Home Blog Page 2117

Key can’t name leader of ISIS despite going to war with them

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Key couldn’t remember Mike Sabin, Kim Dotcom or Jason Ede so ‘al-Jaberi something’ is actually pretty good for him.

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It just seems rude to not know the leader of the group we are off to kill for reasons that haven’t really been explained or justified beyond calling them ‘barbarians’.

How can ANZAC Day be commemorated in good faith when we are being engaged in a war for reasons as wasteful as those that dug the graves of our dead?

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TDB Political Caption Competition

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Table Talk – the ramifications of threats to Campbell Live

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Filmed Tuesday night at IKA. Hosted by Wallace Chapman with Bill Ralston, Simon Wilson, Fran O’Sullivan and Phoebe Fletcher.

What are the ramifications to public broadcasting

Brought to you by Coalition for Better Broadcasting, IKA and The Daily Blog
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Social media photos of people watching Campbell Live

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One thing the protests for Saving Campbell Live has started are people taking photos of themselves watching Campbell Live and posting them on social media.

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The activism is paying off with Campbell Live ratings skyrocketing since news he was facing a ‘review’.

 

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The Campbell Live ratings lie, Key becomes a TV critic & how TVNZ rigs the game

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MediaWorks claim that threatening to axe Campbell Live is a commercial decision and not a political decision.

Really?

Here are the comparable ratings for Campbell Live

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…as you can clearly see, Campbell Live IS THE TOP TV3 show that is pulling more viewers in their time slot than any other show. Claiming their top show isn’t rating well enough is simply not true. Campbell Live takes a greater percentage of viewers than 3 News, Paul Henry, TV3 and the midday news.

This isn’t political? I feel there’s a Tui billboard in that.

John Key decided to add ‘TV Critic’ to his CV yesterday by describing Campbell Live as entertainment that didn’t have a job to hold the PM to account.

Just think about the sentiment in that comment from Key. The TV Show that has been at the forefront of holding him to account is written off by the PM as lite entertainment and told it’s not their job to hold him to account?

Isn’t that the short of shit the leader of Russia would say?

Key spies like Nixon and threatens like Putin.

It’s not the PMs role to publicly define a Journalist’s job when that Journalist has been one of the most critical voices. Let’s not forget, this is a PM who ran a dirty ops team from his office, while colluding with the Secret Intelligence Services to smear the Leader of the Opposition months out from the 2011 election, while passing vast new State Agency Surveillance powers, while lying about those mass surveillance powers, while privatising social infrastructure, while borrowing billions in tax cuts for the rich, while lowering worker rights, while handing out vast corporate welfare, while killing off public broadcasting, while enriching the rich, while building a property bubble to create false wealth, while just being a dick sometimes and as such demands intense scrutiny.

We crucified Helen Clark for signing a painting she didn’t paint, Key is not a Prime Minister who should be facing less critical public attention – he should be facing vastly more of it.

With the TPPA around the corner, with economic tides turning, with a media watchdog muzzled into a lap dog, with pollution stats being manipulated to hide our gas emissions, with water being undemocratically seized by farming interests, with big oil calling the shots we require genuine debate with fearless urgency. If the vast ocean of apathetic consumer addicts don’t care – then it’s the skill of the broadcaster to make them care.

John Campbell has that ability.

So is the game rigged against Campbell Live? Bill Ralston at last nights excellent Table Talk event at IKA made some damning points on TV3s marketing of Campbell Live, that they have been set up to fail because the network is not driving mass promotion of Campbell Live.

Here’s their website…

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…Campbell Live is their biggest show, yet look at the nothing promotion it is getting on their home page.

There are other ways the game has been rigged against Campbell Live. The 300 000 NZers with hearing problems only have Seven Sharp and Shortland Street to watch because funding for subtitles on Campbell Live has not been allowed.

So those with hearing disabilities who may have much more sympathy for the activism of Campbell Live are barred from joining his audience and have to stick with Hosking or a dreary old drama trying to be young like Shortland St, and let’s be blunt, it’s easy to get Mike Hosking and a dreary old drama trying to be young mixed up.

Campbell Live fights on a slanted battlefield, given minimal publicity support by their network and is gated off from a significant part of the audience.

That Campbell Live can do what they do with the pittance they’ve got is testament to the dedication of the journalists he works with.

You can sign the petition here.

 

 

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Malcolm Evans – the first casualty of war

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The Daily Blog Open Mic Wednesday 15th April 2015

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Announce protest actions, general chit chat or give your opinion on issues we haven’t covered for the day.

Moderation rules are more lenient for this section, but try and play nicely.

 

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Why raise the refugee quota?

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Recently we have seen some excellent work done by people looking at raising our refugee quota, and specifically to address the current crises emanating out of Syria and Iraq (and soon to be Yemen?). I encourage you to check out the campaign at Action Station building on the great work the Doing Our Bit campaign has been working on as well as the more recent Wage Peace NZ folks.

Our “refugee quota” is a maximum of up to 750 individuals each year that we will accept by way of a referral from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Our quota has not been raised since 1987.

In refugee speak, this process is called “resettlement”. It is one of the three “durable solutions” UNHCR speaks of. The other two, and more preferable, are “voluntary repatriation” and “local integration”.

