Ani O'Brien: Marc Daalder writes opinion, not journalism

Marc Daalder’s ideological tantrum, complete with foot stamp, begins with the headline,“Cabinet overrode health advice”. It tells you from the outset that Cabinet have been naughty! It takes a normal feature of democratic government (elected ministers making decisions!) and reframes it as scandal, as though unelected officials are supposed to govern and elected politicians are an unfortunate interference.

Mike Butler: Two reporters, dogma, and a cyclone

Failure to understand and accept the basic differences between science and dogma raises serious questions about the judgement of two people paid to report the news. In an opinion piece by one of these people posted on the Newsroom site, a kicker said:

"Failure to understand and accept basic scientific facts raises serious questions about the judgment of prospective legislators."(1)

Politicking by these two activists posing as journalists started on Tuesday night when Three News political editor Jenna Lynch reported on National Party MP Maureen Pugh uttering the "heresy" that the climate has always changed, but she was still awaiting evidence that humans are causing changes.

Karl du Fresne: The pleasure of having one's prejudices confirmed

I forced myself to watch Web of Chaos, Tuesday night’s state-funded TVNZ documentary that promised “a deep dive into the world of disinformation”.
It’s sad that I should regard it as a chore to watch something I helped to pay for, but that’s the way it is. I wanted to satisfy myself that Web of Chaos was exactly what I expected, and so it turned out. There are few things more richly satisfying than having one’s prejudices confirmed.

The first clue was in the name of the director: Justin Pemberton. I vaguely recalled the name from somewhere else, and it soon came to me. Pemberton made Capital in the 21st Century, which I described in 2019 as a masterpiece of the propagandist’s art.

I wrote then that “The film uses every trick in the documentary-maker’s book to dramatise its message, which is that contemporary capitalism is overwhelmingly rigged in favour of the ultra-rich and basically rotten to the core”.