The time when, normally, a report or a revelation exposed some hopelessly inept behaviour or some governmental dishonesty.
It was a day that focused almost solely on the singular story and it was concluded at the end of the day that whoever the recipient was, government, council, MP, the Prime Minister, or public figure, they had had a hell of a day that would not be forgotten for a very long time.
The Government should have had one of those days this week with the release of the report into the Ministry of Health's abject failure around testing capacity for Covid.
The report says the Ministry had not sufficiently planned for the increased pressure lab services would be subjected to despite evidence from overseas. It says Ministers and officials were inadequately briefed. It's a damning piece of work and adds to the other damning pieces of work that have found Dr Ashley Bloomfield and his mates shockingly wanting.
But it seems we don't have days of national disgrace anymore. The media is so segregated these days. The desire for an endless diet of click bits and baits overrides a singular look at an event that affected us all, inconvenienced us all, and cost us all a fortune. A price we are only just starting to really pay now.
The real crime with the incompetency is not only were we all affected in terms of their inability to do their job properly, but the fact we had no choice.
The entire Covid response has been a top down exercise in dictatorship. Rules, regulations, and instructions we had no option but to follow.
In this specific case, the testing was a mess because they refused to recognise RATs, labs and private facilities were screaming out to help, to fill gaps, to provide products, and to solve problems. But no, the Ministry knew best. And yet, they didn’t.
It started at the start of Covid the lack of PPE, it rolled on through the lack of vaccine, the lack of testing, and the lack of beds.
Here is the egregious bit. Not only wasn’t there a day or two of national disgrace as this nonsense got exposed, Bloomfield kept getting lauded. And when he had to, he gave some sort of half-baked apology talking of the lack of play book. The media never corralled to the point of singular focus to hang this clown out to dry the way they should.
I'm sure he worked hard, I'm sure he tried hard, but he wasn't actually very good. Increasing numbers of reports now show that.
This report this week will be dismissed along with all the other reports that got dismissed. When one day we have the Royal Commission, it'll find all the same stuff, and that will be dismissed as well.
Where was the anger? Where were the demands to be better? Or do the majority these days just enjoy being shafted by incompetence, hence it's not really news?
But it seems we don't have days of national disgrace anymore. The media is so segregated these days. The desire for an endless diet of click bits and baits overrides a singular look at an event that affected us all, inconvenienced us all, and cost us all a fortune. A price we are only just starting to really pay now.
The real crime with the incompetency is not only were we all affected in terms of their inability to do their job properly, but the fact we had no choice.
The entire Covid response has been a top down exercise in dictatorship. Rules, regulations, and instructions we had no option but to follow.
In this specific case, the testing was a mess because they refused to recognise RATs, labs and private facilities were screaming out to help, to fill gaps, to provide products, and to solve problems. But no, the Ministry knew best. And yet, they didn’t.
It started at the start of Covid the lack of PPE, it rolled on through the lack of vaccine, the lack of testing, and the lack of beds.
Here is the egregious bit. Not only wasn’t there a day or two of national disgrace as this nonsense got exposed, Bloomfield kept getting lauded. And when he had to, he gave some sort of half-baked apology talking of the lack of play book. The media never corralled to the point of singular focus to hang this clown out to dry the way they should.
I'm sure he worked hard, I'm sure he tried hard, but he wasn't actually very good. Increasing numbers of reports now show that.
This report this week will be dismissed along with all the other reports that got dismissed. When one day we have the Royal Commission, it'll find all the same stuff, and that will be dismissed as well.
Where was the anger? Where were the demands to be better? Or do the majority these days just enjoy being shafted by incompetence, hence it's not really news?
Mike Hosking is a New Zealand television and radio broadcaster. He currently hosts The Mike Hosking Breakfast show on NewstalkZB on weekday mornings.
1 comment:
Until the MSM start reporting in a fair and balanced way and stop following the government's woke agenda then all these cock-ups will continue to receive little or no coverage.
As a journalist and broadcaster you should be well aware of the dire state of the media in NZ, I would have thought Mike.
Maybe should should run a special feature on Newstalk, Mike, and invite independent "experts" on to give their advice on how to fix this situation.
Post a Comment
Thanks for engaging in the debate!
Because this is a public forum, we will only publish comments that are respectful and do NOT contain links to other sites. We appreciate your cooperation.