There is no legal obligation to resettle refugees. The 1951 Refugee Convention – a document that has lead to the protection of millions of people – only speaks to the principle of burden sharing in its Preamble. Clearly, though, the burden of the majority of the world’s refugees rests on the developing world, so consistent with this principle some states agree to resettle the most vulnerable.

But, beyond the numbers and the technical language, why should we raise the quota? Aren’t we doing enough?

Let me tell you about Daevitha (name changed). I assisted her a couple of years ago and we were recently back in touch.

Daevitha is from Sri Lanka. Her family is from Jaffna in the north of Sri Lanka. They are Tamil. Her father and two brothers have worked in the struggle for independence from the Sinhalese majority and she believes in the cause. Daevitha is a good writer and has had some of her short stories published. She used to work as a journalist now and then.

Daevitha’s husband is a talented young man also from Jaffna and has studied abroad. He quickly rose through the ranks of the political arm of the Tamil Tigers becoming a trusted advisor to the leadership. He developed a high profile and appeared regularly in the Tamil media. They have a child together – he is now 10 years old, precocious, loves reading and playing soccer.

Following the bloody the end of the conflict, Daevitha’s husband was captured by the government troops. Daevitha’s father and brothers, though, were killed in the final military offensive launched by the government.

With thousands being forced into internment camps, Daevitha escaped to India with her son after paying a fisherman 50,000 Rupees to take her across. From India, she takes a flight to Bangkok, Thailand where she knows another Tamil woman is living. She and her son enter Thailand on a two week tourist visa.

Daevitha is told by members of the Tamil community in Bangkok to approach UNHCR. She does, and is given a piece of paper saying that she is an asylum seeker.

This paper, however, does not amount to legal status in Thailand meaning that her visa quickly expires and she is illegal in Thailand. At any time, she can be arrested and she often has to pay small bribes to local police to leave her alone. Other members of her community are detained and placed in the Immigration Detention Centre where the conditions are difficult, especially for children.

After being interviewed four times by UNHCR staff where at each interview she had to explain in detail the reasons as to why she left Sri Lanka including the retelling of traumatic events, Daevitha is told that her claim for asylum is accepted. She is now a refugee.

UNHCR considers that she has a genuine risk of facing serious harm were she to return Sri Lanka, something she always knew, but is now confirmed. Her grant of refugee status still does not make her legal in Thailand – she remains at risk of detention.

Daevitha is then interviewed again by another UNHCR staff member. This is for “resettlement purposes” and she has to once again explain why she was forced to leave Sri Lanka. She gets called back for another interview to clarify some points.

Then, finally, she is told her case has been submitted to Canada for resettlement. But, wait, now Canada wants to interview her…she waits for that interview and whether she will be able to live in a country where her status is legal and she can walk down the street without fear.

Daevitha has now been in Thailand for five years. During this time, she has been unable to work legally picking up some black market work here and there as a domestic helper. Her son has had no education save for her own attempts at home, but she knows he will get educated in Canada, if only they get accepted. Despite trying through official channels and the Red Cross, Daevitha has no word of her husband. She assumes he has been executed extra-judicially.

Daevitha, and others like her, is why we should raise our refugee quota. Resettlement will enable her and her son a clean slate in life. For her son in particular, the opportunities in front of him are endless.

I can write about increasing our “soft power” through the region, being a better player internationally, meeting our “kiwi values” through our foreign policy goals, and the need to do our bit. These are all incredibly important. But, at its heart, the refugee experience of survival and persistence is a human experience where cannot help but applaud. Where we can, the innate human and compassionate response should be to help those escaping human rights abuse. Like Daevitha and her son, they deserve a chance at safety.

Through an accident of geography New Zealand receives few asylum seekers directly. Through deliberate policies around visas and penalties against airlines or other carriers, we make it virtually impossible for individuals from refugee producing countries to obtain a visa. This leaves us as being ranked number 87 in the world for our refugee hosting per capita – hardly something to be proud of and patent evidence that we are not doing enough.

So, it is time to increase our quota. To help resettle more individuals who have already gone through a long and robust process proving that they are in need of protection.

Specifically, I would target more places from South East Asia – refugees who are currently in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. I would then leave an amount every year for emergency situations, like Syria.

All this takes is leadership. This isn’t a partisan issue. It is a human issue, and there is no political reason to leave our quota so stranded.

And, you want to know the latest with Daevitha? Well, looks like she and her son will be trying maple syrup pretty darn soon, eh…and that is the beauty of refugee protection.

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GUEST BLOG: Leslie Bravery – World Vision gets it right

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In an article on its website home page, World Vision New Zealand implied that Israel was observing the latest Gaza ceasefire agreement. On 26 March 2015 the Palestine Human Rights Campaign Aotearoa/New Zealand (PHRC) wrote the following email to World Vision:

Your home page article What is the situation in Gaza now? states that, “The latest ceasefire between Israel and Gaza continues to hold.” While it is true that there have been no missiles launched towards Israel since the beginning of this year, Israel has committed at least 163 ceasefire violations, attacking fishing boats and Palestinian agriculture. One Palestinian fisherman has been killed in the Israeli violence.

On 4 March, Israeli gunboats opened fire on Palestinian fishing boats off al-Sudaniya beach, wounding two fishermen, Eid Baker and Ziyad Baker, as well as damaging one boat and hijacking another. Four fishermen, Mohammad Zidan, Rami Zidan, Mohammad Al-Najjar and Mohammad Hassouneh, were taken prisoner.

