So the Prime Minister, John Key, sets up a conversation over a cup of tea with his ACT Party stooge, John Banks, in Epsom. The media are invited, and turn up in droves.
But when a part of the conversation is inadvertently recorded that John Key decides he does not want the public of New Zealand to know he called the police and claims that the two Johns were bugged--recorded without their knowledge.
The gutless media did not publish the conversation recorded on the so-called Teacup Tape 'for ethical reasons', despite the fact that the people of New Zealand have an absolute right to know as much as possible about those who govern them. Key has no right to prevent that. The media have even less right.
Then the High Court ruled that it could not decide if the conversation was private or not! Please!
But even given that open door the gutless media did not publish.
It is an unwritten rule in the media, a time-honoured and very correct tradition that if you invite the media everything is on the record unless you specifically say of some part of the proceedings, 'That's off the record.' That was never said, so that whole setup was on the record.
Please, gutless media, publish the lot before we vote tomorrow. We want to know who is going to be running the country, warts and all. Otherwise all we have is the spin.
But when a part of the conversation is inadvertently recorded that John Key decides he does not want the public of New Zealand to know he called the police and claims that the two Johns were bugged--recorded without their knowledge.
The gutless media did not publish the conversation recorded on the so-called Teacup Tape 'for ethical reasons', despite the fact that the people of New Zealand have an absolute right to know as much as possible about those who govern them. Key has no right to prevent that. The media have even less right.
Then the High Court ruled that it could not decide if the conversation was private or not! Please!
But even given that open door the gutless media did not publish.
It is an unwritten rule in the media, a time-honoured and very correct tradition that if you invite the media everything is on the record unless you specifically say of some part of the proceedings, 'That's off the record.' That was never said, so that whole setup was on the record.
Please, gutless media, publish the lot before we vote tomorrow. We want to know who is going to be running the country, warts and all. Otherwise all we have is the spin.
