The Official Information Act: should it be reformed?
Friday, January 25th, 2013It was the great philosopher T’pau, I think, who said: “Don’t push too far, your dreams are china in your hands.” I sometimes feel that way about our Official Information Act. It’s easy to dream of improvements. Requesters would like to see an end to game-playing when they make politically sensitive requests. They’d like the […]
We don’t need no stinking press regulation
Thursday, December 6th, 2012The Herald’s lawyer, Alan Ringwood, argues that we don’t need any statutory press regulation in NZ. Don’t listen to Levenson, he says. We don’t need to go there. (Full article here). I guess it’s not a news flash that the Herald’s lawyer would oppose statutory restrictions on the Herald. But I’m interested in his argument. […]
Settling down
Friday, November 16th, 2012So Judith Collins has sensibly settled her lawsuit against Trevor Mallard and Andrew Little. Here’s the agreed statement: The parties agree the leak of the email Ms Boag sent to the Minister and forwarded on her instructions, as the responsible minister, to the chairman and chief executive of ACC, raised an issue of serious public […]
Greg King (1969-2012)
Monday, November 5th, 2012There are two New Zealanders whose untimely deaths have left me with a profound sadness, not just for them and their families, but also for the rest of us, because we’ve been deprived of the contribution they would have continued to make. One was Rod Donald. The other is Greg King. Most people know Greg […]
Bouquet
Monday, October 29th, 2012Media Watch’s Colin Peacock did a particularly excellent job this week in holding the media’s feet to the fire about its reporting on the firestorm about bail laws.
Breaking Laws
Thursday, October 18th, 2012Michael Laws has been found in breach of broadcasting standards yet again, ironically for comparing someone else to a Pit Bull.
Breaking the Banks
Wednesday, October 17th, 2012We’ve now seen John Banks’ attempt to convince the police not to release (under the Official Information Act) information about him from their investigation into his alleged breaches of electoral law. His lawyer makes some very interesting arguments. Release would trigger “irresponsible commentary” from Banks’ “political adversaries”. It would “bring the criminal justice system into […]
The operative word
Wednesday, October 3rd, 2012How often do government Ministers tell us that they never comment on “police operational matters”? And for good reason: countries where police are at the beck and call of politicians are police states. But in relation to the Dotcom/GCSB matter, we have our Prime Minister telling us that the police’s investigation is a “political stunt” […]
Fifty shades unrestricted
Thursday, September 27th, 2012The censor’s office has classified the international blockbusting romantic erotic novel, Fifty Shades of Grey, as unrestricted. That means, essentially, they’re saying that its availability is not injurious to the public good. I think it’s a sensible and thoughtful decision. But then, I would: Random House engaged me to write the submissions for them. Books like […]
Come on NZ Herald, make a clean breast of it
Friday, September 7th, 2012The Press Council has partly upheld a complaint against the NZ Herald for its inaccurate and unfair editorial on the Piri Weepu breast/bottle feeding saga. It has also upheld a complaint against the Herald on Sunday for its coverage. Thus, the papers have had to publish a summary of the decisions. (They point out that the full […]
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