On 7 March, the Israeli Navy opened fire on Palestinian fishing boats off north-west Beit Lahiya, killing a fisherman, Tawfiq Abu Rayalah, and taking prisoner two others, Jihad Kaskasin and Wahid Kaskasin, while hijacking their boat. There is much more information available and we invite you sign up for our daily newsletter, In Occupied Palestine.

People need to be fully informed when the world is asked to assist the victims of this blockade and military occupation. Failing to recognise the people of Gaza’s amazing forbearance in refusing to be provoked into breaking the ceasefire rather lets them down.

As there was no response from World Vision for over a week we wrote again on 2 April 2015:

We wrote to you on 26 March regarding your home page article on your website What is the situation in Gaza now? The first sentence in the article begins: “The latest ceasefire between Israel and Gaza continues to hold.” We supplied some examples of Israel’s ceasefire violations but so far have received no response from you. Your article still asserts that the latest ceasefire between Israel and Gaza is continuing to hold. Since writing to you, Israeli ceasefire violations have resulted in at least another three Palestinians being injured.

We look forward to your immediate withdrawal of the comment, referred to above, that implies that Israel has not been committing violations of the latest Gaza ceasefire. We shall be shortly publishing our emails to you and any action or response you may or may not choose to make to our request.

On the 7 April 2015 we received the following email from Trina Ainuu, Customer Services of World Vision, which read:

Thank you for your email. We are very sorry for the delay in responding to you. Please be advised that your initial email query has already been referred to the appropriate team and they will be in contact with you as soon as possible.


Today, 14 April 2015, we note that the sentence referred to above has been removed from World Vision’s website home page article.

As at 11 April 2015 the number of Israeli ceasefire violations this year now numbers at least 189. Silence on the part of the news media and other organisations can only encourage Israel to keep on attacking Palestinians and inflicting yet more damage to their agriculture and their fishing industry. This would run counter to World Vision’s efforts at helping the Palestinian victims of Israeli violence and, worse, is likely to encourage more such attacks to the point where some Palestinian resistance groups may resort once more to firing missiles at Israel. In that event, Gaza would face the possibility of yet another massive Israeli blitz.

World Vision is not afraid of speaking out. In a 16 July 2014 article Attacks that kill children while sheltering in their homes have to be stopped immediately, World Vision commented on the killing of Saher, a five-year-old boy, during an Israeli airstrike on his home. A few weeks before, he had been flying a kite with a message of peace on a beach in Gaza. The charity’s National Director in Palestine, Alex Snary, said: “The video and pictures of Saher cradled in the arms of his anguished father are horrifying.” He continued, “Saher participated in a children’s event by the beach in Gaza a few weeks ago. He and the other children flew kites carrying messages of peace and hope for the future.”

For every exposé of Israel’s targeting of civilians there are myriad misleading so-called news items and commentaries that shield the Zionist state. One particularly indefensible misrepresentation of statistics in the New York Times appeared at the time of the most recent Israeli blitz on Gaza, on 31 July 2014. The New York Times interactive article is examined in the following deconstruction: Not fit to print:When good design goes bad. Let us leave it to the reader to decide which version is closer to the truth.

Should the Israeli military succeed in provoking a resumption of the firing of missiles from Gaza, the Zionist state would certainly react, as always, with a massively disproportionate onslaught. In that event, the Israeli government will claim that it is only responding to unprovoked missile attacks and many of those who trust what the mainstream news media report (or fail to report) about the Gaza blockade will have no reason to doubt Israel’s claims. Israel is well aware of this and feels it can rely on complicit mainstream news media to guarantee its impunity. Well respected agencies, such as World Vision, have a role to play in countering this and who knows how many lives might be saved simply by witnessing for truth?

Much of World Vision’s valuable work in helping the painful rehabilitation of Gaza’s traumatised population would be wasted should yet another Israeli blitz occur. Prevention is surely better than cure and no amount of humanitarian assistance can restore lost lives or console the bereaved. The suffering of the Palestinian people is not a natural disaster — it is man-made and therefore preventable. There can be no true peace without justice and both depend upon understanding and respect for the whole truth. Efforts by peace activists with, for instance, the recent successes achieved by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, show how positive results can be achieved by determined and persistent action.

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Life under Israeli military occupation (5)

House demolitions and evictions
The Israeli Army routinely destroys Palestinian houses built without Israel’s permission. Since the beginning of 2015, the Israeli Occupation has demolished 77 homes, livestock shelters, farm buildings and other structures in Area C of the West Bank resulting in 110 people, around half of them children, losing their homes at the height of the winter, according to a report[16] compiled by the United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). OCHA also reported that between January 19 and January 26, Israel had already demolished 41 structures, far higher than the weekly average in 2014 of nine demolitions per week. In that seven-day period, the Israeli occupation delivered 45 halt to construction orders and two demolition orders. In 2014, Israel demolished the homes of 969 Palestinians – a total of 493 homes and ancillary structures in Area C of the West Bank, which under the Oslo Accords is under exclusive Israeli control. In East Jerusalem seven Palestinian buildings were demolished, including two on January 29 in the Jabal Mukkaber neighbourhood. Buildings were also torn down in Issawiya, Shuafat and Ras al-Amud. In East Jerusalem, 208 Palestinians were displaced in 2014 after Israel demolished 97 buildings. In 2014, according to OCHA figures, the Israeli occupation destroyed 590 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 1177 people. The 41 structures destroyed by Israel between January 19 and January 26, according to OCHA, were in Bedouin and other pastoral communities in Hebron, Jericho, Ramallah and Beit Iksa, northwest of Jerusalem. The destruction included buildings that had been donated by European humanitarian organisations.[16] Construction stop orders were issued for a park funded by donor nations in the Yatta area and buildings in the Ramallah area and near Tubas, in the northern Jordan Valley.

