs Newsable
It’s like the Spinoff BUT SMUGGER!
How the Zombie Christ do they manage to make it more condescending than The Spinoff?
Part of it is the naked stress of the last election and rise in abuse towards Journalists. This desperate effort to find ways to bond with their audience beyond politics is an attempt to humanise TVNZ which is understandable but ultimately damaging to the issues they are covering because depoliticised news media is a capitulation of Fourth Estate obligations, not a championing of them.
The other part of this new lifestyle section are the economic dynamics of measuring audience.
MediaWorks has received a lot of media attention lately regarding the new media environment struggles, but at least they have a plan for turning things around.
NZME, TVNZ, Stuff, RNZ and TV3 have more problems than MediaWorks.
Radio, Newspaper and TV ‘audiences’ were always a mismatch of diary readership surveys and polling.
Generating these audience numbers was always more an art than science with clients believing a million eyeballs saw their advert or a million ears heard their advert.
The brutality of online viewing stats however alongside the inflated numbers social media sold as ‘impressions’ robbed radio and newspaper of their audience numbers.
Online is all that matters now and the stats they generate provide more than the old school radio and newspaper surveys.
TVNZ suffers this problem as well. Their online arm can generate precise ratings they can sell on, their TVNZ ratings however are drawn from the always questionable TV monitors which the advertising industry are less and less impressed by.
TVNZ has to generate more pap to draw advertising models to and their depoliticised middle class Lifestyle section is the perfect virtue signal for that.
Ugh.
We face a Hard Right Romper Stomper of a Government who are going to bash the bejesus out of drug addicts, the disabled, beneficiaries, workers, renters, prisoners, the environment, the 300 000 living in electricity and housing poverty and the 600 000 reliant on Food banks each month – and a depoliticised living room of middle class aspiration is where our public broadcaster is deciding to move towards because viewers are fatigued.
Neato.
I know.
MORE smug than The Spinoff!
Reality Check Radio
Said the joker to the thief
If the Platform‘s hate is at least scientific based, Reality Check Radio is off the hinges crazy feral anti vaxx cooker swamp conspiracy kingdom level fuckwittedness.
Reality Check Radio people believe crystals can cure you better than an actual hospital.
It has all the bigotry of The Platform with an extra helping of wilful ignorance that puts them beyond just being wrong and into a metastasising cancer.
When Cameron Slater is a host, it’s like allowing an arsonist into a hospital with a flamethrower.
Reality Check Radio is why Winston won 6%, the cooker antivaxx audience with all their weird Qanon conspiracies are what Winston has put into policy.
They’ve collectively turned us from New Zealand into Q Zealand!
The biggest red flag to any Kiwi is when someone tells you they listen to Reality Check Radio. The millisecond you hear that, slowly back away and run.
Never stop running!
Reality Check Radio people are fucking lunatics.
Best Show – Billions
The final series of unbridled free market capitalism and the egos that define that was a beautiful (if a tad cringy) way to end the series.
It revolved around billionaires and the conmtratints put upon them by an American system of capitalism that worships aspiration rather than ever attempt to rein it in.
The writers favourite style of using pop culture references to explain tactical and strategic decisions was always very clever but sometimes seemed very forced and it only worked when you understood the popular cultural reference.
It was like having the New Yorker trying to flirt with you and understanding only 30% of the references.
Damien Lewis and Paul Giamatti were always the stars.
It was funny how the series started r18 because of Chuck Rhoades masochism but that was a rating that got dumped as the characters went from crazed capitalist/enforcers to more rational and compassionate characters.
We saw them go from raw functions of human will to people who were well versed in the damage and suffering they had caused in their pursuits. The last season sees them all band together to prevent the ‘negative aspiration’ of Mike Prince character and in doing so relinquishing their egos and past self righteousness.
A forgiving, self regulating Capitalism that eliminates the leaders amongst them who would launch nuclear war.
