Masterful. In a sentence, “ The fact that media still encourage paid staff and contractors to continue in this vein is unconscionable.” I would like to see this piece printed out and stapled to the foreheads of certain opinionists (great word, that).
Excellent work. Interestingly, I have listened to Hosking and he’s quite similar to Alan Jones in Australia. They take great pride in telling us they are not journalists but broadcasters. As a result, they’re not obligated to report facts, only what their audiences and advertisers want to hear. Sadly, many people listen to Hosking and form their opinions based on his opinion. No real analysis. Just a lot of emotion and bluster. Much like the virus, it has infected large swathes of media, whipping up hysteria for no good reason. Cindy this and communism that. Thankfully, in part with articles like this, there is a growing section of New Zealand that has finally cottoned on to this - cancelling subscriptions the result. We deserve better because the facts don’t lie - we continue to do better than most in this pandemic due to the efforts of our government. Not perfect but really quite good. We just need to hold our nerve for a bit longer.
I mean, this pandemic has really exposed the flaws of our economy. John Key admits as much when he says we need to let foreign workers and students in: a lot of businesses require underpaid workers to survive, a lot of schools need those foreign student fees. That underfunded health system is really coming back to bite us on the ass, too. And turns out giving lots of groups reasons to never trust the government again isn't great when you need them to take a vaccine. These are all things that didn't start 18 months ago, that have a history to them that successive governments have been allowed to get away with primarily because the same media establishment only thinks in short term news cycles.
Luckily, we have lots of anti-capitalist pundits who have addressed these fundamental flaws-- oh wait. We don't have any.
Brilliant article, agree, thoroughly researched and for anyone, even with half a brain, most thought provoking. How can those in the media have so much clout, such huge platforms to spout such spurious drivel, during the middle of a world wide pandemic, and not be held to account.
Thank you for saying so eloquently and with so much supporting information what I have been thinking almost since our first exposure to Covid last year. The continuing howls from business and the media to re-open at all costs so money can continue to be made is infuriating. You have said what needs to be said. It should be shared widely. Those weighing their personal inconvenience against potential large-scale death are verging on on the psychopathic.
This is without doubt one of the best analyses I've read in a while (including my own blogging efforts). Well researched; documented; and reasoned, it sums up why public anger has been focused on aspects of the Aotearoan media.
Personally, I'm a news-addict; Stuff, RNZ, etc, I'm always engaging. But during the first lockdown and the most recent one, I had to disengage because of the volume of negativity spewed from various media - including, shamefully, from Radio NZ (Checkpoint being the worst, often straying into tabloid-style presentation).
Until the media understand this and tones down its negative platforming, people will continue to compare journalism with used-car salespeople.
Which is not good for democracy because when we most need the Fourth Estate to report on political shenanigans, they will be least trusted.
Thank you, Josh. Awesome work. The shame is that these many examples in a long column are not even the half of it, and if you included them all it would be a hefty book.
An alternative approach would be to find any examples of these "opinionists" doing a follow-up and admitting, however grudgingly, that they had earlier got something wrong. Even Gerry Brownlee managed to do that in the election campaign after his "series of interesting facts" meltdown that you reference.
I have seen one opinionist acknowledge a re-think about his own views (Mike Yardley, Stuff 29/6/21), and that's all I can recall, in 18 months. It would be good to know of others, but I suspect that list would be much shorter.
Thank YOU. I have written letters, contacted MPs, etc on this very topic. The 2 couples' monopoly has concerned many of us. I appreciated the graphs greatly. I'm sending your article everywhere
Absolutely excellent article rightfully panning the media response to our excellent Covid response. I am tired of these opinions and how they have damaged and endangered our health response. Absolutely this needs to change, you've certainly shown what we know all along.
excellent piece, thoroughly researched and fantastically written - thank you, it’s important to strike the balance between legitimate criticism of media in its role as the fourth estate vs deriding everything as “bloody left wing media” vs blindly trusting anything published, no matter how factually untrue or morally deficient.
Astounding as it may seem, there is a sizeable audience of low information listeners who think Mike Hosking has the pulse of the nation and is offering some kind of intelligent analysis. The particular technique of the right wing punditry is to relentlessly focus on their own demographic and how much their lives are inconvenienced by having to think about those *other people* over there. Everything is framed in terms of freedoms and rights of the property-owning middle class, and the suffering of the poor is best ignored.
I am a journalist, I have been out of the industry for about 20 years. What you say in this column is an exact description of what has happened. "Fairness and accuracy" were once the twin pillars of the news media. No more. I am personally so angry and sad about the systematic undermining of NZ's Covid response. Those opinion writers have a lot to answer for.
This has been my understanding having read widely both research and international media to compare NZ COVID experience. To see a highly detailed comprehensive overview is both very reassuring and also depressing knowing most publishers hold dearly the Murdoch dream to wield influence whatever the consequence for the ordinary NZer. Awesome mahi!
This was so satisfying to read I almost needed a cigarette afterward.
