Now we know Key lied about mass surveillance – let’s remind everyone what our msm said at the time
Now we know Key lied about mass surveillance, let’s remind ourselves what the great luminaries of our mainstream media had to say about the Moment of Truth…
Prime Minister John Key will be relieved the much talked about Moment of Truth passed by without seriously damaging his credibility.
There was no great reveal, no smoking gun, nothing to make New Zealanders believe they are being illegally spied upon.
Mr Key said neither had provided any actual evidence of their claims and said it was simply rhetoric.
“What they’re doing is making unsubstantiated claims. The Government has provided evidence that shoots down their arguments. If they want to provide evidence that supports their claims, last night was their chance and they failed to produce anything other than rhetoric.”
The initial fallout from last night’s meeting was very much, where was the bombshell? It was a question Dotcom did not answer adequately, choosing instead to attack the standard of journalism in this country.
Last night’s events were nearly overshadowed by the lack of information around an email which Kim Dot Com claimed showed John Key was involved in a plot with Hollywood company Warner Brothers to have him extradited to the US. Dot Com has long said Mr Key knew of his existence long before the raid on his Coatesville mansion. Warner Brothers swiftly denied that the email is real, as did the MPAA.
The event had been billed for months as showing proof of this plot, but it didn’t warrant a mention on stage last night, and Dotcom refused to answer questions on the email, saying it has been referred to Parliament’s privileges committee.
3 News political reporter Brook Sabin says last night’s Moment of Truth at the Auckland Town Hall was a mixed bag.
Notably absent was Kim Dotcom’s proof that Prime Minister John Key knew about him before the raid in January 2012.
Internet Party leader Laila Harre says it was left out under legal advice – but its omission made this part of the event a “bellyflop”, says Sabin.
Mark Sainsbury: Truth be told, many of us are over MoT
The Internet Party’s ‘Moment of Truth’ rally has wrapped without any bombshell being dropped on the Prime Minister.
Dotcom’s Moment of Truth ‘no king hit’
Reject foreign attempt to hijack election
“at the end of it things had not changed that much from when it began”
“there was barely any fresh substance to chew on.”
“he has not provided evidence beyond circumstantial that the GCSB is actually conducting mass surveillance on New Zealanders.”
“The mass surveillance issue was always a red herring, Glenn Greenwald and Edward Snowden presented no concrete evidence of privacy breaches, Julian Assange was a sideshow. Snowden’s revelation that the NSA had an operation in Auckland has to be followed up.”
For now, however, those questions are likely to be overshadowed by Dotcom’s spectacular failure to prove his central claim that John Key lied about his knowledge of Dotcom before a raid on the German’s Coatesville mansion.
National can take some vindication that issues like Dirty Politics and the Internet Party’s “Moment of Truth” were distractions.
The vast majority of the mainstream media in NZ all decried the Moment of Truth as an enormous fail and wrote it off.
Toby Manhire then has the audacity to ask this week on the Spin Blog how Key managed to get away with it. Key managed to get away with it Toby because you and your main stream media mates let him get away with it.
We are a juvenile culture with all the maturity of a day old can of coke and the sleepy hobbits of muddle Nu Zilind elected a man who lied about mass surveillance and brought them all under the spying powers of the NSA.
Well done sleepy hobbits.
We are our own worst enemy.
we are not all thank you Martyn! but those of us not asleep in 2014 were indeed outnumbered by complacent, compliant, authority lovers, whose ability to think independently remains seemingly rotted away by 30 years of “neo lib think”
most of those msm “coots in suits” are still with us too, and should be reminded at every opportunity of what wankers they really are
Nice work Martyn, I did not see any mention of this on 3 News last night nor did I see it mentioned in the paper today. Did anyone see any mention on TVNZ or on any radio station?
No, and you probably won’t, because it’s all dreadfully embarrassing for journalists who are seemingly unable or unwilling to actually perform the tasks their occupation demands of them. “Investigate stuff? Nah. I’ll just trawl Twitter and copy/paste some shit into a column. Job done!”
No one mentioned it because they know it would be a bad look for our messiah and saviour The John Key. His inexplicable popularity is a very effective barrier and any criticism directed against him would more than likely have resulted in lower ratings (which directly affects advertising revenue). Forget quaint terms like “integrity” and “journalism” – in a “free market” it always boils down to money.
And yet ,… we have yet to see another extremely popular politician conduct the ongoing campaign of lies and deceit such as John Key did in the form of the new Prime Minister , Jacinda Adern.
Which proves the point that someone can be genuinely popular and genuinely honest at the same time.
There are no excuses.
Great article Martyn. NZ is very poorly served by our media.