I means, sure, but highly unlikely right? The defence of craven self interest was always the thing that made Billions interesting but ultimately morally hollow.
The last shot of Chuck Rhoades with his wife whom he has spent so long trying to win back from Bobby Axelrod is a fitting end to his theme of redemption and left all the money and power at the door.
Cheesy, but ultimately satisfying.
WORST COLUMNIST – Shaneel Lal
BEST COLUMNIST – Verity Johnson, Simon Wilson + Matthew Hooton
Most virtuous circle of NZ on Air funding – Using NZ on Air money to review publicly funded Woke Opera
The most jaw dropping recent NZ on Air funding decision (other than the millions they’ve already poured into the Spin-off), was to give Alison Mau money to review a Woke Opera that was also funded by Public money.
Why doesn’t NZ on Air go the full hog and publicly fund the Woke Opera, publicly fund the review of the Woke Opera and then just publicly fund people to go watch the Woke Opera, that way you’ll have the Wellington virtuous circle of public funding from concept, to review, to watching it without reality ever having to encroach.
It will be a Wellington fantasy land where publicly funded art is reviewed by publicly funded reviewers and watched by the publicly funded public.
Best Debate Season – The Working Group
You know it!
We changed the paradigm for election debates, remember when TV3 ripped our entire post debate show with the exact same panel? We here at TWG are used to news producers from the mainstream media harvesting our arguments and story angles without any acknowledgement because we understand that they use us to do their thinking for them, but ripping the entire pub politics show was funny even for TV3.
And here is the best actual online Journalism site in NZ saying it!
A plaudit, too, to a partisan and non-media body: The Taxpayers’ Union. While it delights in provocative mischief and some personalised political attacks, during this campaign it funded and held multiple campaign debates, live-streamed, and conducted polls by a reputable pollster, Curia, for a clutch of key electorate races. The events and the polls added to the life of this campaign.
Oh, did I mention we changed the paradigm for election debates without one red cent from NZ on Air? I did right?
Worst Media Moment: Winston threatening Jack Tame
Winston had no costings for his prison promises and decided to lash out at Jack and ended up threatening his job? Winston claimed a conspiracy against him and that Jack was somehow involved with attempting to end NZ First. I was waiting for Winston to start demanding to know who Q was and why is there a secret dungeon inside TVNZ.
We are so fucked.
Worst Interview – Simon Shepard – Newshub Nation
Simon started the interview by launching into David, and the skill, ease and total destruction of David’s counterattack was so devastating that I felt tempted to call the Police to report an assault.
It was a reminder of just how skilful Seymour can be and why the Left were foolish to underestimate him.
Luckily for Simon no one watches NewsHub Nation.
The Top 10 Public Broadcasters in New Zealand
With the latest bastardisation of infotainment TV News vomited upon us with Paddy Gower Has Issues, we are all reminded of just how important our public broadcasters are. Journalists working for the public good as opposed to whatever will distract citizens and mollify consumers.
Here are the Top 10 Public Broadcasters in NZ:
10: Kiri Danielle – Live Talkback Radio Waatea
Kiri’s talkback on Waatea is a breath of fresh air. It is rare to have someone as ethically solid as Kiri hosting anything but it is always a deep discussion on issues that matter. Her own environmental stance as someone focused on doing the mahi before the talk marks her out as a unique human as well as talented broadcaster.
9: Jenny-May Clarkson – TVNZ Breakfast
Her emotional intelligence during very tough interviews mark her as a unique talent. There really is only one reason to watch TVNZ Breakfast now, and it’s Jenny-May. She is faultlessly kind and respectful but hard as nails when she is demanding accountability for a marginalised group. She manages all this without a hint of elitism of condescension.
8: Corin Dann – Morning Report
Being the host of Morning Report means being the journalist of record. Dann has always wielded that power professionally, without mercy or malice, because when he asks a question, the answer matters. Always balanced but ruthless in pursuing an answer.
