The first visual you see in this 47-minute video is the NZ on Air logo meaning that Taxpayers have paid for all or most of it.
The essence of Stuff’s presentation is summed up at 1:50: “Billy Te Kahika and his falsifications might not matter if nobody was listening, but they are.”
So, Stuff claims the statements made by the party’s leaders are “falsifications”, not “allegations.” And what justification does Stuff have for saying that? Because Jacinda and her government say that, and the government never lies, distorts, misleads, covers up… Hmm.
It’s clear that more than anything else, this is an attack by Stuff and the Jacinda government on social media.
Stuff is a part of the Mainstream Media (or as many now term it ‘Lamestream Media’) which has seen a lot of its advertising revenue go to the likes of Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, etc. So Jacinda and Co. have given them large amounts of Taxpayers’ money to keep them afloat.
The situation is much exacerbated when the MSM — Stuff and Newshub in particular — are so blatantly politically biased that people turn away from them in search of alternative views and balance. That isn’t just the case in NZ, but in other countries.
We’ve commented on this before, pointing out that the traditional ethos of news broadcasters of “Public Service” has gone; in its place is Sensationalism accompanied by flexibility when it comes to telling the truth. Just pay attention to how many times on TV3/Newshub’s news trailers you hear the words “bombshell” and “shock.” And do the items really justify being so described? With most of them, hardly.
It’s obvious that the Jacinda government is just as worried as these MSM businesses about the steady loss of its propaganda platforms.
Watch for yourself here.
Irrespective of the party, media attacks on any one party smacks of being undemocratic. The integrity of the media (TV and papers)is questionable too. The most important issue at the moment is the erosion of democracy – but understandably being ignored by the guilty media. The erosion happened in 1984 with the dictatorial 4th Labour government, it continued under Shipley, Bolger, Clark etc and become marked with Key National government (e.g. ECan assassination) and has invaded select committee hearings (very limited public submission times). Some parts (mostly minor such as Outdoors Party and New Conservatives) have highlighted but then they were shut out of public debates mostly.