JC: Opt for TOP

This should have been the front page headline in the Herald. They were keen to let their readers know they were on TOP of things last weekend, at least when they came to the Opportunity Party. I picked up the paper and there staring me in the face was another face, that of the by now all too familiar Qiulae Wong. At the bottom of the A1 half-page spread readers were invited to go to A10 to continue the fascinating read. They didn’t mention the furthering of the epic on A11. Suspect bias is one thing but blatant bias is quite another. This was completely ‘over the top’.

Wendy Geus: Biased media deflects to US whilst ignoring NZ's divisive race issue

Misogynistic fixation on Trump Aide highlights NZ's biased media's agenda - deflection to US domestic politics whilst ignoring NZ's divisive race issue

CNN's decision to go after Trump's executive assistant, Natalie Harp, who travelled with him in a decoy plane to avoid an assassination attempt, with sleazy overtones, was quickly picked up by their little cousins in NZ who will loyally print anything to tarnish Trump. They don't do investigative journalism when Trump, or New Zealand's political right, is involved.

Peter Bassett: From Impartiality to Instruction - How Journalism Rewrote Its Own Rules

For most of the 20th century, journalism operated on a simple but demanding premise: tell the public what is known, what is disputed, and who is arguing what — then step back. Readers were treated as adults, capable of weighing evidence and reaching their own conclusions.

That settlement has quietly collapsed.

Chris McVeigh: Media bias in New Zealand yet again

If you took a double at the TAB, with the Pope getting married as one leg and Radio New Zealand admitting to a smidgen of left wing partiality as the other, you could be forgiven for thinking that the smart money would be on the Vatican gig bringing home the bacon first.

RNZ is in a permanent state of denial on this. Just recently their flagship Sunday morning show Mediawatch (itself often patronisingly smug about its ethical purity) ran a lengthy item purporting to analyse a recent BSA report which found that public trust in the media was dwindling. The item was notable for a number of reasons: they prefaced their discussion by telling us all that, while public trust in the media might be on the wane, RNZ was the most trusted of all. Secondly the presenter, the redoubtable Colin Peacock (the thinking man's Joseph Parker), adopted a tone of almost stunned disbelief when dealing with these allegations. But most importantly of all, the entire discussion completely missed the point.

Dr James Allan: And the Legacy Media Wonder Why Nobody Trusts Them

Last year when I was asked to write a chapter for a US book on the incredible inroads and attacks on our civil liberties during the thuggish Covid lockdown years I decided, in part, to rank the worst offending groups. The lawyerly and doctorly castes were bad. They were woeful in fact. But the politicians as a class, the ones who ultimately made the calls, were worse – and there were very few exceptions to that generalised claim, as any Australian knows who looks for politicians who, say, resigned from Cabinet on principle (nada, zero) or who spoke up publicly and loudly against the massive authoritarian over-reach and aping of the policies of the Chinese Communist Politburo (a mere handful at most). So I gave the silver medal for thuggish lockdown commitment and stalwart thuggery to the political class. However, in terms of letting all of us citizens down I reserved the gold medal for the journalists of the legacy media.

Owen Jennings: When Bias becomes a Dangerous Absurdity.

Editors who invite reader’s contributions usually make it clear they reserve the right to not publish any particular letter and normally they refuse to give reasons or even acknowledge receipt of a letter.

The NZ Herald has that policy. It’s a rather arrogant policy if letters sent in for publication are reasonable, not offensive or contrary to law. A media outlet that claims to have influence and status might relish a healthy debate, a robust challenge or comments that reflect widely held opinions in the community.

Professor Robert MacCulloch: State Owned Media Anti ACT Bias Alert.....

State Owned Media Anti ACT Bias Alert: One News states that its Poll reveals "More NZ'ers oppose than support Treaty Principles Bill".

Why the relentless bias? A 1News Verian Poll, in which the exact survey question was not made available, got reported as follows by OneNews, "Poll: More New Zealanders oppose than support Treaty Principles Bill. The poll, which surveyed 1006 eligible voters .. found 23% supported the bill while 36% were opposed. A slightly larger group - 39% - said they didn't know enough about the bill, and 2% preferred not to say".

David Lillis: Holding Our Journals to Account

Rejecting Articles for Publication

Recently, I have been informed that a number of articles written by scientists or other researchers have been rejected for publication by New Zealand journals.  

 

Every journal has the right to decline to publish and we must accept decisions made by reviewers and, presumably, by editorial teams. However, some of these articles were intended to correct errors of scientific fact in prior articles which had indeed been published.

Heather du Plessis-Allan: Good luck convincing us of impartiality

Good luck to TVNZ.  

Good luck to TVNZ trying to convince anyone that they are unbiased, given what's just happened with them in the last week.  

I just played you the clip of the Breakfast reporter singing with the organiser of the Hikoi - which I think any right-minded person would interpret as an endorsement of the Hikoi.

