Author Archive
NZ General Election results
Congratulations to the winners, commiserations to those who missed out. These are the results as at close of counting 1:10am today. This is where the rubber hits the road in a democracy. Check electionresults.govt.nz for latest results. [link updated] {Fill the in the rugby metaphor of your choice here. e.g “game of two halves”, “better […]
Tim Cook denies ‘rumours’ of NSA back-door into Apple servers
This 3 minute excerpt of Apple’s CEO Tim Cook talking to Charlie Rose yesterday interested me for a couple of reasons 1) encrypted iMessages with Apple keyless and 2) his very strong denial of rumours/suggestions of NSA back-door access … ‘the Snowden thing’ (starts 2:10, but watch the whole 3 mins): Which accords with this […]
Eminem Publishers Sue New Zealand National Party
Ha! Those of us who thought, Gee, that sounds pretty close to Eminem … Will the real Slim Shady please stand up? – P h/t: Radio NZ’s Chris Bramwell
Allegations re mass surveillance by NZ’s GCSB
Here are the articles published by Glenn Greenwald and Edward Snowden about mass surveillance of New Zealand citizens by spy agencies that form part of the FIVE EYES intelligence alliance. These were released in the lead up to the anyway-you-look-at-it history-making event at Auckland Town Hall last night, ‘The Moment of Truth’ featuring Edward Snowden, […]
O Mary!
U2 has been in the news lately … which reminded me of Mary J Blige …
You really should watch this interview with Glenn Greenwald, despite the smears
It’s easy to fall for a rapid PR ‘framing’ response, especially from an experienced spin team like Prime Minister John Key’s media machine. This comment seems a fair description of what happens: Mr Key has been very quick with the personal attacks lately, hasn’t he? He has repeatedly described Pulitzer Prize winner Glenn Greenwald as […]
John Key working the phones “at length”
I was struck tonight by TV3 Political editor Patrick Gower saying on the news that he’d just got off the phone from a conversation “at length” with National Party leader John Key — Mr Key was, apparently, intent on countering the claims by Glenn Greenwald that the GCSB had undertaken mass surveillance of New Zealanders […]
High Court serves a mixed bag for PR attack blogger Cameron Slater
Here are some relevant excerpts of a High Court judgment* released today on the vexed question of “Can PR attack blogger Cameron Slater hide his clients’ names from someone suing him for defamation by claiming his extensive campaign of PR hits were ‘journalistic’ in nature and heck he is entitled to ‘source protection’?” Basically, the judge has […]
Media as power tools. Whether to expose the collusion, or not?
I closed my post last night ‘Returning to the scene of the crime (or How I fell for Jason Ede’s spin)‘ with these words… “There’s a conversation to be had about how journalists use and get used by ‘sources’ like Cameron Slater and David Farrar. It’s a discussion that’s been around for a while but […]
Returning to the scene of the crime (or How I fell for Jason Ede’s spin)
As I ‘confessed’ in my reaction to Nicky Hager’s book Dirty Politics, I fell for the deceptive spin on the extraordinarily rapid ‘service’ National Party attack blogger Cameron Slater was given on his 2011 OIA request for SIS briefing notes. The Prime Minister’s office’s role in this ‘hit’ on then Labour leader Phil Goff is […]
Cameron Slater’s extraordinary attempt to gag the news media [FAIL]
PR attack blogger Cameron Slater has failed in his bid to stop the news media reporting material from his email and Facebook accounts. He has, however, succeeded (perhaps) in silencing ‘Rawshark’ — the hacker who so clinically distributed evidence to support the allegations and narrative of Nicky Hager’s book Dirty Politics. Cameron Slater, the book alleges, was […]
Matthew Hooton’s assertions re the Prime Minister’s Office
‘Explosive’ is one of those words that gets kicked around in politics and political reporting to the point where it’s almost lost its meaning. But it’s not an exaggeration to describe right wing spin doctor and self-declared National Party loyalist Matthew Hooton‘s performance on RadioLIVE this morning as incendiary. He effectively called Prime Minister John […]
Sean Plunket comes around on the Watergate comparison (‘Dirty Politics’)
Here’s RadioLIVE talkback host Sean Plunket from this morning — thinking his way through the prickly situation revealed in Nicky Hager’s book Dirty Politics … and finding the comparison to Watergate and the dirty tricks orchestrated from Richard Nixon’s office is actually apt. Sean Plunket acknowledges the need for a high level inquiry into the […]
Nicky Hager’s public meeting in Auckland last night
Nicky Hager was in Auckland last night, at a public meeting called to give people the opportunity to hear from — and question — the author of Dirty Poltiics, a book the author said is about ethics. Quite a good turnout (about 350-400) but I was surprised at the absence of MPs (did anyone notice a […]
Read it and weep. Nicky Hager’s ‘Dirty Politics’
Nicky Hager‘s important new book Dirty Politics – How attack politics is poisoning New Zealand’s political environment is out (and quickly ‘sold out’ in some places). The information in Nicky Hager’s book exposes — and for some of us, confirms — our worst fears about the grubby activities being undertaken by nasty, dishonest people to manipulate politics in […]