On 23 January 2015, the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Co-ordinator, James W. Rawley, expressed his concern over the recent spate of Israeli Army demolitions of Palestinian homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. “In the past three days, 77 Palestinians, over half of them children, have been made homeless,” said Mr. Rawley.

“Some of the demolished structures were provided by the international community to support vulnerable families. Demolitions that result in forced evictions and displacement run counter to Israel’s obligations under international law and create unnecessary suffering and tension. They must stop immediately,” Rawley said.

[16] http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.640147

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Can you pick which one of these young people might be homeless?

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April 15th is Youth Homelessness Matters Day, and Lifewise and Youthline are joining forces to raise awareness about youth homelessness in New Zealand.

Many people see homelessness as something that happens to older people, but the truth is that young people under 25 make up nearly half of New Zealand’s homeless.

Youth homelessness is so much bigger than the young people you see sleeping rough. New Zealand has a growing population of “hidden homeless” – young people living in cars, on other people’s couches, in garages, or in extremely overcrowded conditions.

Many of the young people we work with have grown up in the foster care system, which ends when they turn 17. Any parent of teens knows how unrealistic it is to expect a 17 year old to be completely independent. You can’t even sign a lease agreement until you’re 18!

Transitioning to life as an independent adult only gets harder when a young person has already has a disrupted life in-and-out of the state care system. By the time young people exit care, they haven’t necessarily been taught House 101 things like how to make a budget.

The young people struggling with homelessness that we work with tend to come from unsafe or unstable homes. Deciding to leave home with nowhere to go is never a decision made lightly –often it’s because youth lack any other options.

When faced with constant fighting or domestic violence at home, many young people choose to take their chances going it alone. Young people struggling with homelessness face unique challenges – it’s hard enough just being a teenager without having to worry about where you’re going to sleep that night.

Youth homelessness is a tragic loss of potential for those trapped in the cycle. And it has long-term economic, social and health consequences that affect us all. With homeless youth more likely to become homeless as adults, it’s so important to find ways to help these vulnerable young people.

Lifewise and Youthline both work to help young people struggling with homelessness. We work alongside young people, giving them support as they navigate the complex world of income support, rentals, and helping them addressing the reasons they became homeless.

We firmly believe it is possible to end youth homelessness in New Zealand, but we need help to get there. By raising awareness about the challenges young people struggling with homelessness face, we hope to create a discussion about how the community can work to create a different future for our young people.

Lifewise and Youthline will be sharing stories about young people in NZ who are struggling with homelessness over the following days. You can learn more by visiting here and here.

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The Bitchelor Episode 9 – The female contestants need to form a Union

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Wahoo! It’s Tuesday night and time for another instalment of The Batchelor! The show where the ladies of New Zealand get to compete for absolutely no prize at all, but the one with the power to remain appearing ladylike while surreptitiously undermining all the other ladies gets to have sex with a guy who has just discarded twenty three obviously defective ‘girls’. I’m so excited I might just go out to dinner and make everyone eat really fast so I can get back to my motel in Whangarei and watch the show. Oh FFS! I missed the show. I could still be at the pub relaxing over my seafood platter and ordering some brandy snaps. For some unknown reason the show has been put back on at 7.30 and no bastard thought to tell me. A sensitive soul might think conspiracy but I’m not paranoid and therefore think it was probably just I’m an oversight.

I think the earlier time of 7.30 is a much better time slot. It means the target audience for the show and the really hardcore fans will still be able to make their eight thirty bed time. They can still have a big sleep, dreaming of Paleo Princes in compact and economical Suzukis, choosing them after they manage to smash all their competitors , and yet still be bright eyed and bushy tailed for school.

I arrived back just in time for the rose ceremony. Shit. Well that’s not great. I have made a commitment to #WatchingThisShitSoYouDontHaveTo. Bitchelor Junkies will go into free fall, how will this manifest? O M G ! It’s a catastrophe.

No one got sent home. WTF is going on. Has he changed his mind and just wants to keep them all? That’s a great solution. They can all win a piece of his ass. I can get Tuesday’s and Wednesday nights back and start blogging about things that matter and all the tweeny fans can see what a shit idea competing for a guy is. Why compete when you can just compromise yourself a little further and just get a share?

Then I remembered the Plus Chanel. The Chanel that sometimes I put on by accident and then get really confused about the time (what do you mean you have been waiting at the train station for an hour, it’s only just after six the news is on). Watching the show knowing that no one is going home does not make the show any better or any worse. It just makes it even more tragic.

