Archive for the ‘Politics’ Category
What Judith Collins told the Chisholm inquiry – part 1
Let’s be perfectly clear about it – Judith Collins was fighting for her political life at the Chisholm inquiry into ‘Allegations regarding the Honourble Judith Collins and a former Director of the Serious Fraud Office’. That a serving Justice minister should be forced to resign (she says she offered, but let’s face it, that’s what John Key telephoned her […]
‘Taking one for the team’ (The tl;dr version of Slater Jnr at the Chisholm inquiry)
This is a photo (right) of Cameron Slater arriving at the Wellington venue for one of the inquiries into his involvement in a conspiracy sparked by the revelations of Nicky Hager’s book Dirty Politics. Over several hours on 24 October 2014, Chisholm inquiry records show, Slater Jnr comprehensively walked back from claims and assertions he […]
[Source documents] Judith Collins Lester Chisholm Inquiry evidence
As mentioned in The Judith Collins Chisholm inquiry: Who was actually on trial?, the following documents (except ‘Lester Chisholm Inquiry Report’) were released under an Official Information Act request. They are the redacted witness transcripts and evidence presented to the inquiry, as well as Lester Chisholm’s final report. Note: There is a total of 60 […]
What the Chisholm inquiry revealed about managing the media narrative
Photographer Chris Gorman caught this image (above) of two of the Dirty PR conspirators putting on a brave face after the Chisholm inquiry report was published. NZ Herald journalist David Fisher referred to the report’s finding of an “extreme campaign against the former SFO boss Adam Feeley carried out by Slater and Odgers” in “a […]
State agency abusing its powers?
This doesn’t happen every day. (Update – Transcript of Speaker’s ruling: Maritime NZ Referred to Privileges Committee [PDF 56kb] – Parliament today.) I remember the last time this Standing Order was breached. TVNZ was held to have taken action to ‘disadvantage’ its employee Ian Fraser in response to his testimony to a select commmittee. This […]
A sad, but pithy assessment of John Key by Rod Oram
I read Rod Oram’s Sunday Star-Times column last night, and, more in sadness than anything, found I have to agree with his assessment: There’s a theory that John Key, Steven Joyce and Bill English have been cunningly carrying out a programme of ‘incremental radicalism’ — privatisations that aren’t portrayed as privatisations so as not to frighten […]
‘Dirty Politics’ revisited: More evidence of deceit and covering tracks
It’s funny how the brain works. Earlier this week, I passed a copy of Nicky Hager’s book Dirty Politics on to a new workmate after he’d expressed a harshly negative opinion of Hager — but when I asked him if he’d read any of Hager’s books he admitted he had not. Rather than lend him mine, I […]
The Hollow Man: PM’s “fabricated” smear on Snowden documents
Evoking FUD (Fear Uncertainty and Doubt) is a tactic commonly used by tobacco lobbyists and climate change denialists – attempting to impugn the veracity of evidence. In this case the Prime Minister’s empty smear has been exposed … The NZ Herald‘s David Fisher reports … The Prime Minister’s office has said it has no factual basis for […]
Russell Brand’s (quieter) Ed ‘Milibrand’ interview
I heard excerpts of this interview on BBC PM early this morning — and wanted to watch it. I’m glad I did. Good to see the ‘despondency message’ (“Why vote? It doesn’t matter”) Brand has promoted being challenged. Miliband’s points – making change through politicians can be hard work, slower than you want, and subject to […]
Public relations and the anti-democratic style of politics
I had an interesting chat online with some other journos yesterday/last night about the place (or, in my view, lack of place) of paid PR propagandists like Matthew Hooton as ‘pundits’ or ‘panelists’ in news and current affairs shows. (Click the image below to read around the conversation on Twitter. There was quite a lot […]
Guest post: The history of Propaganda
Paul Bieleski from Nelson sent this in as a comment on the last post … I found it interesting. – P Propaganda The “Congregation for Propagating the Faith” founded by the Catholic Church in 1622 is where our use of the word propaganda has come from. Its activity was aimed at “propagating” the Catholic faith […]
Sorry, but this man is treating us like children (or fools)
John Key's line: As I had reason to tell someone in a completely different context recently … No doubt Mr Key's line, “Look, members of the news media, despite what those NSA/GCSB documents say, you're completely wrong — but it's not my job to tell you how you are” approach will work for some […]
