Our bankrupting Big Media outlets are in overdrive distorting the truth as to the reasons for their failure. Their B-list "celebrities" are now writing misleading garbage giving their own twisted views about the cause of their demise - blaming social media, technological change & viewing habits.
Why not go blame Putin, like Robertson & Orr did, for their problems? The truth is our Big Media colluded with the Ardern-Hipkins government to end our democracy by joining them at the hip to ensure no rival views about the decision to lock Auckland down in late 2021, race relations, the environment, nor economic management, were allowed to gain traction. The public has not forgiven its' betrayal. Big Media did its' utmost to shut down the contest of ideas that lies at the heart of our democracy, where opposing views are aired to keep the government honest, whatever its political colors. Not content with helping fix the election in 2020, Big Media also tried fixing our 2023 election. It failed.
I have proof. It's contained in a bunch of my articles rejected between 2021 and 2023 by Big Media which constituted some of my best work - like "The Unravelling of NZ's Economic Strategy", "Jacindanomics Does not Exist" and "How our Kingdom of Kindness Lost its Way". At the same time, a vast collection of writing & preaching by other academics across NZ - the Chosen Ones in cahoots with Ardern and Hipkins - was widely disseminated by that same Big Media. Not even my mild critiques of Ardern and Hipkins were permitted, whereas critiques by others describing politicians like Seymour and Luxon as "bull-shitting", "lying" pricks was splashed across the front pages. Whenever I used a word 1% as strong to describe Ardern or Hipkins, it was edited out by Big Media. The only outlet that would publish my articles became the fringe National Business Review. It is why I started this Blog.
Recent articles by folks like Jack Tame severely mischaracterize the media. He is incorrect to say the "news business .. contributes to the strength of our democracy". It does so only if it has not been captured by government and deployed to keep it in power. My old boss at London School of Economics, Sir Tim Besley, writes in the American Economic Review, "Media institutions play a vital role in informing citizens. However, they can do so effectively only if they operate independently from the state & face governments who are open & transparent in their dealings with their citizens & media .. There is evidence that state ownership & concentration enhance the prospect of media capture".
To assume the media supports democracy, as Tame does, without qualification is wrong. It can equally be used as a tool to suppress it. A free & independent media that challenges the powerful without fear or favor and exposes weaknesses in their arguments & leadership, is a necessary part of democracy. But a biased & manipulative media captured by a ruling political class is a mortal threat to it. Go ask dictators in power around the world. NZ's Big Media has reported a plethora of propaganda for much of these past five years of a quality that would make even the most repressive regime blush. One of our best ever Kiwi economists, John McMillan, who sadly died at a young age, wrote a famous paper when he was at Stanford called "How to Subvert Democracy". It says:
Sources:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/jack-tame-the-news-organisation-cuts-are-devastating/S73MLV6HUBEHNA5Z255WQYFZ5U/
https://econ.lse.ac.uk/staff/tbesley/papers/mediacap_old.pdf
https://web.stanford.edu/class/comm1a/readings/mcmillan-how-to-subvert.pdf
Professor Robert MacCulloch holds the Matthew S. Abel Chair of Macroeconomics at Auckland University. He has previously worked at the Reserve Bank, Oxford University, and the London School of Economics. He runs the blog Down to Earth Kiwi from where this article was sourced.
I have proof. It's contained in a bunch of my articles rejected between 2021 and 2023 by Big Media which constituted some of my best work - like "The Unravelling of NZ's Economic Strategy", "Jacindanomics Does not Exist" and "How our Kingdom of Kindness Lost its Way". At the same time, a vast collection of writing & preaching by other academics across NZ - the Chosen Ones in cahoots with Ardern and Hipkins - was widely disseminated by that same Big Media. Not even my mild critiques of Ardern and Hipkins were permitted, whereas critiques by others describing politicians like Seymour and Luxon as "bull-shitting", "lying" pricks was splashed across the front pages. Whenever I used a word 1% as strong to describe Ardern or Hipkins, it was edited out by Big Media. The only outlet that would publish my articles became the fringe National Business Review. It is why I started this Blog.
Recent articles by folks like Jack Tame severely mischaracterize the media. He is incorrect to say the "news business .. contributes to the strength of our democracy". It does so only if it has not been captured by government and deployed to keep it in power. My old boss at London School of Economics, Sir Tim Besley, writes in the American Economic Review, "Media institutions play a vital role in informing citizens. However, they can do so effectively only if they operate independently from the state & face governments who are open & transparent in their dealings with their citizens & media .. There is evidence that state ownership & concentration enhance the prospect of media capture".
