The NZ Herald's Board Should Be Fired. There is "editorial independence" at the paper: the Editor & Staff are left free & alone to write Biased Nonsense.

The NZ Herald's owner, NZME, has expressed "grave concerns" about a potential takeover being mounted by Jim Grenon. Is it concerned a takeover may end its outrageous bias? Hilariously, Board Chair Barbara Chapman, who is also a Director of Big Bank Monopoly BNZ, Director of Big Building Monopoly Fletcher Building, and sits on the Board of the NZ Initiative, along with the Chair of Oligopoly Foodstuffs North Island, says she's concerned a takeover will affect the Herald's "editorial independence" & "integrity". She says, “Radical disruption is not the answer”. The motto in NZ is still, "steady as she sinks". I've written a number of Opinion Articles for the Herald over the years but have largely stopped. Why? Editorial Bias. It got so bad I wrote to the Editor who never bothered replying, even though they have tried to increase their readership by running a bunch of my articles. My letter said:

Dear Alanah,

I understand you are currently the Editor of the Herald after Murray was promoted. I’d like to raise with you a problem that has led me to conclude I should no longer write for the Herald. For example, my most recent submission [attached, called "How our Kingdom of Kindness lost the way"] .. was rejected, whereas the article below arguing the opposite from another University academic who took a "left perspective" was printed around the same time [that article was called "By Doing Politics Differently, Jacinda Ardern Saved Labour"].

It is not a charge I level lightly, but there is no other explanation .. I'm happy to provide more examples making the point if you would like. If you would like to address this problem then I would be most grateful. By the way, I strive to write from a "critic and conscience" non-partisan perspective, giving both left and right a hard time if they are proposing bad policy. However I've found that the Herald is not letting me to do so.

Best wishes Robert"

The Herald's bias got me into trouble, since Nats started asking why I hated them so much, writing critiques of them and not Labour. The truth was that the critiques of Labour were rejected. The article referred to above was sent before Election 2023. It ended with the line, "The Kiwi story these past years is one of our leaders snatching an extraordinary economic defeat from the jaws of the people’s amazing Covid victory. It reminds us that competency is important, not just kindness". The Herald blocked publication of such articles questioning the failed experiment of Jacindanomics and her "kindness" brand before the election. Sure, it publishes columns by Richard Prebble, but not from folks like me who they shut out. And I don't believe they perceive Richard as the same kind of threat to the status quo "narrative" as the likes of me, who use more strident language than old school, gentlemanly Prebs.

So for the sake of independent thought & integrity & non-partisanship, the Board of the NZ Herald should be cleaned out, and a far more diverse range of journalists & editors hired who do not suffer from "group think" and who don't all write the same kind of way and with similar styles and similar underlying political beliefs. Barbara Chapman's line that the Editor presently has "independence" from the Board is meaningless nothingness. The Herald does not serve New Zealand; it has failed New Zealand.

The Deputy Prime Minister Plagiarizes DownToEarth.Kiwi in his State of the Nation Address. Don't Believe Me? Read on. Its Welcome & Flattering.

Its good to know politicians read this Blog, so much so they're now copying whole chunks of it into their State of the Nation addresses. At least you know, should you wish to learn about the State of the Nation, you can get it here before it appears in Parliament, the Main Stream Media & politicians pronouncements. You may even be able to make a buck trading on it since you will be the first to hear. Where's the evidence? After lambasting protestors outside his venue in Christchurch, Winston Peters began his speech on Sunday 23 March with:

"So lets reflect on our economy and what we inherited as we came into government after October 2023. In September of that year, one month before the election, Chris Hipkins was the Prime Minister and Grant Roberston was the Minister of Finance. The following is what they reported on the New Zealand Economy - to you the New Zealand people:

Their September 2023 pre-election economic and fiscal update (commonly referred to as the PREFU) claimed this: That the economy shows no recession, a growing economy, more jobs, and wages ahead of inflation. They said, and we quote “the PREFU released today shows New Zealand’s economy is turning the corner”.

They said that the economy was to grow by 2.6% on average over the forecast period.  They claimed further that fiscal rules had been met. That there was a return to surplus. And then this most extraordinary of all boasts - “our economic plan to support New Zealanders dealing with the cost of living while investing in a stronger, more resilient and inclusive economy, is working”.

.. Within six months of that litany of lies, our country was suffering from the deepest and longest economic downturn and recessionary retraction for over three decades. There were fewer jobs, none of the previous government’s claims of abiding by its fiscal rules were true, and as we all know we were experiencing a worsening cost of living crisis.

.. six months after the last election, nearly every economic outcome was the responsibility of the previous government. That’s a fact. Because the new current government had no time for its policies to even bed-in or change either the numbers or outcomes.

In short, almost all of the slump - and the pain - is directly the result of the work of Hipkins and Robertson. They cannot deny that. .. That the very person [Hipkins] whose actions were so unforgiveable, and the economic and social damage so widespread, now expects you all to believe, that if given the chance, you could trust him to do something different".

Meanwhile last Friday 20 March, before Winston's Speech DownToEarth.Kiwi Blogged:

"Before the election toward the end of 2023, in September of that year, when Hipkins was PM & Mr Grant Robertson (BA) - now VC of Otago - were running the show, this is how they reported on the NZ economy.

"The Pre-election Economic & Fiscal Update (PREFU) shows no recession, a growing economy, more jobs & wages ahead of inflation. The PREFU released today shows NZ’s economy is turning the corner

.. Economy to grow 2.6 percent on average over forecast period .. Fiscal Rules met - return to surplus .. Our economic plan to support NZ'ers dealing with the cost of living while investing in building a stronger, more resilient & inclusive economy is working".

Just over six months later, NZ was experiencing a combination of its deepest & longest economic downturn and recessionary contraction for over 30 years, with less jobs, with none of its fiscal rules having been met and a worsening cost-of-living crisis.

.. Given it takes over six months to a year for nearly every economic policy change to work its way into the numbers and outcomes, the vast majority of the slump this past year is directly attributable to those two men

.. My reading of the situation is that what Labour's Hipkins did was so unforgiveable, the economic and social carnage he wrought so long-lasting, that he should not even be in contention, whatever National's faults".

Now I know what its like to feel like Eminem, who successfully sued The National Party in 2017 for using one of his tracks. It was later reported that, "The National Party has been found guilty of breaching copyright by using Eminem's track Lose Yourself for a 2014 election ad and must pay $600,000". Shouldn't we receive some royalties? I promise to forgive Winston provided he buys me a drink & hires me as his part-time speech writer.