Waterfall, swimming, picnic, blah blah. Date with a lady that asked Art to do something so he asked her if she was bossy. She said maybe she was. He doesn’t like bossy in a lady. Well no shit Sherlock. Obviously he likes to be Boss! If the competitors started making demands it could all quickly turn to custard. Imagine if all the competitors decided they wanted Arty to do stuff like challenges and tricks. They might send him home. Then what would we be left with. A group of women, staying in a house not being told what to do and what to wear by a man. This is an important point for the younger viewers to remember. Men like Arty don’t want you to ask for stuff. They get to call the shots and if you ask for stuff you will get demoted.

Someone fell off a horse. It was Matilda. An ambulance came and parked up, only just long enough for the crew to light up and then shoot a scene in the ambulance with Art, admiring her bravery, while Matilda holds her floppy wrist, bravely. Thank goodness it was a broken wrist and not something that required an ambulance.

Hopefully the younger viewers will learn from Matilda’s accident. Dating shows are dangerous. People will laugh at you when you fall and run around with a broken wrist. The others who you are flatting with won’t rush to your aid. They will stand by secretly hoping it’s something really debilitating and disfiguring. Art won’t languish by your bedside. Mr Green hasn’t got time to let the grass grow while you sit on your broken arse. Arty will just keep on looking for one with better balance. Unbalanced is no more attractive than bossy.

The best part of watching the show backwards, in a polar blast, in a motel, was my inability to remove the subtitles. I’m going to make it a permanent feature. They say things like ‘dramatic music’ ‘chuckles’ ‘long pause’ and ‘tense music and my favourite ‘whimsical music.’

For one night I would like to write the subtitles. Imagine how much more educational we could make it?

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LIVE STREAM: Table Talk – Making Sense of the Campbell Live Affair

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IKA Seafood Bar & Grill + the Coalition for Better Broadcasting

+ The Daily Blog present

Table Talk: Making Sense of the Campbell Live Affair

6pm Tuesday 14th April

Join host Wallace Chapman at IKA Seafood Bar and Grill, 3 Mt Eden Rd, Eden Terrace for a public discussion on the implications for journalism and broadcasting with guests…

-Former head of TVNZ news and current affairs, Bill Ralston
– NZ Herald columnist Fran O’Sullivan
-Metro Editor Simon Wilson
-and blogger and media lecturer, Phoebe Fletcher

5 pm – bar opens, complimentary nibbles, Showtime 6 – 6.45 pm, followed by dinner service for those who have booked a table.

Seats are limited so the discussion will also be live streamed on thedailyblog.nz

To guarantee a place book a table for dinner – which will be served on a first-booked, first served basis after the show has broadcast. There will be some capacity for bar-only guests, but the doors will close once capacity is reached. Bookings can be made here.

“The threatened demise of Campbell Live demonstrates how fragile the position is of news and current affairs in a market-driven television environment. It further underlines the need for a state-funded public television broadcaster to ensure that quality news and current affairs programmes, which are the lifeblood of a vigorous democracy, do not disappear to satisfy the interests of corporate profit.
The Coalition for Better Broadcasting is calling on TV3 to be a responsible broadcaster and retain nightly current affairs in primetime.
Equally we’re calling on the Minister of Broadcasting to stop demanding profits from TVNZ and instead demand serious nightly current affairs.”

Coalition for Better Broadcasting

If you want to hear the smartest media minds discuss the ramifications of the Campbell Live Affair for public broadcasting and political journalism, watch online or turn up in person.

 

UPDATE: Tables are now booked out – limited space at the bar on the night available – be early

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Why the axing of Campbell Live is being driven by dirty politics

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The moves by right wing mates of the Government within MediaWorks to cull Campbell Live! are directly and indirectly political.

Directly because as TDB has pointed out, the CEO Mark Weldon is a close personal friend of John Key’s and the long, long, long list of their work together suggests a very clear political direction of this ‘review’.

Is Key capable of having critical media killed off? Of course he is. His Office colluded with the SIS to falsify evidence smearing Phil Goff in the lead up to the 2011 election. Key’s Office ran a dirty ops team working with a far right hate speech merchant like Cameron Slater to vilify and take out critical voices and even managed to contaminate most mainstream media outlets with it.

During the Epsom Tea Pot Tape scandal, Key attacked the journalist and defamed him and raided the offices of media companies to seize the tape.

When challenged by journalists like Jon Stephenson,  Nicky Hager and Glenn Greenwald, Key has resorted to name calling and smear tactics to counter their research.

Key has done all that without blinking so I doubt he would even hesitate to apply pressure via his good mate Mark to kill off a Current Affairs TV show that has challenged him on the Christchurch rebuild, child poverty, clean rivers and mass surveillance lies.

Remember this?

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As someone who has been banned from Radio NZ for life because I criticised the Prime Minister, I can smell a dead rat when one is rotting.

Fran O’Sullivan, hardly a card carrying member of the Communist Party, acknowledges that the attempt to end Campbell Live is politically motivated…

Campbell Live’s producers — and the MediaWorks news hierarchy — have stood staunchly by their star during the periods of occasional outright Government hostility.

But with new management at MediaWorks, the driving considerations have changed. Within the senior commercial world, it is said that when Mark Weldon applied for the top job at MediaWorks he drew on his relationship with Key and the public-spirited work he did outside of his prior role as chief executive of the stock exchange such as chairing an economic summit after the GFC to help build credibility for a role in a sector in which he had no prior experience.