To assume the media supports democracy, as Tame does, without qualification is wrong. It can equally be used as a tool to suppress it. A free & independent media that challenges the powerful without fear or favor and exposes weaknesses in their arguments & leadership, is a necessary part of democracy. But a biased & manipulative media captured by a ruling political class is a mortal threat to it. Go ask dictators in power around the world. NZ's Big Media has reported a plethora of propaganda for much of these past five years of a quality that would make even the most repressive regime blush. One of our best ever Kiwi economists, John McMillan, who sadly died at a young age, wrote a famous paper when he was at Stanford called "How to Subvert Democracy". It says:
"Peru has in place the full set of democratic mechanisms: a constitution, opposition parties, regular elections .. safeguards for the independence of the judiciary & a free press. In the 1990s it was run in the name of President Fujimori by its secret-police chief, Vladimiro Montesinos Torres. In the course of exercising power, Montesinos methodically bribed judges, politicians & news media ... Montesinos & Fujimori maintained the façade of democracy - the citizens voted, judges decided, the media reported .. How did they go about undermining democracy? By covert authoritarianism: the negotiation & enforcement of secret deals. We use the bribe prices to quantify the checks & balances. The size of the bribes indicates how much Montesinos was willing to pay to buy off those who could have checked his power. The typical bribe paid to a television-channel owner was a hundred times larger than that paid to a judge, which was about the same as that paid to a politician .. The most forceful of all the checks and balances on the Peruvian government’s power, by Montesinos’s revealed preference, was television".Yes, control of the media is the best winning ticket to power. These past five years in NZ there was a shocking betrayal of trust by our Big Media. The sooner the profession is disbanded and a new type of reporter is trained the better.
Sources:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/jack-tame-the-news-organisation-cuts-are-devastating/S73MLV6HUBEHNA5Z255WQYFZ5U/
https://econ.lse.ac.uk/staff/tbesley/papers/mediacap_old.pdf
https://web.stanford.edu/class/comm1a/readings/mcmillan-how-to-subvert.pdf
Professor Robert MacCulloch holds the Matthew S. Abel Chair of Macroeconomics at Auckland University. He has previously worked at the Reserve Bank, Oxford University, and the London School of Economics. He runs the blog Down to Earth Kiwi from where this article was sourced.
9 comments:
Robert, the majority of the MSM are getting their just desserts for the last six years of Labour propaganda, total bullshit and outright lies. Our new government should never give them our tax dollars, if they can't survive the open market they shouldn't be in the game . All of the woke racist socialists can watch the taxpayer funded maori channels and practice their te reo. Kiwialan.
Robert is a brave man to put such an article out there. I am sure academics in some Universities would be looking for a new job if they spoke out. Auckland University must value free speech.
Sir, you are the first columnist I have read to state what I have been saying.
We do not need a change in media attitude we need a whole new, uncorrupted, group of media people.
Personally I would add schoolteachers, particularly those calling themselves "Academics" but, for you, that may be too close to home.
Well called and well done on the column.
Prof M. is probably " too big to sack"......... so he can be a thorn in AU's side
And here is me a bit miffed because the Herald binned a few Letters to Editor.
I totally agree will Robert remain a part of the narrative.
Robert publicised some interesting information prior to election of the IMF forecasting economic growth for New Zealand some thing like 182nd out of 186 countries. Also bottom of the OECD rankings for the balance of trade ratio. The media weren't keen to discuss such grim economic indicators at the time. Where do we go from here as the media can't be trusted to report fairly and the economic situation is grim.
Like many of those offering comment, I am amazed you have not been de-platformed by the woke Auckland Uni administration Robert. I really struggled with the appalling response of the VC to the Listener 7.
I had 11 years on faculty as a senior lecturer having forged a professional working career in construction engineering before joining the academic ranks. My time there came to an end for two reasons. The first was the petty politics of competing egos, and the second, being routinely questioned at examiners meetings as to why I had failed several students. The latter showing how important bums on seats had become as a source of revenue. It's sad because I owe a debt to the post WWII academics who lectured me, men (there was one woman student in my year, thankfully much changed today) who had practical and applied thinking. Such men are no longer valued, and I know I would not qualify to work there, having only experience and a BE (Hons) to offer. My wife and I support students in engineering, and for some time had considered leaving a bequest to say thankyou for my career, but I now do not want to risk leaving anything that the woke leanings of the current VC, Dawn, may take as approval of her management. So, best of luck. I hope you are able to keep up the valuable flow of information from inside the Ivory Tower.
I heard Jack Tame giving his dialogue on ZB, espousing that media should get govt assistance to help save media jobs. I nearly choked on my doughnuts and coffee.
WTF, heck no. If they put out a good product without opinions then people would buy it. Fill the news with the journalists insight to how the world should work and down the drain it will go. Our media is stuffed with opinions and very little news.
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