Posts Tagged ‘spin’
A study in spin. And Farrar lends a hand …
The NZ Herald calls the government’s presentation of proposed teacher cuts dishonest, political humbug and a study in spin. The fact is that the present moves will make it harder for teachers to deliver quality – and disproportionately harder for teachers in low-decile schools whose pupils are attracted to the subject areas under attack. If […]
Hollow Man Matthew Hooton recites his creed
Featuring extensive quotes from National Party sources, Nicky Hager’s The Hollow Men: A study in the politics of deception exposed and excoriated a cynical, deceptive team of politicians, spin doctors, professional deceivers and behind-the-scenes, shadowy political donors seeking political influence and ‘policy for sale’ — some of whom, judging by results, are still very much […]
Setting a narrative: ‘aggressive’ ‘hostile’ ‘antagonistic’ ‘tabloid’ media
Fairly carefully thought-out impromptu comments? … Lost that loving feeling? John Key interviewed by Leighton Smith on his perceptions of change in attitude by ‘the media’. Immediately reported as: and this:
Of bloggers, dogs and fleas. The Ports of Auckland’s ‘ethical and legal breaches’
Now that the Ports of Auckland has admitted it, I haven’t got much to add to my earlier ‘Lie down with dogs get up with fleas’ comment in ‘Garner: “@whaleoil lies again.” Surprise me‘ about the Ports company leaking their personnel records to a sympathetic (at best case) blogger. Today’s Yesterday’s NZ Herald editorial: Port’s […]
Bank sugar coats price-fixing penalty as ‘rebate’
‘Spin’ (bending reality), is not a phenomenon just confined to politics. At the risk of being accused of ‘looking a gift horse in the mouth’, here’s a fine example: Yesterday I saw this letter which looks like a kind gesture from the BNZ — telling ‘small business owners’ who are credit card merchants about the […]
Entering the ‘monolithic, exclusionary, activist liberal media’ lion’s den
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c Good Morning Real America www.thedailyshow.com Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog The Daily Show on Facebook “Oooh, [Sarah Palin is] ‘infiltrating’ the Today Show. I think it means [Palin] is cynically exploiting a manufactured notion of herself as a crusader […]
So, who is Simon Lusk?
Scratch this one down to idle curiosity: I’m seeing Simon Lusk‘s name bandied about in Parliament, in the media and on the interwebs. He’s a fairly low-key chap, apparently, who works as some sort of campaign manager/political careers advisor/ninja for various ‘players’ (or wannabe players) on the right of politics in New Zealand. A blogger […]
Excerpt: ‘The FOX Effect’ book
We discuss partisan misinformation campaigns — foreign and domestic — here on ThePaepae.com from time to time. Recently we discussed the Islamophobia campaign led by political ‘influencers’ and networkers (see Misinformation experts.) But the giant of twisted ‘news’ coverage has to be Fox News. Here’s an excerpt of The Media Matters for America book about […]
Every source leaks for a reason, Patrick
From Jack Shafer’s preview of Max Holland’s book Leak: Why Mark Felt Became Deep Throat Every source leaks for a reason, and it’s usually not about preserving the constitution and the American way. As Stephen Hess writes, sources have many reasons to leak. They leak to boost their own egos. They leak to make a […]
Matthew Hooton and the exquisite agony of being a paid shill
I’ve referred to spin doctor Matthew Hooton before — I positively delight in the shabby transparency of his gums-for-hire faux agitprop and the way he marshals an argument. He’s almost always accessible, usually very much in control of himself, except when overtaken by passion or appetite of some sort, and well, I find him just […]
Losing the shine? Maybe. We’ll see.
Post mortems don’t always render a conclusive or even useful diagnosis, especially when tackling multi-faceted puzzles like an election campaign, but I nodded as I read TV3 political editor Duncan Garner’s round up of the political year … in which he shares some of the same conclusions I expressed in my pre-election post Teflon John […]
Hansard can be a real bitch, eh Mr Key?
Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers, Questions to Members 4 October 2011 – Hansard Hon Phil Goff: Is it correct that New Zealand’s credit rating with those two agencies is now the same as Spain’s—a country that National has constantly derided as being an economy in trouble? Rt Hon JOHN KEY: I cannot […]
A rich Green comedy performance from Matthew Hooton
STAND UP COMIC Matthew Hooton — he works part-time as a political commentator — had me howling, breathless with laughter at his latest comedy routine on RadioLIVE earlier in the week. Under the deeply ironic title of ‘The Political Panel’, talkback radio hosts Willie Jackson and John Tamihere sometimes give a platform to budding comedians […]
Claims of ‘Integrity’ in the anti-MMP Campaign accompanied by smear tactics
Are smear tactics compatible with claims of ‘integrity’? I don’t think so. Especially if you piously declare you’re ‘above’ smear tactics and won’t use them … before you do. In context of an earlier discussion about allegations of ‘secret funding’ (Tribalism), I found myself again considering the lobby group Vote For Change Campaign, dedicated to […]