Have you noticed how every day since Trump was elected TV1 TV3 and Radio NZ National have carried “News” items that disparage trump. Today the media has been alive with critiscism of Melania’s White house Christmas decorations. How pathetic is our media to relay this sort of shit to NZ sheeples. Now I know he is not everyones favourite politician, he is not mine, but the concerted campaign by the American media, willingly supported by our media has all the hallmarks of a controlled demolition. For all his failings he was elected by approximately 50% of the American population and deserves a measure of respect. His mistake was not being the candidate of choice of the American intelligence agencies who have stymied his attempts to create a peaceful relationship with Russia. Many of his other foreign policies are peculiar to say the least.
I suspect Key was lent on by these agencies too indeed I think they are the greatest threat to the world today and it appears our media are willing partners. Only a few years ago the US embassy gave several of our main media stars a free junket to the USA
http://russia-insider.com/en/media-criticism/german-journalist-who-blew-whistle-cia-media-control-drops-dead-56/ri18544
… ” Toby Manhire then has the audacity to ask this week on the Spin Blog how Key managed to get away with it. Key managed to get away with it Toby because you and your main stream media mates let him get away with it ” …
Exactly.
One of the most politically dangerous chapters in this country’s recent history was allowed to spread like a cancer and had it not been for the turning of the tide, and the eventual election of an actual government such as the one we now have under Adern , this current crop of newsmedia would have merrily seen us move towards a one party state.
Think back to all the insipid, sycophantic comments , articles and gushy interviews conducted and tailored to make Key look faultless by much of the NZ media.
Think back to how any dissenting viewpoints were closed down and stifled , – including such as the closing down of Campbell Live on the instruction of Stephen Joyce soon after documentary’s concerning collusion between the NSA , Hollywood film industry , FBI , John Key and other NZ high officials were found to have been conducted.
Dissecting the GCSB bill – Campbell Live (Kim Dotcom scandal …
Video for Dissecting the GCSB bill – Campbell Live (Kim Dotcom scandal)▶ 16:11
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxytPFfTozE
And now look at them.
Like fair weather sailors, acting like the fickle actors out of the cast of ‘Yes Minister’ .
But not only did they have the gall to suck up to John Key and abdicate their journalistic responsibility’s during Keys tenure, – we now find them covering their backsides by inane comments such as Manhires, – and it was the same with Pike River and the ‘Hobbit Laws’. And then there was the Operation Burnham incident.
Murder of the innocents.
Many of them are barely disguised National party supporters. And that’s the real reason why they acted this way.
A classic example that illustrates this is Mike Hosking.
The epitome of what we are talking about.
Eventually the NZ public decided it was time to get rid of National , – after Key left and English took over , and it was almost impossible to make English’s blandness appear palatable. But it was no thanks to the NZ media. Many of them would have been happy with another 9 years of lies, mass poverty , homelessness and a fake economy built on immigration and housing speculation , – and have their cushy salary’s remain intact.
Contrasting their sycophancy and historic comments with the new reality presented by David Fisher about the actual REALITY regarding John Keys lies should only serve to discredit them even more…I have often said on this blog that history will not be kind to John Philip Key ,… as one by one , issue by issue ,..the truth will come out.
Similar to the words of Jim Bolger in recanting the neo liberal ideology.
Its going to happen.
And all those involved in shoring up the most corrupt PM this country has ever had will be remembered for that and that only. And that time may even come sooner than expected when / if Pike River is entered and fresh information becomes available as to the real causes of the deaths of 29 workers.
The aftermath of the John Key era is far from over and so is the revelations of his lies and the newsmedias part in supporting them.
NZ media was bought by J Key and his government in 2009,
From that day our NZ media has an ingrained system of capitulation to refuse to engage in any citicism or contaversity of national Party wrong doing’s so until we see a new batch of “real inversigative Jounalists as you are finally emerge we will need to carry on exposing the media for what it is today, as just a lapdog for corrupt National party politics.
Thank god we have you there Martyn.
Investigative journalism was banned under the previous National Government.
Well spotted IKE,i was just a few days ago thinking about the news readers that had been given the free junkets to the land of the free and the brave to learn how to present what passes for news in our country. On trying to conduct an on line search i could find nothing,and if i remember correctly there were quite a number of them.
I travelled to auckland for the MOT meeting and fully understood like all in attendance what was being said. The fact that our msm appeared to have the comprehension of a gnat,or more likely willful ignorance makes Kim’s rant afterwards fully understandable.
Dotcom, Snowden, Assange – all vindicated.
Key – proven to be deceptive and untrustworthy.
We are witnessing history writing Key’s legacy – and it won’t be a pretty one.