Jim Grenon Media Influence and the Batchelor Case
Jim Grenon tried to keep his role funding Julian Batchelor’s failed TVNZ defamation case out of the news. The judge said no. That matters.

Jim Grenon tried to keep his role funding Julian Batchelor’s failed TVNZ defamation case out of the news. The judge said no. That matters.

RNZ gets Brent Impey, Paul Thompson heads for the exit and Maiki Sherman’s fall still says plenty about political journalism. Martyn is not pretending to be neutral.

NZ corporate media gave itself another shiny dinner while the Fourth Estate burns, the BSA gets torched, RNZ gets threatened, and journalism is eaten alive.

Better Public Media says scrapping the Broadcasting Standards Authority would weaken journalism standards just as trust in media is already collapsing.

Corporate media are pearl clutching over collapsing public trust, but decades of elitism, clickbait and consolidation helped create this crisis.

The Right’s war with the media isn’t random. Hounding Maiki Sherman while attacking public broadcasting looks less like outrage and more like a strategy.

Maiki Sherman’s real mistake wasn’t what she said. It was letting the Government hold leverage over TVNZ’s political editor for a year.

David Seymour attacking RNZ from The Platform is Temu Trump theatre: bully the broadcaster, sneer at journalism, then call it free speech.

Is this really about Maiki Sherman, or part of a wider push to weaken TVNZ ahead of privatisation?

If the Government had leverage over TVNZ’s political editor for a year, this isn’t a scandal; it’s a warning. And now the timing raises even bigger questions.