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Saturday, October 7, 2023

Point of Order: We remain “New Zealand” on the Oz side of the Tasman......



.....but Newshub fixed that when Luxon fancied a feed of KFC

Remember the “rogue” subeditor who caused a huge fuss at RNZ when it was found he had been doctoring – he would say “correcting” – Reuters reports about the Russian invasion of Ukraine?

We don’t know for sure – but it looks like he might have joined the editorial team at Newshub.

Our evidence for suggesting this can be found today in Newshub’s regurgitation of a Daily Mail Australia report after a professor found fault with National leader Christopher Luxon’s tucking into chicken n’ chips.

The professor’s wrath was prompted by a picture which Luxon posted on social media.

The picture shows him smiling (how dare he) while eating a box of KFC chicken, reflecting on his long day of campaigning.

According to the Daily Mail Australia:

‘Dinner after another day campaigning to rebuild the economy and get our country back on track #chicken,’ Mr Luxon wrote.

But tucking into KFC – it transpires – is as reprehensible to the nutrition Stasi as noshing on sausage rolls, which is among the PM’s fodder favourites.

Luxon’s picture has sparked debate online and given health experts cause to argue that he was promoting unhealthy eating.

The Daily Mail Australia reports:

… the image has resulted in severe backlash online, including from the President of the Australian Medical Association, Professor Steve Robson.

‘What a disappointing image and message,’ he said.

The report is headlined

Single photo of New Zealand politician eating dinner sparks fury from one of Australia’s top doctors

This was dished up on this side of the Tasman in a Newshub report under a headline which turned the doctor’s fury into something more physical:

Election 2023: Top Australian doctor slams Christopher Luxon for posting photo of KFC meal

This report began:

A top Australian doctor has lambasted National leader Christopher Luxon for promoting unhealthy eating.

Luxon got backlash on social media too, after posting a photo of himself on Monday night in front of a KFC combo.


And then:

Professor Steve Robson, president of the Australian Medical Association (AMA), has come out swinging against Luxon.

He told Daily Mail Australia it was “disappointing” to see a leader in Aotearoa “associated with food of little or no nutritional value”.


No he didn’t. The Aussie newspaper says:

Professor Robson told Daily Mail Australia that it was frustrating seeing one of New Zealand’s political leaders promoting unhealthy eating.

‘New Zealand has bountiful food offering some of the healthiest foods in the world. It is so disappointing to see a political leader associated with food of little or no nutritional value when there are so many healthy options,’ he said.

‘The AMA is campaigning to support measures to restrict advertising and targeting children with unhealthy food advertising.’


There is not one mention of “Aotearoa” in the Daily Mail Australia report.

The Newshub team apparently reasoned that its audience would not understand what Robson was saying and corrected what he said for Kiwi consumption:

“[Aotearoa] New Zealand has bountiful food offering some of the healthiest foods in the world,” he added.

The Newshub mob procceded to report:

Robson’s comments come after Luxon “pulled out” of The Press Leaders Debate on Monday.

That followed Sunday’s news of Labour leader Chris Hipkins testing positive for COVID-19.


But whoa.

What sort of leaders debate was it going to be without Hipkins?

As Newshub acknowledges in the very next sentence:

“The debate was scheduled for Tuesday night, but since Hipkins is isolating he couldn’t attend…”

And…

“… a National spokesperson later told Newshub the party couldn’t rearrange Luxon’s schedule to hold the debate another time.”

Point of Order wonders if the Public Interest Journalism Fund has influenced the urge (among other things) to turn New Zealand into Aotearoa in mainstream media reportage.

Allocation of the $55m fund was completed at the end of June, but the outputs of the funding will continue through until early 2026.

Point of Order is a blog focused on politics and the economy run by veteran newspaper reporters Bob Edlin and Ian Templeton

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