7: Claudette Hauiti – Radio Waatea’s Parliamentary Press Gallery Reporter
Aunty Claudette is a senior Māori journalist almost unparalleled in her contact list of flax root organisations throughout Māoridom. Her experience, expertise and time working inside NZ Current Affairs marks her as one of the most important voices in NZ Broadcasting!
6: Moana Maniapoto – Te Ao with Moana on Māori TV
Easily the most intelligent Current Affairs on TV, Moana’s must see weekly current affairs show on Māori TV is the smartest broadcasting this country has. This country would be a vastly better place if this was on prime time TVNZ. If there is a God she will be Kim Hill’s replacement.
5: Jack Tame – Q+A
All year Jack brings true insight into our political landscape via Q+A and his journalism marks Q+A as the Jewel in the Public Broadcasting Current Affairs Crown of TVNZ.
His interview with Police Commissioner Andrew Coster at the beginning of last year as he desperately talked down middle NZ from using the military to indiscriminately sweep the protestors from the lawns of Parliament, literally saved us from ourselves.
At a moment of true panic and threat, where the middle classes demanded the military be used to clear the lawns, Jack calmly leaned into the debate and made us all understand what the ramifications of that decision would actually provoke.
His journalism talked us down from committing to a police action that would have required so much extreme violence by the State that we would have almost inadvertently triggered a civil conflict within our own whanau.
That takes true courage and true journalistic excellence.
He is well researched and simply won’t accept bullshit answers.
His journalism as an interviewer is the benchmark in New Zealand.
4: John Campbell – TVNZ News
God defend New Zealand (and John Campbell). When my black cynical splinter of a heart hardens and doesn’t want to be compassionate, his journalism and empathy melts my anger with insight. His recent expose on ram raiding youth was heartbreaking and deeply poignant at a time when political parties are openly fighting over how young they can put ankle bracelets on them. His journalism makes this country a measurably better place. We are a poorer people without his work. Whenever I need hope, he delivers.
3: Julian Wilcox – The Hui TV3
There are so few Broadcasters with the mana of Julian. From his effortless polish and old school broadcasting performance skills to his ability to ask well researched questions and gaining answers that speak to the lived experience of his audience. He is such a class act and The Hui remains one of the most important current affairs shows on TV.
2: Kill Him – RNZ Saturday Morning
Disdain and intellectual contempt have never sounded so delightful. It’s like being tortured over brunch by a very demanding upper class Mother-in-law over why you haven’t got your shit together yet. Her constant tone of disappointment feeds the masochism of living in NZ. She is the classic Kiwi Aunty weaponised, like the Topp Twins, but with a machine gun. She was the voice of educated NZ that demands more and we loved her for it. Her leaving RNZ leaves a gap in all our lives.
1: Barbara Dreaver – TVNZ Pacific Correspondent
Bab’s is a god damned national cultural treasure! Her body of work every single year marks her journalism and her ability to pull NZs attention towards the current affairs of the Pacific as the benchmark for Fourth Estate values in this country. The range of issues Barbara Dreaver covers from natural disasters to geopolitical machinations to domestic internal dynamics, her range and skill as a Journalist is true dedication to the craft. She is such a humble person and her stories are always focused on the ignored voices.
Final word:
I’ve been in the NZ media now for 30 years, and over that time I’ve noticed the things you can and can’t say in the NZ media landscape. Here are the list of topics that you simply are NOT allowed to discuss on NZ mainstream media.
Palestine: You can not talk about the brutal occupation of Palestine by Israel in NZ media. It’s just not allowed, any discussion has to be framed as ‘Poor Israeli’s being terrorised by evil angry Muslims’, there is never focus on the brutal occupation and when it ever does emerge in the media it’s always insinuated that any criticism is anti-Semitism. Watching Israeli apologists bleat this phrase or that phrase is antisemitic when 20 000 Palestinian dead blot out the sun from war crimes and ethnic cleansing is gasp inducing at its audacity and sophistry.
