The city is desperately short of funds. Compared to hiking up your rates, letting waste go into the harbor when it rains (which runs the risk of swimmers, like my Dad's friend off North Head, catching polio) and being stuck in congested traffic half your day, who wouldn't support Brown's plans?
But no - TV One Sided News says you and me are "sceptical". They quote a Talbot Mills poll saying we don't support selling the Airport shares. Here's its survey question:
"There is a proposal for Auckland Council to sell off its shares in Auckland Airport. How strongly do you support or oppose the privatisation of Auckland airport shares?"
OneNews says 38% oppose selling, 34% support and 28% are unsure. But if you ask folks what "privatization" means, most will tell you that the government is giving up ownership & control of an asset and selling it off so that it becomes privately owned, maybe even by a single big business tycoon. So for many, "privatization" is a pejorative. It comes with bad connotations. However the Council doesn't have ownership control over the Airport. Our government already privatized it, back in 1998. Today the Council holds just 10% of the shares. I could not think of a more biased way to ask that question. Had it been worded:
"There's a proposal for Auckland Council to sell its 10% shareholding in Auckland Airport so the Mayor can clean up the sewerage going into Auckland Harbor, cut congestion so you don't take forever going to work & lower your rates. Do you support or oppose this sale?"
.. then don't you suspect the answers may have been different? Similarly Talbot Mills asks,
"There is a proposal to sell off the Auckland Port operating business which is currently 100% owned by Auckland Council and Aucklanders, via a lease. How strongly do you support or oppose the sale of the port operations?"
Why muddy the waters by asking whether you "support or oppose the sale" of port operations when most people consider leasing versus buying or selling to be very different things. If you buy / sell a house or car then you get / give up ownership title; if you lease then you don't. The question is biased - people who find selling the port to be offensive would answer no, even though the Mayor has not proposed selling it. OneNews writes, "Nearly half of voters - 45% - opposed leasing the port operating business, with 31% in favor, while 23% were unsure". Why say so many "opposed leasing" when the question actually asked whether they "oppose the sale"? Question wording is of huge importance when designing surveys, which is one of my main fields in economics.
Struck by the questions OneNews quoted to mislead its viewers by not reporting their loaded nature, I looked up Talbot Mills website which says, "We work with leading businesses both sides of the Tasman, run the research program of NZ Prime Minister Chris Hipkins .." Stop. Say no more. That explains it. Maybe this Blog is futile because the game is stacked against us with connections every way you look. Can TV One-Sided News please clarify whether it is in cahoots with Hipkins to destabilize Mayor Brown?
Sources:
https://www.1news.co.nz/2024/03/26/aucklanders-sceptical-of-mayors-ambitious-plans-poll-shows/
https://talbotmillsresearch.co.nz/
But no - TV One Sided News says you and me are "sceptical". They quote a Talbot Mills poll saying we don't support selling the Airport shares. Here's its survey question:
"There is a proposal for Auckland Council to sell off its shares in Auckland Airport. How strongly do you support or oppose the privatisation of Auckland airport shares?"
OneNews says 38% oppose selling, 34% support and 28% are unsure. But if you ask folks what "privatization" means, most will tell you that the government is giving up ownership & control of an asset and selling it off so that it becomes privately owned, maybe even by a single big business tycoon. So for many, "privatization" is a pejorative. It comes with bad connotations. However the Council doesn't have ownership control over the Airport. Our government already privatized it, back in 1998. Today the Council holds just 10% of the shares. I could not think of a more biased way to ask that question. Had it been worded:
"There's a proposal for Auckland Council to sell its 10% shareholding in Auckland Airport so the Mayor can clean up the sewerage going into Auckland Harbor, cut congestion so you don't take forever going to work & lower your rates. Do you support or oppose this sale?"
.. then don't you suspect the answers may have been different? Similarly Talbot Mills asks,
"There is a proposal to sell off the Auckland Port operating business which is currently 100% owned by Auckland Council and Aucklanders, via a lease. How strongly do you support or oppose the sale of the port operations?"
Why muddy the waters by asking whether you "support or oppose the sale" of port operations when most people consider leasing versus buying or selling to be very different things. If you buy / sell a house or car then you get / give up ownership title; if you lease then you don't. The question is biased - people who find selling the port to be offensive would answer no, even though the Mayor has not proposed selling it. OneNews writes, "Nearly half of voters - 45% - opposed leasing the port operating business, with 31% in favor, while 23% were unsure". Why say so many "opposed leasing" when the question actually asked whether they "oppose the sale"? Question wording is of huge importance when designing surveys, which is one of my main fields in economics.
Struck by the questions OneNews quoted to mislead its viewers by not reporting their loaded nature, I looked up Talbot Mills website which says, "We work with leading businesses both sides of the Tasman, run the research program of NZ Prime Minister Chris Hipkins .." Stop. Say no more. That explains it. Maybe this Blog is futile because the game is stacked against us with connections every way you look. Can TV One-Sided News please clarify whether it is in cahoots with Hipkins to destabilize Mayor Brown?
Sources:
https://www.1news.co.nz/2024/03/26/aucklanders-sceptical-of-mayors-ambitious-plans-poll-shows/
https://talbotmillsresearch.co.nz/
10 comments:
I share your disgust with the way we are being manipulated.
The sooner the MSM collapses the better off we will be. Not even sorry for the journalists. They will be ok, licking wounds as they scuttle off to their PR or research jobs to continue their "work".
MC
All very similar to how they have 'reported' the Ports of Auckland issue.....
"Maybe this Blog is futile because the game is stacked against us with connections every way you look."
Yes, it appears this way. How can you not feel despair?
David Farrar of Kiwiblog wrote a cringeworthy post called “Highlight’s from Grant’s valedictory.” He seemed to find Robbo both witty and sophisticated. Wot jokes, eh! Well worth taxpayers footing the bill of $630k per year, for a job he’s unqualified for, just for the japes!
In this way, the way beltway establishment types excuse Cindy, Robbo and that ginger nut for their failings.
At the same time, nothing is done about the bias of our State media. One Pravda and Red Radio continue to lie to us.
Is this democracy?
Robert, I assume that you were not watching TV one to see news ?
They stopped doing that years ago.
It's been a pattern of poor sob story about Maori (by a te reo speaking Maori), then an attack on the Government, then another social issue story, finishing with a fluffy bunny item.
Same pattern every night.
Always opens and closes with a mouthful of the reo, while around NZ, thousands either yell at the screen or hit mute.
And to fully demonstrate their idiocy, since forever they have been saying "Welcome back" - think about that - what the hell is that supposed to mean ?
And now, not only do they continually repeat that in English, but also blurb which I assume is "welcome back" in te reo.
At best idiocy, at worst indoctrination.
The promotion of a maori as political editor should ensure the end of biassed reporting by TVNZ........
Wayne, not Len, Brown is currently Auckland mayor.
'Mayor Len Brown' - should it be 'Mayor Wayne Brown' instead?
If Covid taught us one thing it was that pollsters, modelers and epidemiologists are simply shills providing the results their customers want.
Don't forget the regular/almost daily, "Hate Trump" articles on TV1 and in the NZ Herald. Strange when we cant even vote for him here.
Please sell TVNZ and RNZ . But would a buyer (if any could be found) be any better.
Offer the television network to Sky TV, the Aussie version is a breath of fresh air in a leftist dominated MSM.
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