He was also passionate about the role media could play in ensuring success of the broader New Zealand Inc.

The issue is whether his strong — and very loyal — relationship with Key has clouded his view as to the extent to which a strong media protagonist like Campbell should challenge a personal friend.

..and the disgusting gloating by National Party Tobacco lobbyist and corporate Aryan, Todd Barclay, while being as nauseous as a fascist mob bake sale at a book burning, gave us very clear signals of where National view Campbell Live.

MediaWorks is of course Steven Joyce’s old company and the $43million loan the Government gave MediaWorks at an interest rate the company couldn’t get on the open market seems to have paid off an incredible dividend.

There will be those who claim this is just commercial. Seeing the huge amount of help the Government has given this private foreign owned media company, and seeing the dominance lax media regulation has given MediaWorks in our media landscape, one would argue their obligation to providing a critical fourth estate is higher to us than their profit share for their corporate overlords.

 

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That brings us to why this is indirectly political. The neoliberalism Weldon aspires to demands the public broadcasting sphere is splintered and fractured so individualism and fake choice kill off any actual critical space that threatens to highlight the inequalities that choke democracy. Corporate Feudalism requires the next generation are brainless consumers, not aware citizens.

This picture tells us everything wrong with commercial yuff media…

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…The Edge are a depoliticised wasteland where a multi-millionaire money trader can waltz onto a youth station and  rather than face the wrath of youth being betrayed, he gets to wear a T-Shirt mocking Cunliffe’s statement on domestic violence and sexual abuse while the gormless hosts grin on.

This is the future Weldon wants, manipulated consumers, not thinking citizens. I just can’t see Jono & Ben holding the Prime Minister to account over inequality and the death of NZ egalitarianism, can you?

The most terrifying reality of this truth was spelt out in an interview with MediaWorks …

“We put news on, but only because it rates. And we sell advertising around news. This is what this is all about.”

Not, ‘we put on news because it’s a fundamental part of our fourth estate responsibilities to the free democracy we enjoy’, oh no. We just put it on to rate, so TV3 would then presumably play to the bigotry and ignorance of the largest percentage of that audience to make money right?

If you aren’t feeling sick yet, you should be.

 

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People who give a damn are fighting back. Ratings are up and the social media sites and petitions are running hot. Tonight we live stream a discussion hosted by Wallace Chapman with Fran O’Sullivan, Bill Ralston, Simon Wilson and phoebe Fletcher.

We must refuse to lie down and allow corporate and political interests gag one of the last remaining journalists that holds the powerful to account.

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TDB Recommends NewzEngine.com

When does the debt ridden, property speculating, milk powder price declining rebuild from an earthquake bubble pop?

17

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One of the most important illusions that the National Party use is the myth that they are better managers of the economy than Labour is by playing to small business moral values. This is bewilderingly successful as almost every focus group can attest to. Put NZers in a room and ask them who manages the economy better – Labour or National – and like sheep they all baa National.

This is an extraordinary feat of propaganda when you consider that the only people who have benefited from National are speculators.

This isn’t a ‘rock star economy’, it’s corporate feudalism.

The resounding defeat in Northland suggests this myth may be melting faster than the ice caps

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…NZs ‘rock star’ economy is a fake illusion built upon sand.

Look at the debt National are clocking up so that they can afford to borrow billions for tax cuts to the richest NZers and so they can afford their corporate welfare.

Look at the joke surplus that was never going to occur start to disappear because all it was ver built upon was the pretence of fiscal responsibility rather than any actual responsibility.

Look at students needing to declare bankruptcy because student loan penalties are impossible to recover from.

Look at poverty and social infrastructure rotting away the economic reality for vulnerable women working.

Look at the sick joke of ‘social housing‘ or housing affordability.

Look at the collapse of dairy as we have put all our cows in one paddock.

This Government are not taking responsibility for the economy. Their illusion of growth is built upon dairy, cheap immigration that is speculating the Auckland property market and rebuilding from a natural disaster. We have an economic micro-climate that has more to thank for our geographic proximity to Australia and China while China is also Australia’s largest trade partner. With China and Australia both tanking economically,  that micro-climate won’t save us any more.

When the false growth bubble pops, what answers will the Left have ready?

TDB Recommends NewzEngine.com

The Curious World of the Main Stream Media

18

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Q+ A and The Nation

The biggest news story of the week broke on  Thursday, 9 April, with Mediaworks revealing to a stunned public  that ‘Campbell Live‘ – which had just celebrated it’s tenth anniversary – was “under review”. It was a story appearing in practically every media outlet in the country;

Fairfax media

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NZ Herald

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Radio NZ

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NZ Newswire

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National Business Review

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On Facebook, a Save Campbell Live!  group quickly sprang up, with 1,545 members as 12.01am, 14 April.

One petition on Change.org has acquired 19,654 signatures, and another on Action Stations has 66,974.

The tweet hashtag, , was trending near the top of Twitter’s New Zealand Trends on 9 April;

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Acknowledgement for use of image above: Halloween Mike1

As well as the msm, most of the top blogs in the country covered the story, one way or another (see: Other blogs)

So I was looking forward to see some serious analysis on ‘The Nation‘ and/or ‘Q+A‘, on this issue.

