Most of your editors and contributors are not Social Media fans. Geoffrey is the only one of our three editors with a Facebook account (and only since early 2015) and we know the majority of our regular contributors don’t have one.
In 2016 we expressed enthusiasm for the local Neighbourly initiative, but when it was taken over by Fairfax, now the blatantly Left-wing Stuff, that quickly diminished after it was turned into an alternative to Facebook. As we like to say, Stuff came along and stuffed it.
If the Mainstream Media wasn’t so overtly politically biased, it would be more respected and trusted, but there is now a substantial proportion of the population that is deeply mistrustful of it, that sees it (probably correctly) in NZ as the propaganda arm of the government, and when, for example, Stuff won’t allow discussion on controversial topics, it’s no wonder. If people feel their evidence (which is not the same thing as proof), experience and viewpoints are being ignored by the MSM, they turn to other outlets.
But with the practice now of governments requiring the Social Media companies to censor content, that becomes a problem, too. The next alternative is what is called the Dark Web, the realm of most crims, terrorists and extremists. Will the government censorship of Social Media start pushing law abidding people there?
The worst aspect of this being that many people have become so distrustful of the media i.e.. Stuff, News Hub and even social media that they seek out alternatives that they trust and unfortunately can wind up in an echo chamber and lose balance. Andrew Little seems determined to make things even worse with Govt. actioned censorship on his to do list. He may not be a pleasant man but I have some sympathy for Trump and his “false news folks”.