Masterful. In a sentence, “ The fact that media still encourage paid staff and contractors to continue in this vein is unconscionable.” I would like to see this piece printed out and stapled to the foreheads of certain opinionists (great word, that).
Excellent work. Interestingly, I have listened to Hosking and he’s quite similar to Alan Jones in Australia. They take great pride in telling us they are not journalists but broadcasters. As a result, they’re not obligated to report facts, only what their audiences and advertisers want to hear. Sadly, many people listen to Hosking and form their opinions based on his opinion. No real analysis. Just a lot of emotion and bluster. Much like the virus, it has infected large swathes of media, whipping up hysteria for no good reason. Cindy this and communism that. Thankfully, in part with articles like this, there is a growing section of New Zealand that has finally cottoned on to this - cancelling subscriptions the result. We deserve better because the facts don’t lie - we continue to do better than most in this pandemic due to the efforts of our government. Not perfect but really quite good. We just need to hold our nerve for a bit longer.
I mean, this pandemic has really exposed the flaws of our economy. John Key admits as much when he says we need to let foreign workers and students in: a lot of businesses require underpaid workers to survive, a lot of schools need those foreign student fees. That underfunded health system is really coming back to bite us on the ass, too. And turns out giving lots of groups reasons to never trust the government again isn't great when you need them to take a vaccine. These are all things that didn't start 18 months ago, that have a history to them that successive governments have been allowed to get away with primarily because the same media establishment only thinks in short term news cycles.
Luckily, we have lots of anti-capitalist pundits who have addressed these fundamental flaws-- oh wait. We don't have any.
Brilliant article, agree, thoroughly researched and for anyone, even with half a brain, most thought provoking. How can those in the media have so much clout, such huge platforms to spout such spurious drivel, during the middle of a world wide pandemic, and not be held to account.
Thank you for saying so eloquently and with so much supporting information what I have been thinking almost since our first exposure to Covid last year. The continuing howls from business and the media to re-open at all costs so money can continue to be made is infuriating. You have said what needs to be said. It should be shared widely. Those weighing their personal inconvenience against potential large-scale death are verging on on the psychopathic.
This is without doubt one of the best analyses I've read in a while (including my own blogging efforts). Well researched; documented; and reasoned, it sums up why public anger has been focused on aspects of the Aotearoan media.
Personally, I'm a news-addict; Stuff, RNZ, etc, I'm always engaging. But during the first lockdown and the most recent one, I had to disengage because of the volume of negativity spewed from various media - including, shamefully, from Radio NZ (Checkpoint being the worst, often straying into tabloid-style presentation).
Until the media understand this and tones down its negative platforming, people will continue to compare journalism with used-car salespeople.
Which is not good for democracy because when we most need the Fourth Estate to report on political shenanigans, they will be least trusted.
Thank you, Josh. Awesome work. The shame is that these many examples in a long column are not even the half of it, and if you included them all it would be a hefty book.
An alternative approach would be to find any examples of these "opinionists" doing a follow-up and admitting, however grudgingly, that they had earlier got something wrong. Even Gerry Brownlee managed to do that in the election campaign after his "series of interesting facts" meltdown that you reference.
I have seen one opinionist acknowledge a re-think about his own views (Mike Yardley, Stuff 29/6/21), and that's all I can recall, in 18 months. It would be good to know of others, but I suspect that list would be much shorter.
Thank YOU. I have written letters, contacted MPs, etc on this very topic. The 2 couples' monopoly has concerned many of us. I appreciated the graphs greatly. I'm sending your article everywhere
Excellent! You’ve said ( most eloquently) what many of us have been thinking for a long time.
Absolutely excellent article rightfully panning the media response to our excellent Covid response. I am tired of these opinions and how they have damaged and endangered our health response. Absolutely this needs to change, you've certainly shown what we know all along.
excellent piece, thoroughly researched and fantastically written - thank you, it’s important to strike the balance between legitimate criticism of media in its role as the fourth estate vs deriding everything as “bloody left wing media” vs blindly trusting anything published, no matter how factually untrue or morally deficient.
Astounding as it may seem, there is a sizeable audience of low information listeners who think Mike Hosking has the pulse of the nation and is offering some kind of intelligent analysis. The particular technique of the right wing punditry is to relentlessly focus on their own demographic and how much their lives are inconvenienced by having to think about those *other people* over there. Everything is framed in terms of freedoms and rights of the property-owning middle class, and the suffering of the poor is best ignored.
Thank you for this mahi.
I am a journalist, I have been out of the industry for about 20 years. What you say in this column is an exact description of what has happened. "Fairness and accuracy" were once the twin pillars of the news media. No more. I am personally so angry and sad about the systematic undermining of NZ's Covid response. Those opinion writers have a lot to answer for.
This has been my understanding having read widely both research and international media to compare NZ COVID experience. To see a highly detailed comprehensive overview is both very reassuring and also depressing knowing most publishers hold dearly the Murdoch dream to wield influence whatever the consequence for the ordinary NZer. Awesome mahi!