Radio NZ's Russian editing scandal is the reason why I stopped writing for the mainstream Kiwi media

Before the scandal erupted over how Radio NZ journalists had edited stories supplied to them by Reuters - and then published them under the Reuters name, even though Reuters had no idea they had been edited - I told the NZ Herald that I was no longer prepared to write for them for related reasons. Namely, the paper had been changing the headlines & editing my articles without my permission, then releasing them under my name.

I complained & they told us a condition of publication was that they reserved the right to change articles if they saw fit. I asked to see their edited draft so at least I could approve any changes after they'd done them. They refused. How can you write for the mainstream media when they release articles under your name that they have changed to alter their meaning without the author's knowledge?

Here is an example. I wrote an article for the Herald on the Reserve Bank which said:

"So what has been driving the RBNZ? Populism. Incompetence".

which the newspaper changed in their published version to:

"So what has been driving OCR decisions? Populism."

Apparently no-one is allowed to question the Reserve Bank's competency so such lines must be censored.

This happened awhile ago & ended my written commentary in the Kiwi media. I get it that the Herald doesn't want to be sued for libel - but if an article is libelous then why not just reject it fully? Now, knowing about the Radio NZ Russian editing scandal, I realize I was witnessing the origins of that problem - since journalists are routinely editing & changing the meaning of articles sent to them by the likes of me, Reuters, & God Knows Who Else, then releasing them under our names, without showing us their "revised" version beforehand.

No wonder the public are fast losing faith in the integrity of our media.

Sources

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/132291906/rnz-boss-slams-prokremlin-garbage-story-edits-thousands-of-articles-to-be-combed

Green Party Leader Shaw starts his election campaign with a promise he knows cannot be kept

Green Party Leader Shaw kicked off his election campaign by talking garbage about a topic that his Party knows little about - namely the relationship between the tax system & level of poverty in a nation. Specifically, he stated,

"We can choose to end poverty and ultimately it will be up to the voters to decide in October whether or not that's what they want to do."

Not true. No nation has ended poverty, not now, not ever. The Green's fake policy is based on a 2.5% tax on our "net" wealth (assets-liabilities). The Party magically thinks on top of achieving "net zero" carbon emissions it can add zero poverty. Why their obsession with the word, "net"? Did the pandemic mess with their brains? Do their MP's think they've got super powers to achieve zero Covid, eliminate the virus & end poverty, all whilst hitting zero emissions. Where did the bonkers extremism come from? What's wrong with them?

Net wealth taxes have fallen out of favor in the OECD and are being abandoned. In not one country where they were introduced was poverty ended.

The OECD report (with a link below) says that "there were only four OECD countries that still levied recurrent taxes on individuals net wealth taxes in 2017. Decisions to repeal net wealth taxes have often been justified by efficiency & administrative concerns and by the observation that they have failed to meet their redistributive goals".

Given net wealth taxes have failed to end poverty and are being dumped, why did the NZ Herald go & run the silly leading headline by its Deputy Political Editor, "Green's Wealth Tax Very Clever". No, the Green's net wealth tax idea is dumb. Very dumb.

Why don't the Greens stick to environmental matters? But most of all, why did the Party's Leader go out of his way to mislead Kiwis by saying its up to us whether we want to "end" poverty - that we can "choose" to do so by voting Green, when that statement is untrue"?

Sources:

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2023/06/green-party-say-new-zealanders-can-end-poverty-with-wealth-tax.html

https://ourworldindata.org/poverty

https://taxfoundation.org/wealth-taxes-in-the-oecd/

https://read.oecd-ilibrary.org/taxation/the-role-and-design-of-net-wealth-taxes-in-the-oecd_9789264290303-en#page68

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/thomas-coughlan-greens-wealth-tax-very-clever-but-income-corporate-tax-changes-are-risky/YDJ6Y5Q54ZAEDPSOZOO7ROQKZI/