JC: Media Leaves Kiwis in the Dark

As I pointed out in a recent article, the local media in no way painted a true picture of what was happening in the US presidential election. The coverage was completely misleading. Listening to our media you would be excused for thinking Kamala Harris was in with a shot of winning.

A few days before the election a poll, which should never have been published, showed Harris winning Iowa, a strongly Republican state. That poll was demonstrably false and in the election Trump won by 13 points.

JC: Here Is the Real News

The real news is not to be found at six o’clock on One or Three but elsewhere in places such as YouTube.

We sometimes tend to be very critical of the present coalition Government. Our criticism is often to do with their lack of action, their apparent reluctance to deal with issues pertaining to race or their inability to agree on certain issues. A fair bit of this criticism is based on what we hear, particularly on the nightly television news. This, as we know, is hopelessly biased because most of the journalists hate this government with an obvious passion and are working overtime to ensure it fails in its aims.

Clive Bibby: “You will know them by their fruits”

It would be a mistake to assume my use of scripture in this column is an indication of a wide knowledge of biblical texts. Sadly, that is not the case in this instance. I wish it were. 

In fact l had to look it up in order to make sure l had the right verse.

However, l am pleased that l did because, as l suspected, the quote uses only a few wise words to describe the appalling behaviour of people who are abusing the position of influence they occupy throughout the western world. They need to be exposed!

Tony Orman: How About an Outward Bound Based Youth Training Scheme?

Kids are in trouble. Just look at the news from commonplace ram raids and other crimes even at times involving youngsters in murders. It doesn’t end there. The jumbled minds of too many of todays kids sadly manifests itself in youngsters taking their own lives. In a word - suicide!

A UNICEF report found New Zealand's youth suicide rate - teenagers between 15 and 19 - to be the highest of a long list of countries. New Zealand’s adolescents are in deep trouble and at times of a tragic kind. 

Donald Foster: The Coalition Government’s Progress

In his 15^th May, 2024 pre-budget speech, the Prime Minister asserted that “New Zealanders voted for us last year to do three things – rebuild the economy, restore law and order, and deliver better public services”. 

That may have been his personal perspective on the issue, it may even have been the National Party’s perspective on the issue, but the Coalition Agreement more reliably reflected the electoral issues of concern at point three of the preamble to the agreements between National, Act, and NZ First, which stated “The Coalition Government’s priorities for this term include (in addition to those picked out by the Prime minister and amongst other issues) ending race based policies (and)  defending freedom and democracy, (the latter expanded elsewhere in the Agreement  to uphold the principles of liberal democracy, including equal citizenship and parliamentary sovereignty, the rule of law and property rights), followed by a number of specific steps to that end.

Ele Ludemann: Signs of bias

Remember the media coverage of the Groundswell initiated protests?

The protests attracted big numbers and almost all the signs were, as the organisers requested, on message and polite but the media managed to find a few that weren’t and gave them the focus.

Spot the difference in the coverage of last week’s protest which contrary to its climate focus name was a sort of omnibus protest of the left’s latest causes.

Heather du Plessis-Allan: The media's been given a wake-up call about bias

Well, the news media has just been given a a massive wake up call.

A report has just landed from AUT showing how much trouble the media is in. These guys talked to more than a 1000 people to find out what they think of the media and they found trust in the media has fallen from 53 percent in 2020 to 33 percent this year.

That is big. Four years ago, half of us trusted the media. Today, only a third.

Lindsay Mitchell: What media bias looks like

When news media took a pummeling last week at both TVNZ and TV3, a number of critics said part of the reason ratings are poor is the public don't trust them. The public believe that the media is biased.

The print media is similarly suspect. An article in Stuff today (which may feature in the Sunday Star Times) provides a great example of indiscriminate reporting. The headline reads:

Clive Bibby: Why are we not surprised

A change of government in this country has resulted in the exposure of battle lines that until now had been deliberately disguised as only assumptions or delusions.

The first 100 days of the National led Coalition has witnessed, amongst other things - the opening of the books that show just how incompetent and wilfully disingenuous the last administration really was.

Roger Childs: Across the Tasman

We definitely need a fearless media

…. in the Reporters' Gallery yonder, there sat a Fourth Estate more important far than they all. Edmund Burke

One of the joys of visiting Australia is their free press and independent television channels. The Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne Age are good papers and in The Spectator they have a genuine main-stream media (MSM) right wing paper. Top New Zealand journalists - Amy Brooke and Karl du Fresne - periodically feature, telling the truth of what is really happening in the “Shaky Isles”. And NZCPR’s Muriel Newman features occasionally on Fox News providing accurate and balanced coverage on the New Zealand political scene.

Ken Lomax: Democracy in New Zealand is dead, or is it just very terminal?

We had an election in October 2023, but you would hardly know it.

Recent events (and many before) have highlighted that the political left has deeply infiltrated those organisations that are supposed to be truly independent and neutral, such as our media and the public service.