As a child of the internet age, I’m used to getting my news by reading a variety of perspectives on events on blogs, so that I know what actually happened and what it meant (I guess I prefer content and context to fluff). I don’t watch the TV news or read the paper very often, but when I do, I am continually astounded by the poor quality and extremely biased nature of mainstream reporting in New Zealand.
Here are two snippets that jumped out at me from today’s Herald.
Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia said on TV One’s Marae programme that … “Our people did not hit their tamariki. That only came about through colonisation and through Christianity, actually,”
Now come on. Victim delusions, anyone? A real reporter might have contacted her to ask some followup questions and establish the true extent of this woman’s idiocy. Instead, they contact the Anglican church. (Who everyone knows to be experts on pre-European Maori childrearing practises!)
I predict that Turia will next assert that Maori enslaved and raped opposing tribeswomen because of the psychic pressures of impending colonisation.
In another article, about duck hunting:
The duck-shooting season opened badly for one man, who was shot five times in the face and upper body.
The injured man was taken to Thames Hospital, then transferred to Waikato Hospital, where he was assessed and discharged.
Right. So now getting hit by a few shotgun pellets (not even requiring a stay in hospital) can be described as “shot five times”.
In the same article:
The first weekend of the season claimed another victim when a 21-year-old hunter suffered back injuries when he fell from a ute near Gisborne on Saturday.
Wow. A minor sporting accident (falling off a ute) now means that one is a “victim” of hunting. Unbiased journalism, hello?
What’s a tamariki?
Left by A.E. on May 7th, 2007