To my Irish friends, I have to say well done in the weekend. Your team played exceptionally well. It looked like a great crowd with a fantastic atmosphere. I suspect the party afterwards was even better!

A presenter on talk back radio this morning pushed back on a comment that suggested many New Zealand journalists are a megaphone for the government. Her response was along the lines of “you might not like what we are saying but it’s our own opinion, not the governments.”

I certainly hope that’s the case. Surely journalists should have a right to express their views, a basic human right that everyone should be afforded in any democracy.

However, in order to maintain a balance, it would seem critical that media entities and especially news media, should be free to present the facts on both sides of the story or disclose that they are unable or unwilling to do so.

For example, I would question how journalists or media entities can maintain objectivity when they have accepted a government grant that is conditional on them promoting certain government policies as has been the case with a number of major New Zealand media entities.
(For those overseas people reading this post, the NZ government created a $55 million Public Interest Journalism Fund “to support New Zealand’s media to continue to produce stories that keep New Zealanders informed and engaged, and support a healthy democracy” but that funding is conditional on the media supporting and promoting certain government policies).

When journalists agree to promote government policies in return for government funding, how can they possibly act to keep the government accountable, which is one of their most important and fundamental functions?

It would be nice to see broader reporting on the facts comparing New Zealand data for;

1. The suicide rates pre Covid verses post Covid.
2. The crime rates, number of murders, number of cases of domestic violence, pre Covid verses post Covid.
3. The age of people that have died with Covid
4. The statistics on people dying WITH Covid verses people dying FROM Covid (ie; were there other contributing or even more significant factors?)
5. A comparison of the number of Covid deaths verses the number of deaths due to other causes (eg cancer, heart disease, road deaths, suicides etc)
6. The recovery rates for people that catch Covid
7. The real employment figures, pre and post Covid excluding people on government subsidies or unemplyment benefits.
8. Annual figures on the number of NZ businesses that have closed.
9. Government expenditure on Covid verses government expenditure on other major health considerations such as; cardiovascular diseases, mental health and cancer treatment.

It would also be informative to see;

10. A balanced report on how other countries are dealing with Covid. What are their vaccination rates? What are their MIQ policies? Are there any success stories that we could learn from? Are any of their policies working that are different to ours? What is the mood like inside those countries? Is Covid still dominating their news or have they moved into another phase where they are learning, or have learnt to live with Covid?

It would be nice to see and hear more objective reporting presenting the facts. Well done to those journalists that are already doing that and have retained their ability to report on the facts and hold the government accountable.

From Sir Russell Coutts here.

Image source here.