Wednesday 7 March 2012

A picture of decline in NZ: the media

Lies and omissions in the NZ media




Normally I would bring stories from a combination of mainstream and alternative media to paint a picture of what is happening.

Today I can’t.

That’s right.  

There was a whole list of stories carried on just one day, on Radio New Zealand that paints a picture of rapid deterioration of social, labour and economic conditons in New Zealand.

I listened to the radion as piece by piece a picture of collapse in New Zealand was painted.

When I came to the computer to check on these stories I found that not one of these stories was covered by the print media (online at least).

In the case of one of these stories I found coverage on Iran’s Press TV but nary a mention in our press.

I have to go on record now as saying that the New Zealand media is guilty of lying, misrepresenting and dumbing down the public.

We do not (yet) live in a totalitarian state where there is only one source of information - the news can be found, if you look.

But omission of stories that are important to New Zealanders is a form of lying.

The press is complicit with the National government in conspiring to keep New Zealanders ignorant of the extent of global economic collapse; ignorant of how bad things are in New Zealand; ignorant of their plans for this country; ignorant of the fact that New Zealanders are standing up to the privitisation and selling off of assets and the rape of our precious resources.

A public that is in full possesssion of the facts is a public that might be less quiescent and malleable.

Keep people ignorant, disorientated and unsure of where they stand - and they are easily manipulated and controlled.

On Sunday the Sunday Star Times covered two very important stories:


But that was the end of it.
Think you could find any coverage of this anywhere else on Monday morning? Not a bit.

This morning it is Radio New Zealand’s turn - these are important stories, each one of them, that have been totally ignored by other media.

Here are some of today’s  stories with audio links:

Government books continue to deteriorate
Opposition parties are targeting the Government's performance after more official figures released yesterday showed the Government's books are continuing to deteriorate





Farmer worries about rural police station closures
There's been an angry response to a hint police officers will have to stomach a wage freeze this year.




Labour says police wage freeze will affect frontline services
There's been an angry response to a hint police officers may have to stomach a wage freeze this year





Alien species threaten Antarctic ecosystem
Antarctica's defrosting fringes are being claimed by foreign plants and animals.




CTU, Grey Power join forces to oppose asset sales
Grey Power and the Council of Trade Unions have joined forces to launch a petition against state asset sales




Port dispute set to hit Lyttelton today
The escalating industrial action on Auckland's waterfront is expected to spread to Lyttelton today





Let's quickly compare that with the Auckland Herald.



The biggest stories in today’s New Zealand Herald were:

Port Expansion sunk for now
Council rethink calls for review instead of backing plan to push wharves 250m into harbour

Ramsay warns: Girlfriends steal all you recipes
Study calls for routine circumcision
ACC seeks to deny funding to bash victim
To be fair there was a small item in the Business News:
Big Hit to tax revenue raises deficit risk


Please don't take this as a recommendation of Radio New Zealand who also play their role in lulling people to sleep (after all, the famous line "blip(s) on the road to recovery" came from RNZ).


It is, however a condemnation of APN and Fairfax media who conspire to keep us all mislead and ignorant.

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