Child Poverty NEVER adult poverty: We only talk about child poverty because they deserve our pity. Adults in poverty can go fuck themselves. Despite numbering around 800 000, adults in poverty are there because they ‘choose’ to be there. The most important myth of neoliberalism is that your success is all your own, as is your failure. If an adult is in poverty, neoliberal cultural mythology states that is all on them and we have no obligation to help. That’s why we only ever talk endlessly about children in poverty because the vast majority of hard hearted NZers want to blame adults in poverty on them so we can pretend to be egalitarian without actually having to implement any policy.
The Neoliberal NZ experiment: You are never allowed to question the de-unionised work force that amputated wages, you can never question selling off our assets, you can never criticise the growth uber allas mentality, you are never allowed to attack the free market outcomes and you can’t step back and evaluate the 35 year neoliberal experiment in NZ because you remind the wage slaves of the horror of it all.
Class: You can not point out that the demarcation line in a capitalist democracy like NZ is the 1% richest plus their 9% enablers vs the 90% rest of us. Oh you can wank on and on about your identity and your feelings about your identity in a never ending intersectionist diversity pronoun word salad, but you can’t point out that it’s really the 90% us vs the 10% them class break down because that would be effective and we can’t have effective on mainstream media when feelings are the currency to audience solidarity in an ever diminishing pie of attention.
Immigration: It must always be framed as positive. It can never be argued that it is a cheap and lazy growth model that pushes down wages and places domestic poor in competition with International student language school scams and exploited migrant workers. Any criticism of Immigration makes you a Xenophobe and because the Middle Classes like travelling and have global skills for sale, they see any criticism of migrants as an attack on their economic privileges.
Hyper Tourism: We are never allowed to ask ‘how many is too many you greedy fucks’. The tourism industry that doesn’t give a shit about us locals, live for the 4million tourists who visit annually. We are not allowed to ask why that amount of air travel is sustainable, we are not allowed to ask why selling Red Bull and V at tourist stops is somehow an economic miracle and we are certainly not allowed to question why these tourists aren’t directly being taxed meaningfully for the infrastructure they clog.
Dairy as a Sunset Industry: We are never allowed to point out that the millisecond the manufactured food industry can make synthetic milk powder, they will dump us as a base ingredient and the entire Dairy Industry overnight will collapse. With synthetic milks and meats here within a decade, it is time to radically cull herds, focus on only organic and free range sustainable herds and move away from mass production dairy forever. No one is allowed to mention the iceberg that is looming up in front of the Fonteera Titanic.
B-E-L-I-E-V-E victims: It’s like ‘How to Kill a MockingBird’ was never written. People making serious allegations should be taken seriously, not B-E-L-I-E-V-E-D. That’s a tad fanatical Christian for me. It’s led to a change in our sexual assault laws where the Greens and Labour removed the only defence to rape so as to get more convictions, which when you think about it, is cult like and terrifying. Gerrymandering the law to ensure conviction isn’t justice, but in the current B-E-L-I-E-V-E victims culture it sure is and anyone saying otherwise is probably a rape apologist who should be put in prison immediately.
The Trans debate: This debate is so toxic and anyone asking any question gets immediately decried as transphobic. I’ve seen nuclear reactor meltdowns that are less radioactive than this debate. I’m so terrified I’m not going to say anything other than ‘please don’t hurt my family’ for even mentioning it.
It’s never climate change for this catastrophic weather event: Catastrophic weather event after catastrophic weather event but it’s never connected to global warming! It’s like the weather is changing cataclysmically around us but because it’s not 100% sure that cigarette you are smoking right now is the one that causes that lump inside you to become cancer, so we can’t connect this catastrophic weather event with a climate warming model that states clearly that we will see more and more catastrophic weather events.