Incredibly, and alarmingly, none was forthcoming, except for a brief throw-away-line by comedians Jeremy Corbett and Paul Ego, during their sixty-second satirical-slot on ‘The Nation‘ (though without any actual direct reference to John Campbell), to “being replaced by Jono Pryor and Ben Boyce“.

TV1’s ‘Q+A‘ was also strangely silent on an issue that had been a nationwide talking point.

Instead, on Saturday’s ‘The Nation‘, we had stories on;

  • Legal highs, with interviews with Peter Dunne and Matt Bowden
  • the booming Auckland Property market, with interviews with Mayor Len Brown; Deputy Mayor Penny Hulse; Kate Healy from Ngati Whatua Orakei Whai Rawa Ltd, and property developer David Whitburn

Sunday’s ‘Q+A‘ on TV1  gave us;

  • an interview with HSBC economist, Paul Bloxham, who coined the phrase “rock star economy”
  • urban-designer, Charles Montgomery, on how to improve our cities

Considering that ‘Campbell Live‘ is one of the last serious current affairs programme remaining on free-to-air television, one would have thought that this was worthy of scrutiny by either ‘Q+A’ or ‘The Nation‘.

Understandably, perhaps, TV3’s executives Julie Christie and Group Chief Executive Officer Mark Weldon – who have allegedly expressed a dislike for  ‘Campbell Live‘ – may have dissuaded ‘The Nation‘ from enquiring further into the matter.

When Fairfax Media made redundant large numbers of sub-editors a few years ago, the event was not reported in ‘The Dominion Post‘ or any other Fairfax title. The news was suppressed by management. In this respect media management can be every bit as shy of public scrutiny as the politicians they profess to scrutinise.

The media demand press freedom to allow public scrutiny – except when it applies to them.

Stranger still is that TVNZ – a direct commercial competitor to Mediaworks – made no mention of goings-on at TV3. One would think that a major event in this country’s media would have rated some sort of story or analysis with media experts.

Instead – nothing.

Television executives seem very shy when it comes to public attention on their own activities.

How NOT to promote a flagship programme

Palmerston North teacher, Scott Milne, pointed out that ‘Campbell Live‘s’ poor ratings may be due to Mediaworks not promoting the programme as enthusiastically as it does with others.

On Twitter, Scott posted this screen-shot of a TV3 webpage;

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When an advert for hair shampoo (lower right on page) is larger than the promo for a current affairs show, it becomes fairly clear how well the broadcaster is supporting their own product (the programme – not the shampoo).

Perhaps there is an element of truth to suggestions that certain Mediaworks executives are not “fans” of Campbell and/or his show?

The sooner that a free-to-air, non-commercial, public broadcasting channel is established, the better it will be for this country. If  the UK can have the BBC and  Australia has the ABC and SBS – why can’t we have something similar?

Short answer: lack of political will coupled with ideological stubborness.

If we had a new NZBC, commercial free, and dedicated to something resembling quality programming – TVNZ and Mediaworks/TV3 could broadcast all the crappy reality and crime shows that the rest of the public could possibly stomach.

More than anything, a lack of a free-to-air, non-commercial, public broadcasting channel shows how immature we are as a nation. Distracted by trivia has given us the only form of  dumbed-down  television the masses can digest.

More head-scratching decisions at TV3?

News over the weekend indicates that TV3 will be cutting back their weekend news bulletins at 6pm to only half an hour – less when you subtract advertising, weather, and sports;

TV3 is to chop its Sunday night news bulletin to 30 minutes, in the latest dramatic move to turn its news department into a “news, commentary and conversation” team.

MediaWorks chief executive Mark Weldon is at odds with many among his 200-strong news staff after announcing “bubbles and bagels” to celebrate the launch of Paul Henry – at the same time as Campbell Live staff were being told their programme faced the axe.

“It was just insensitive and inappropriate,” a TV3 news staffer said.

A cut-down version of ‘Third Degree‘ will be given a new – and somewhat bizarre – name;  “3D and will be shortened to 30 minutes“.

If  MediaWorks executives still have faith in their 6PM news bulletin and ‘Third Degree/3D‘, they have an unusual way of showing it. Which raises a few questions – what do they hope to gain? More time allocated for commercial programming?

Those viewers who enjoy watching the 6PM news bulletins may find themselves feeling cheated at TV3’s cut-down, “budget” version. They may vote with their remotes to switch to TV1, where the format will offer an unchanged, longer version.

After all, if you enjoy watching TV news, which would you opt for?

Those who don’t watch TV news won’t care either way.

So MediaWork’s decision will impact only on news-watchers – and cutting back the format to 30 minutes may yet prove to be one of the  biggest blunders in TV3’s history. Perhaps bigger than it’s excellent 1993 sitcom, ‘Melody Rules‘…

MediaWorks group head of news Mark Jennings just keeps digging…

Just when you thought that threats to ‘Campbell Live’s‘ survival and cutting TV3’s 6pm news bulletin was bad enough, MediaWorks group head of news Mark Jennings seems to have made things worse by these incongruous utterances on 12 April;

“We know that Sunday night is a good place for current affairs. People are increasingly time poor and we believe 30 minutes of news plus 30 minutes of current affairs is a winning formula for this popular timeslot.”

No, Mr Jennings, we are not “time poor” – we are information poor.  In a world of superficiality and bastardised media services masqerading as “news”, we are poor in real, in-depth, news and analysis.

