Stuff Circuit’s chilling and timely voice from the grave

In the end, the timing was impeccable. The day Chinese premier Li Qiang arrived on a state visit, Stuff dropped a bombshell announcing its documentary on the superpower’s New Zealand interference operations that have been going on for decades.

The documentary The Long Game (and daily revelations from it printed in Stuff newspapers) paint a picture of agents of influence, spying on the local Chinese community, and allegations of sabotage and intimidation. After the programme’s release, the Interparliamentary Alliance on China (co-chaired by National and Labour) called for a select committee inquiry into foreign interference.

This was powerful journalism from the Stuff Circuit team. Yet The Long Game was a documentary from the dead, and one that almost failed to claw its way out of the grave.

The Stuff Circuit team had already been disbanded when it screened. The team had included investigative journalist Paula Penfold, senior producer Louisa Cleave, editor Toby Longbottom and cameraman Phil Johnson but only Penfold remained employed by Stuff. The rest of the team had been gone for months.

The Long Game was its last project, but legal and editorial caution almost prevented the documentary (and the series of print articles that had been prepared at the same time by Penfold and Cleave) from seeing the light of day. Continue reading “Stuff Circuit’s chilling and timely voice from the grave” →

Andrea Vance makes me mad as hell, and it’s a good thing too

I have been a member of the Andrea Vance Fan Club since she became “mad as hell” about Parliamentary Services tracking her movements around Parliament and logging her telephone calls.

The surveillance of the Stuff political journalist’s movements and communications in 2013 were revealed during an enquiry into the leaking of a report on the Government Communications Security Bureau. The leak of the Kitteridge Report had been a Vance scoop and the aftermath played out like the old Mad Magazine comic strip Spy v Spy.

I am sending in my application for platinum membership after last Sunday’s recounting of the stonewalling, obfuscation, and obstruction she has encountered in following up her latest scoop. The week before, writing in the Sunday Star Times, she had broken the story of allegations that Te Pati Māori had misused personal information gathered for the last census.

The Manurewa Marae facilitated the collection of data from tangata whenua by providing a collection centre. Vance broke the story that Stats NZ was investigating claims the party used information on the census forms collected at the marae to help its local candidate’s election campaign. The party and its president John Tamihere have vociferously denied the claims of misuse.

Vance’s column in last Sunday’s edition was devoted to recounting her “Sisyphean endeavours” to find out what agencies of government were investigating the matter, and on what aspects each was focussed.

Her reference to the Greek myth of Sisyphus no doubt related to the punishment the gods imposed on him – eternally pushing a boulder up a hill only to have it roll down again. The to-and-fro she experienced with government departments must have felt exactly like that. Continue reading “Andrea Vance makes me mad as hell, and it’s a good thing too” →

Digital Bargaining Bill should be consigned to the flames

The Fair Digital New Bargaining Bill should be placed on a figurative Viking funeral ship, pushed out into the water, and set on fire.

It was reported back to the House last week by a select committee that was unable to agree on amendments which, in the main, were bolted on to take account of generative AI. The impact of artificial intelligence had been entirely absent from the original bill.

The inability of the Economic Development, Science and Innovation Select Committee to agree on amendments probably owes more to the genesis of the proposed legislation – it was introduced by the Labour-led coalition government shortly before the last election – than to the substance of the changes. ACT, for example, is opposed to the bill as a whole, arguing “the risks may outweigh the benefits”. Labour hints that present Government members on the committee failed to give it the necessary support.

The way in which the bill was reported back to the House means it may have been fatally wounded, but it is not dead yet. It was reported back without amendment and with the admission the committee could not agree. However. a version with the amendments that had been considered was appended and the committee said that, if Parliament, decided to proceed, it should consider them.

There are several reasons why the House should simply let the poor thing die in peace. Continue reading “Digital Bargaining Bill should be consigned to the flames” →

The ‘local rag’ is a vital part of democracy at community level

You may refer to it – with a variable mix of disdain and affection – as ‘the local rag’, but don’t call it a throwaway. Without community newspapers our local democracy is in peril.

Last week I spoke at the Community Newspapers Association conference and some of their publications, like media everywhere, are facing tough times. I expected as much, and admire the tenacity of these committed publishers and their staff who serve areas as varied as metropolitan suburbs and the hinterland of tiny rural towns.

There are about 78 community newspapers represented by the association and, leaving aside duplications, a further 52 (mostly owned by Stuff, or NZME) are part of the News Publishers Association. There has been some attrition but Community Newspapers Association president David MacKenzie says that start-ups have balanced out the casualties and membership has been stable for the past five years.

Their frequencies vary from five-days-a-week to monthly, the size from tabloid to quarter fold or less, and circulation from thousands to hundreds. Quality varies, too. Sometimes that reflects the experience of staff, but more often nowadays it is a reluctant reaction to making ends meet. 

An example of the latter is such a lack of resources that a publication is reduced to reproducing council media releases rather than sending a reporter to cover local body activities.

During the conference that led me into conversations with community publishers and editors about their relationships with local authorities. What I heard was disturbing.

Many of our community newspapers continue to devote their resources to holding councils and their elected representatives to account. The Community Newspaper of the Year in last week’s Voyager Awards, Warkworth’s Mahurangi Matters, was commended for doing just that. Some publications, however, are in a battle of wits with local authority communications staff. Continue reading “The ‘local rag’ is a vital part of democracy at community level” →