Let Us Stray (from the facts)
Wednesday, August 19th, 2009Sigh. Let Us Spray producer Keith Slater has given an interview on MediaWatch, defending the documentary Let Us Spray after the BSA upheld complaints against it. Well, that’s his right. And plainly, he still thinks the documentary was right. But he’s still making statements that strike me as just as misleading as the programme was. […]
Sad news
Friday, August 14th, 2009Auckland University law professor Mike Taggart has died. He was a colossus in the public law field, and a really nice guy to boot. His death wasn’t unexpected, but it’s no less tragic for that.
Monkeying around
Thursday, August 13th, 2009Sean Plunkett was on top form this morning. After interviewing the park manager with the vaguely familiar name who’s hoping people will contact him if they spot Minty the runnaway monkey, he wrapped up with: Thank you very much. That was Willowbank park manager Jeremy Maguire, who says: “Show me the monkey”. Well done, that […]
Sparking debate
Monday, August 10th, 2009I’ll be in the Court of Appeal with Tony Shaw tomorrow trying to make the world safe for flag-burners. Specifically: Valerie Morse, who lit a flag over the road from the Anzac Day dawn service at Wellington’s Cenotaph in 2007 to protest our militaristic foreign policy. She’s been convicted of offensive behaviour. Is this a […]
BSA upholds complaint against Qantas-award-winning doco
Monday, August 10th, 2009The Broadcasting Standards Authority has concluded that Let Us Spray, TV3’s “year-long investigation” into the effects of dioxin on the residents of Paritutu, was seriously unbalanced and unfair. It has also found that two associated TV3 news stories were unfair, unbalanced and inaccurate. The complainants were the Ministry of Health, which was accused of covering up and […]
MPs expenses: some thoughts
Friday, July 31st, 2009It’s good, but it’s not enough. Why can’t we have more details about the travel and accommodation? And how much are they each spending on mail-outs? One thing I find striking: if New Zealand was prepared to invest half as much on funding to political parties’ campaigns once every three years as we currently spend on our […]
Clayton’s defence
Friday, July 31st, 2009Provocation. The defence you use when you’re not really putting on a defence. The end of the Weatherston trial is a relief to Sophie Elliott’s family, the nation… and (for much less serious reasons) to me personally. Over the past few weeks I’ve received a string of calls from reporters wanting me to comment on […]
Secret judgment lifts lid on other secret judgment
Friday, July 31st, 2009You might have missed it, but last week news emerged that Kirstin Dunne-Powell has obtained an injunction against Tony Veitch to prevent him publicly disclosing private and confidential material about her. Apparently she filed for the injunction shortly after Veitch pleaded guilty, back in April. That evening, Veitch had told Close Up that he “did […]
Minister in breach of privacy laws?
Tuesday, July 28th, 2009Did Paula Bennett’s release of her critics’ benefit details breach privacy laws? My VUW law school colleague Dr Nicole Moreham thinks it might have. UPDATE: Paula Bennett was squirming under Mary Wilson’s skewer on Checkpoint last night, simultaneously trying to insist that she had done the right thing in “getting the facts out there” and […]
Nothing but net?
Monday, July 13th, 2009The NZ government and NZ ISPs are quietly working on a form of internet filtering that starts to look a bit like censorship. Read these fascinating analyses.
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