Hosking lays down the law
Sunday, November 20th, 2011At the end of his interview about cuppagate on RNZ’s MediaWatch programme today, Mike Hosking tells us that I think I have a pretty good appreciation of privacy law in this country. If he means, he’s got a pretty good understanding of those laws, I think the rest of the interview demonstrates that he’s wrong. […]
Huh?
Sunday, November 20th, 2011Michael Laws, SST column today: And it counterpoints what all Kiwis know: that there exists a uniform inability within the Fourth Estate to understand proportion and excess. Michael Laws, on Talkback earlier this week: If I had a gun, I’d shoot them [teagate journalists] – because they have gone rabid and they may infect others… […]
Chief Electoral Officer: VFC claims are “factually incorrect, and misleading”
Friday, November 18th, 2011I see I’m not alone in my concern that the anti-MMP group Vote For Change’s campaign is misleading when it emphasises that the alternative voting systems “could work with 99 MPs”. Robert Peden, the Chief Electoral Office, has seen the need to put out a press release about it: “The Vote for Change organisation is […]
Contemptuous cuppa?
Friday, November 18th, 2011Is it a contempt of court to discuss cuppagate now that it’s heading to court? John Banks and Steven Joyce seem to be suggesting that now that the issue is heading to court they are somehow precluded from commenting. Wrong. It can be a contempt to cause prejudice to an upcoming trial – especially a […]
Dean reads the tea leaves
Friday, November 18th, 2011Dean Knight has posted on cuppagate. He’s particularly interested in the declaration application. He explains the hurdles faced by the applicant (judicial reluctance to grant declarations when issues are still in dispute and where criminal proceedings can sort things out), and says he thinks the judge should grant one anyway (to protect the integrity of […]
VFC press release even more misleading than their ad
Thursday, November 17th, 2011My complaint As I’ve mentioned, I complained to the Advertising Standards Authority against anti-MMP group Vote for Change’s advertising. I thought it was misleading. VFC changes its advertising Also, as I’ve mentioned, VFC fairly quickly changed its advertisting to address some of its misleading statements. In particular, it added an arrow on its diagram to […]
Sneaky devices 3
Thursday, November 17th, 2011The cameraman in the middle of cuppagate, Bradley Ambrose, is reportedly seeking a court declaration that he committed no crime because the recorded conversation wasn’t private. (That is, that the conversation did not occur in circumstances in which any party ought reasonably to expect that the communication may be intercepted by some other person not having the express […]
Searching inquiries
Thursday, November 17th, 2011I’ve just stepped off the plane back from Melbourne to find that the police are following up a complaint from the Prime Minister by executing search warrants against the media in what could be seen as an attempt to prevent the publication of material that might embarrass him shortly before an election. I’m just wondering […]
Conflict of interest
Wednesday, November 16th, 2011John Key has “stormed” out of a press conference, refusing to answer questions about the teapot tapes. Actually it was more of a scuttle (scroll down for video). But before that he was pushing the familiar line that New Zealanders are more interested in the economy and the serious policies that matter. Now, I’m all with […]
Billboard “vandals”
Tuesday, November 15th, 2011Let’s put aside the law for a moment. No doubt the Police can come up with some charges – even if it’s just billsticking – against those who doctored hundreds of National Party billboards by adding the phrases “The Rich Deserve More” and “Drill it, Mine it, Sell it”. There is no general defence of “freedom […]
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