Last Straw

The NZ Herald has published a remarkable editorial today which offers rare insight into just how well our “free” media system serves to undermine democracy, while the background story offers great insight into how much National Party politicians deplore democracy and how deplorably dishonest they can be in the lead up to an election.

As an aside: the only politicians I know of that don’t deplore democracy are the Greens.

The background story, if you haven’t heard, is that National Party politicians have been secretly taped admitting that they need to say whatever it takes to get elected, then, once in power, they can get their real agenda through of redistributing the New Zealand people’s wealth to a tiny minority of rich. Here’s Bill English’s and here’s Lockwood Smith’s.

What’s remarkable about the Herald’s editorial isn’t simply that it tries to spin the story by pretending National is simply “compromising on its desired policies,” rather than that National is actually lying about its policies so it can drive them through once it’s in power:

The country now knows, if it did not before, that National has compromised some of its policy desires for the sake of its electoral prospects.

It isn’t simply that uncovering a party’s real agenda—something of vital public interest in the run up to an election—is dismissed as ”partisan politics”:

First, it is not fair to release a reporter’s tape or transcript unless … the recording could serve a public interest somewhat more compelling than partisan politics.

It isn’t simply that it admits the means of reporting on politicians is broken:

Second, the publication would damage the gathering of further information. Once bitten, a public figure is twice shy.

It isn’t simply that it admits to keeping secrets:

Nothing revealed from National’s conference sneak so far offers insights to its intentions that could not have been obtained by a journalist trusted to use a private conversation responsibly.

No, what I find remarkable about this editorial is that by putting forward this argument it is openly admitting that it can be trusted by politicians but can’t be trusted by its readers and that it is completely ineffectual in doing the job of reporting politics.

External links:

Gotcha! | 4 August, 2008
Choosing words | 5 August, 2008
Whoops, they did it again | 6 August, 2008
The Herald supports secrecy | 7 August, 2008