Posts Tagged ‘spin’
About Matthew Hooton’s declared loyalties
I’ve discussed Matthew Hooton a few times here at The Paepae. My views of his ‘service’ to political commentary in New Zealand have hardened lately. I find Matthew a personally very engaging, even charming man. There can be few smoother and more persuasive spin doctors in the slippery ‘opinion-shaping’ game in New Zealand – especially […]
Carrick Graham, vendettas and miasma
I don’t talk much about PR attack blogger Cameron Slater’s sometime paymaster and ghostwriter Carrick Graham, although I haven’t completely ignored him — (see?). Carrick’s claim to fame was revealed by Nicky Hager’s book Dirty Politics, and in somewhat redacted material leaked to the news media and further afield by the [alleged] hacker Rawshark through […]
Allegations re mass surveillance by NZ’s GCSB
Here are the articles published by Glenn Greenwald and Edward Snowden about mass surveillance of New Zealand citizens by spy agencies that form part of the FIVE EYES intelligence alliance. These were released in the lead up to the anyway-you-look-at-it history-making event at Auckland Town Hall last night, ‘The Moment of Truth’ featuring Edward Snowden, […]
John Key working the phones “at length”
I was struck tonight by TV3 Political editor Patrick Gower saying on the news that he’d just got off the phone from a conversation “at length” with National Party leader John Key — Mr Key was, apparently, intent on countering the claims by Glenn Greenwald that the GCSB had undertaken mass surveillance of New Zealanders […]
Returning to the scene of the crime (or How I fell for Jason Ede’s spin)
As I ‘confessed’ in my reaction to Nicky Hager’s book Dirty Politics, I fell for the deceptive spin on the extraordinarily rapid ‘service’ National Party attack blogger Cameron Slater was given on his 2011 OIA request for SIS briefing notes. The Prime Minister’s office’s role in this ‘hit’ on then Labour leader Phil Goff is […]
Deceitful “PR blog” questions worth considering
At the risk of creating a terrible circularity that could collapse the interwebs, let me suggest you read Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup today (available here at The NZ Herald.) Bryce introduces his political topic du jour thus: New Zealand politics is ‘a dirty, disgusting, despicable game. And it involves dirty, disgusting despicable people at all […]
Emmerson – Palino’s diner
This, from Rod Emmerson in the NZ Herald, is one of those cartoons with plenty of subtlety* … it rewards scrutiny. – P *Like, for instance, the ‘speciality’, the puddle under Banks, and, is Slater junior wearing pants?
The ‘values’ & ‘goals’ of immoral political deceivers
This, from a (typically) excellent politics column by Charles P. Pierce goes some way to explaining why I feel such disdain for the dishonest political ‘operators’ whose activities I observe and highlight here now and then, and whose reptilian coarsening of political ‘debate’ I have come to see as so irredeemably negative. The second basic […]
Echo chamber? Or seeing the world as one wants it to be?
I like receiving Bryce Edwards’ NZ Politics Daily newsletter. It’s a valuable digest of political issues seen through the filter of media coverage, including the blogosphere, and Bryce’s commentary is always worth a read. (Material from The Paepae features now and then too, which I also appreciate.) Yesterday’s missive reflected the theme of the Thorndon […]
Alastair Campbell demolishes the Daily Mail’s deputy editor Jon Steafel (video)
A master class on BBC Newsnight. “The Daily Mail is the worst of British values, posing as the best”.
Matthew Hooton regrets (cough) using ‘that particular word’. Of course he does.
With all due respect to Radio New Zealand, it seems to me they are indulging a notable double standard with respect to Matthew Hooton, and quite possibly being gamed by the National Party spin doctor. Today’s Nine to Noon political segment began with noble Lynn Freeman reading again Radio New Zealand’s “position” on their ‘commentator […]
Matthew Hooton: an apology
Spin doctor and Oscar-nominated* actor Matthew Hooton has added his own apology (well, sorta-kinda) to those of the two media outlets which broadcast his pre-determined, calculated smear of the Leader of the Opposition. Writing in the National Business Review (hilariously in an article he says will be behind a paywall tomorrow morning, Matthew challenged Radio […]
A hint of siege mentality from Steve Joyce?
I watched an interview with Steven Joyce on TVNZ’s Q&A show yesterday and, as has happened before, was pretty impressed with his commendable communication skills … up to a point. Then, as has also happened before, I watched him unravel a bit as he descended into ‘political’ debate. Yeah, well, ‘Yawn’, you might say. Fair […]
On vulgar, irrational, deceitful misinformation campaigns
This, from Jon Stewart talking about Fox News, put me in mind of some of the oily local propagandists and liars who demonstrate a similar nasty, negative, fixation with ‘the left’ and reflexively spin their personal attack lines against public and private figures who represent it … After showing a montage of Fox clips, Stewart […]
Because I like and respect John Armstrong
I’ve learned that in the ongoing parasitic relationship between politicians and the news media (some call it symbiotic, but meh) certain actors on both sides overestimate their importance. But not John Armstrong. Read John’s column from the Weekend Herald: Government betrayal on a monumental scale. What he says about ‘the democratic fabric being ripped asunder’ […]