When “X Factor NZ” receives more  promotion from MediaWorks than one of the most respected broadcasters in the country – then it is fairly obvious where management’s priorities lie.

Trying to pass off responsibility for questionable decision-making by MediaWorks executives, onto the public being “time poor”, is exceedingly bad form. And dishonest.

If people are so “time poor”, the 6PM news bulletin might as well be cut to 15 minutes. Or eliminated altogether. There. Sorted. Plenty of time for people now…

… to switch to TV1.

Mr Jennings added;

“This way we can guarantee a pacey, high-quality product that will be appointment viewing.”

Yes, “pacey” – until each advertising break. Take ten or fifteen minutes out of each ‘3D” episode, and it become so “pacey” as to rush past the viewer. Blink, and you’ll miss it.

And then, this “gem” from Mr Jennings;

“I am very proud of our investigative journalism, and the 3D Investigates strand will build on our ground-breaking work on the Teina Pora and David Bain cases, and the Fox Glacier crash.”

Yes, indeed. He is so “proud of [TV3’s] investigative journalism” – that he is cutting both the 6PM News Bulletin and ‘Third Degree‘ in half – and considering dumping ‘Campbell Live‘.

What a peculiar way to express one’s “pride” in their work.

With regards to ‘Campbell Live‘, Mr Jennings explained his rationale for reviewing the programme;

“Viewer expectations in 2015 are quite different from those of 2005 and we need to constantly review our programming to ensure we are meeting those expectations.”

How “viewer expectations in 2015 are quite different from those of 2005″ is never quite explained. But it cannot be that different; people may take their information from the internet, but they also still watch television.

The advent of television was supposedly the death knell for movies. That belief was wrong.

On-line e-books were supposed to make real books redundant. That belief, too, was wrong.

People will watch television. What they won’t watch is crap.

In that respect, “viewer expectations in 2015 are [not so] different from those of 2005″.

Perhaps MediaWorks’ management should be looking at themselves and not at the public for reasons of ‘Campbell Live‘ not gaining increased viewership.

First and foremost; has it been promoted with the same vigour and gusto as Paul Henry? ‘The Block‘? ‘X Factor‘? ‘The Bachelor‘?

If the answer is “no” – the solution that follows on is fairly evident. Does it need to be spelled out?

MSM antics just get weirder and weirder…

Just when you thought the msm couldn’t get any weirder, comes this strange story about Fairfax media touting for ‘freebies’ from it’s readers;

Fairfax encourages readers to write

NZCity, 11 April 2015
Fairfax Media New Zealand has outlined more of its plans to make readers involved in its editorial process.

The company’s Stuff Nation product already publishes more than 2300 articles every year written by readers and the pieces are among stuff.co.nz’s most read and commented on.

Fairfax Media New Zealand group executive editor Sinead Boucher told theNewspaperWorks masthead newsrooms will set assignments for readers on newsworthy topics, as well as encourage them to send in more personal topics they may wish to discuss.

Pieces will be individually verified and edited by Fairfax journalists and edits discussed with contributors.

It’s not an attempt to get free content or do away with journalists, Ms Boucher says.

The company wants readers to play a larger role.

Popular issues include bullying, elections, obesity, the road toll, marriage equality and the property market.

On March 18, Fairfax Media New Zealand announced it was introducing a new approach to digital storytelling with a renewed focus on local journalism.

A series of changes and proposed changes aimed at enhancing local and national journalism across digital and print will be rolled out nationally.

Accepting op-ed pieces or letters-to-the-editor is one thing.

But “setting assignments for readers on newsworthy topics” appears to me that Fairfax is attempting to attract free content, which it will then on-sell for commercial gain.

There is a word for that: exploitation.

Not exactly surprising though, as Fairfax has lost many of their journalists and sub-editors over the last decade, as the company seeks to increase it’s profits and returns to shareholders.

“It’s not an attempt to get free content or do away with journalists”, Ms Boucher says.

That should go on a Tui billboard.

With fewer staff expected to do more; increasing use of “news hubs”; and a focus on on-line content at the expense of newspapers – that is precisely what Fairfax are aiming at.

Is this the future of newspapers; a msm-version of de facto bloggers-in-lieu-of-real-journalists, mass-producing stories on the cheap (free)?  If so, it makes for grim reading.

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References

Fairfax media: Campbell Live vs Jono and Ben

Fairfax media: Campbell Live to be reviewed

NZ Herald: Campbell Live to be axed? TV bosses place show under review

Radio NZ: The end for Campbell Live?

NZ Newswire: Support swells as Campbell Live faces chop

Mediaworks/TV3: MediaWorks confirms Campbell Live review

Newstalk ZB: Campbell Live facing the axe

NBR: Will Campbell Live survive?

TV3: The Nation (11/12 April 2015)

TVNZ: Q+A (12 April 2015)

Converge: Fairfax In Trouble

Twitter: Scott Milne

Fairfax media: Campbell Live should have moved with the times, pundits say

TV3: TV3 to reduce Sunday 6pm news bulletin to 30 minutes

Wikipedia: Melody Rules

TV3: TV3 current affairs moves to premium timeslot

Scoop media: Jono and Ben and Campbell Live

NZ CIty:  Fairfax encourages readers to write

Additional

Previous related blogposts


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