Scoops: No NZ media will ever acknowledge another medias scoop despite a united front being able to generate more exposure and better journalism.
Te Reo fanaticism: You are not allowed to point out that barely 5% of the population speak Te Reo and that everyone who militantly fires up about it being an ‘official language’ never seem that antagonistic about the lack of sign language use. Look, my daughter goes to a Māori immersion class and when she speaks Te Reo it makes me cry joyfully and I feel more connected to NZ than any other single moment, but endlessly ramming it down people’s throats seems woke language policing rather than a shared cultural treasure. You can still be an ok human being and not speak Te Reo.
Māori land confiscation: Māori suffer losing 95% of their land in less than a century, they were almost decimated by disease and technology brought via colonisation, they endured the 1863 Settlements Act, they survived blatant lies and falsehoods devised to create the pretext for confiscation and saw violence in the Waikato. Māori have lived throughout that entire experience and still get told to be grateful because Pakeha brought blankets, tobacco and ‘technology’.
The Disabled: Almost 25% of NZ is disabled, yet for such a staggeringly huge number of people, theire interests get sweet fuck all mention in the mainstream media.
Corporate Iwi: You can’t bring up that the corporate model used for Iwi to negotiate settlements is outrageous and has created a Maori capitalist elite who are as venal as pakeha capitalists.
Police worship: One of the most embarrassing parts about living in NZ is the disgusting manner in which so many acquiesce to the fucking cops. It’s never the cops fault when they shoot someone, it’s never the cops fault when they chase people to their death, it’s never the cops fault for planting evidence, it’s never the cops fault for using interrogation methods that bully false confessions out of vulnerable people. I think there is a settler cultural chip on our shoulders that always asks the mounted constabulary to bash those scary Māori at the edge of town because we are frightened of what goes bump in the night. We willingly give Police total desecration to kill and maim with very little in terms of check and balance. It’s sickening.
House prices must increase FOREVER! Too many middle class folk are now property speculators and they must see their values climb to afford the extra credit cards the bank sends them. We can never talk about house prices coming down. They must never fall. Fuck the homeless, fuck the generations locked out of home ownership and fuck the working poor. Buying a house is only for the children of the middle classes now. Fuck everyone else. Boomer cradle to the grave subsidisations that didn’t extend to any other generation uber allas baby! Free Ben and Jerry Ice Cream for every Boomer forever! ME! ME! MEEEEEEEEEEEE! You’ll also note that because so many media are dependent on real estate advertising, there’s never been a better time to buy!
That was the year in media 2023.
The media industry faces more challenges as the new hard right Government turn off the funding taps and the social media platforms strangle off their appearance in newsfeeds.
Podcasts look like the only vehicle left to be able to actually debate the issues without cancellation or censorship.
We are privileged to be able to enjoy free speech in this country and we hope that The Daily Blog adds to the zeitgeist of our collective debate.
The Infamous TDB Political Awards 2023 will be published shortly.
Increasingly having independent opinion in a mainstream media environment which mostly echo one another has become more important than ever, so if you value having an independent voice going into this pandemic and 2020 election – please donate here.
If you can’t contribute but want to help, please always feel free to share our blogs on social media.
I would like to offer up ‘The Standard’ as the the most insipid blogsite in the universe.
If you follow ‘The Standard’ you could be forgiven for thinking that there is no war going on in Gaza, let alone a genocide.
I would like to offer up Stuff.co.nz for occasionally letting some real news on the genocide in Gaza through the haze of misreporting.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/middle-east/301029081/journalist-who-uncovered-decomposing-babies-in-gaza-is-shot-injured
P.S. (Though swiftly taken down.)
I agree with much of this post and thank the Daily Blog for consistency, readability and truth in these troubled times.
