Dinosaur Media Self-Hugs
April 24, 2025
By NZB3
Have been amused by the Legacy Media giving itself a big hug both here and in Australia.
Winston Peters dropped a bit of a threat on Radio New Zealand, the State broadcaster, which has circled the mainstream media wagons. How dare he? You might not think ‘journalists’ would mind if the super Woke and taxpayer subsidised Morning Report had its strings cut. However, in this, they are not competition but part of a fraternity under threat. Ref. Morning Report 23 April 2025: NZ First proposes legislation to define ‘woman’ and ‘man
The current media platforms don’t have long to live, they’re dinosaurs waiting to be extinct due to technology but most of all due to being found out as propagandists. However, while they last they’re going to keep on protecting each other. That’s also why any little bit of news concerning broadcasters is magnified as a national news story. So, when Corin Dann was rebuked by Peters the Fourth Estate all got into a flutter. And, demanded responses from all the party leaders too.
“Well, let me just finish with a question — not on that — because your opponents, the Greens and Labour (but certainly the Greens), have argued that you’re simply importing a culture war as a distraction from your failure to address the real issues New Zealanders care about, like the failing health system and the cost of living crisis.” – Dann
“The fact is you’re paid for byer the taxpayer and sooner or later we’re going to cut that water off too because you’re an abuse on the taxpayer. You’re not hearing both sides of the story. You keep on putting the argument of the Woke left!” – Peters
The story is now about Peters intimation that RNZ’s “water” is going to be cut off. This is lawyer-speak allowing Peters to avoid litigation in court for acting like a dictator. “Water” is also the analogy for broadcasting that M.J.Savage used in 1937. So, they knew what he was saying but all they can do to fight back is make a ruckus in the headlines because the lawyers cannot lift a pen. Peters is a master of speech the same way Ricky Gervais knows how to talk his way around libel law. I have remarked before about the similarity between comedy and politics. Ref. The ‘Yes, And’ Politics Game, NZB3
Check out this video of Gervais who isn’t actually joking despite the laugh track: “..but I do have to tell a lawyer just before I go on…I know the law. I know what I can get away with. I know what I can say….And I’ve never had a complaint upheld…I know what I’m doing.” That’s the way it is for Winston Peters too. And Shane Jones. I marvel that their subordinate MPs, and especially the ACT MPs of the previous parliamentary term, didn’t get caught out for want of such skills. The answer was that Peters and David Seymour never let them out of their sandbox. At least, not without having a legal pre-check before taking to the stage as Gervais did too. A big part of success in this game is not simply being outspoken and authentic. Most anyone can do that. The key thing for a career is being able to keep on doing it without slipping up and going down in flames; That takes a special skill seldom spoken of. Being unable to do that tends to stop most people before they start or before they make it too far.
So, Peters’ reaction was to claim that RNZ is editorially devoted to the Woke Left view. He indicates they run Green, Labour, National stories like a publicist but when it comes to NZ First the radio program behaves as if were a lobby group. This is a sound tactical response to someone who has just behaved this way and also used the words “failure” and “failing” twice in one sentence in their inquisition. It will also appeal to those sympathetic to Peters who heard those things with their own ears. It’s a move he makes every time someone puts him in that position. Is he ethically correct or does he believe this? Those questions don’t really come up because TACTICS matter most as does staying on the right side of the LAW. Those two boxes are ticked.
Winson’s victimhood story will play well to his people. But, the mainstream story belongs to RNZ and the other media organs: Bad man threatens media. There’s another story too, Dann’s story, which the press is telling themselves mostly off-air. They probably believe it too. That they are “fair and fierce” to interview subjects this way equally, not only Peters. “I’m the devil’s advocate here,” says Dann. “It’s my job to do that. I don’t have an option.” he says in order to take no responsibility and zero accountability for himself. It’s easy to imagine Jack Tame being animated by the same puppet strings on TVNZ; Both men came out of the same sausage works as Wikipedia confirms: the New Zealand Broadcasting School. Ref. 1992: NZBS, AHNZ
So, this stupid game plays out and that’s how New Zealand’s public debate and our laws are made: A mad dialogue between NZBS zombies and dancing politicians.
Finally, in Australia, there’s an election going on and debates between PM Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton. The latest one was apparently judged by the media but what cracked me up was how they referred to themselves! SBS News 23/4/2025: “…one of the last opportunities for the leaders to win over undecided Australians the esteemed panel of nine journalists delivered their verdict declaring Peter Dutton the winner..”
Did you like that too? Government dinosar media gets to entitle their people as “esteemed.” The Australian Corin Danns of this world think they’re superduper because they say they are. “This is the fucking news.”
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