John McLean: Partisan Penfold

Paula has stopped pretending...to be a proper journalist

Paula Penfold was once a pretty credible journalist. Her journalistic investigation of Teina Pora’s wrongful conviction for rape and murder was admirable and contributed to the quashing of his conviction and a multimillion dollar settlement for Pora.

John McLean: Cracked Pot Tries To Burn Better Wellington

Utter Nutter Hattotuwa comes in from the Cold

Sanjana Hattotuwa has been busy spying on Wellington local government affairs. He’s gone so far as to produce his very own hot report on a Wellington incorporated society named “Better Wellington Incorporated”.

Matua Kahurangi: The Government is quietly funding online propaganda machines....

The Government is quietly funding online propaganda machines through the “Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism Fund”

While many New Zealanders believe they’re simply debating passionate activists online, the reality may be far more coordinated. It turns out, some of the loudest voices parroting the government's narrative might not just be opinionated citizens. They could be on the payroll.

Peter Williams: Another Biased Judge

We first heard the term “judicial activism” in 1987. Justice Robin Cooke, in his opinion for New Zealand Maori Council v Attorney-General, said the Treaty of Waitangi was “akin to a partnership.” It is one of the most famous lines in this country’s jurisprudence and was the first enunciation of the concept of partnership as a principle of the Treaty.

Chris Lynch: Bye Bye disinformation project

It’s no surprise the disinformation project, long functioning as a political weapon, has finally collapsed.

For several years, it served as a platform for far-left ideologues, led by Kate Hannah, to demonise dissenting voices under the guise of protecting the public from “disinformation.”

The project didn’t expose lies—it tried to silence opposition – and it failed.

Karl du Fresne: The anti-conspiracy theory conspiracy theorists

Today's Morning Report devoted seven minutes to a promotional plug for a new RNZ podcast called Undercurrent, which promises to expose rampant mis- and disinformation that we are told threatens to contaminate the coming election.

In the news story that preceded the plug, we were informed that Greens co-leader James Shaw was assaulted by a “conspiracy theorist” in 2019.

Guy Hatchard: The Ardern Government is Throwing Money at the Media and the Fake Science Brigade

… in the Belief the Public Will Swallow Anything, No Matter How Absurd.

It is surprising what tripe you read in the newspapers, and more surprising—the government is funding it. Te Punaha Matatini hosts the government’s Disinformation Project, which is hitting the headlines again. According to Principal Investigator Kate Hannah (MA in history), the government should be allowed to dictate to high street stationer Whitcoulls which magazines it can sell to the public. Correct me if I am wrong but isn’t this a bit close to book burning?

Hannah is concerned that the magazine New Dawn has questioned the efficacy of the Covid vaccines (among other things like Atlantis and fake Moon Landings). I don’t read New Dawn, but if there is one thing that the public has figured out, it is the lack of efficacy of Covid vaccines. They don’t seem to prevent transmission, hospitalisation, or death.