But I would like to challenge this “Child Poverty NEVER adult poverty: We only talk about child poverty because they deserve our pity. Adults in poverty can go fuck themselves. Despite numbering around 800 000, adults in poverty are there because they ‘choose’ to be there. The most important myth of neoliberalism is that your success is all your own, as is your failure. If an adult is in poverty, neoliberal cultural mythology states that is all on them and we have no obligation to help. That’s why we only ever talk endlessly about children in poverty because the vast majority of hard hearted NZers want to blame adults in poverty on them so we can pretend to be egalitarian without actually having to implement any policy.”
Neoliberal thinking actually makes children the full responsibly of the parents who can be blamed when they don’t turn out well. The point of highlighting “child poverty” in poverty discourse is that children and their poverty are invisible in neoliberal thinking. It was only when under Muldoon the needs of the poor old started to be taken seriously that we got a decent base income for ‘poor older people’ in National Super. It has been only very recently that older person’s poverty has re-emerged in popular consciousness. The programme to address child poverty ‘Working for Families’ for children is nowhere near as successful as NZ Super and is far less well understood. Until the design of that is fixed sadly we have to keep talking about child poverty
Best opportunity:
All media should continue to refer to government agencies by Maori name / English name.
If Winston or David complain, introduce them to google for finding ministries.
Thanks Martyn and thank you for championing free speech.
Have a Merry Christmas
I’ve found A View from Afar with Paul Buchanan a great listen – what a heavyweight in the foreign policy arena.
Great year, thanks Martyn. Merry Christmas.
The Silliest, most Idiotic, Uneducated and Illiterate poster of the year…Bob the first.
Worst political journalist of not only 2023 but…forever due to his close tie with Key, his right wing South African wife and his strong bias against anything left…Barry Soper.
Just to add the conspiracy that the media was bought by Labour is simply a conspiracy given Soper’s hard right columns.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/dame-jacinda-arderns-legacy-barry-soper-and-audrey-young-on-the-front-page/RCI563RTNZF5RBQ7J5J75LB6UI/
Here is a chance for our media hacks to redeem themselves. Will they take it?
https://pointofordernz.wordpress.com/2023/12/19/haste-is-urged-to-repeal-tax-legislation-and-to-stymie-publication-of-the-first-ird-report-on-tax-systems-fairness/
….the first report – required by the end of the year under the Taxation Principles Reporting Act 2023, enacted earlier this year – would throw up further evidence of the need to tax the rich more and identify other problems in the tax system.
But the government must not have liked what the report says, because it intends repealing the law under all-stages urgency to prevent its publication.
Of course, the report, and its drafts and associated correspondence are all official information. They are – unless National has a giant illegal shredder party – held. Which means that they can simply be requested under the OIA. And I expect every political journalist in the country is doing that right now.
We would hope so.
“The Fourth Estate in this country is a defanged lap dog rather than guard dog. It’s held hostage by activist cultural pressures and funded by crony NZ on Air self interested funding structures!”
The MSM is bought and paid for whether that be by advertisers selling shit, owners selling editorialised political influence or subscribers paying to hear what they want to hear. Suddenly there is a government fund in the mix Winston may have called it a bribe but its surely no different to any of those other buyers of narratives. His claim is a Labour government supplied the money for journalism and then the journalists omitted to report on NZ Firsts election campaign meetings. Thats a fact. Was it by design? Was it an organized conspiracy? Or just a bunch of editors individually being anti-Winston and of course not biting any of the hands offering food. Those in power bribe their pet journalists with tidbits of information and help out with their bills one way or another.
The problem with this sometimes unhinged blog is that it attracts the unhinged trolls who spout absolute rubbish opinions , worse than garbage that make absolutely no sense. Now I know its all about free speech and all that but please can we have a modicum of opinion that actually make sense and not this constant oneupmanship .Almost like” mine is bigger than yours” or I “can piss over the wall the best”. It gets really boring , in a time of this absolute travesty of a government who does not believe in democracy and doesn’t even care about democracy.