Simon O'Connor: Control, curate, and censor

The motivations to stop using X - be it media or now the Clerk of New Zealand's parliament - are couched in moral terms by opponents, but it's all really about control, curation, and censorship.

In what I can only describe as a rather poorly considered, and mostly likely politically motivated action - unconsciously or otherwise – the Clerk of New Zealand’s Parliament has decided that the Parliament will no longer use the social media site X (formerly Twitter).

Mark Angelides: The Fourth Estate and the Road Not Taken

Poet Robert Frost wrote of the choices we face and the paths that ultimately define us; it is a concept that must surely be occupying editorial meetings across the nation as each particular outlet of the Fourth Estate determines whether it will opt for the path less traveled or the comfortable, familiar path.

Since legacy media have so avidly aligned themselves against President Donald Trump from 2015 onward, his return to the White House poses a conundrum: continue to be part of the unofficial “resistance” or play a straight hand?

Splitting the Fourth Estate Deck

Mark Angelides: An Elegy for the Fourth Estate

The Fifth Estate rises.

With 2024 in the rearview mirror and 2025 just begun, perhaps a moment of reflection is warranted for the not-so-sudden demise of the formerly vaunted Fourth Estate. Its position atop the cultural landscape has been rejected by much of the Western world, and it exists now as an artifact that resides in nostalgia more than zeitgeist. It was an avoidable self-immolation. But what will rise from the ashes? And will the fresh phoenix be any better?

David Harvey: Institutional Reliability - An Erosion of Trust and Confidence?

This started as an overview of the problems recently experienced by Radio New Zealand but became a wider consideration of confidence in our institutions of which the Fourth Estate is a very important part. Inquiries may tell us what really happened at RNZ but the performance of others who occupy the corridors of power leaves much to be desired. Perhaps those who criticise contrarians and dissidents need to look in the mirror to find out why.

Members of the media have often been referred to as the eyes and ears of the public. It is their function to bring to the attention of the public matters of public concern. Journalists are traditionally those who are engaged in the important democratic function of gathering, transmitting, disseminating and commenting on news.