Great point, just another tool (a very persuasive one) in the governments bag of tricks in order to avert our eyes elsewhere.

The hyping of the superstar sevens team heading to Rio de Janeiro for the Olympics, is what i feel could be the next distraction we face as the world cup drama fades away.

My point is their will always be something for us to get involved in, regardless of if its the flag debate, the RWC, or the Olympic sevens.

Our government has an endless supply of commercialized items they can turn to at any time to take our attention away.

I really don't think we will ever escape this trap, our devotion to the so called national sport of rugby can be seen as the biggest blind spot we as a nation have, they put it on our televisions and days later were pacified.

Yet we all still complain hahah.

But im just as bad because i do support the All Blacks all the way despite my view on all of this !!

We have covered alot of information surrounding agenda setting, but not so much news framing. Despite this, what I have learned throughout my classes, i believe has at least given me a basic understanding as to whats really going on in the clouded "real world".

I think of John Campbell, and wonder what would have been the way he framed this referendum if he was still on air.

To me it all just seemed a little to good for Key, Mark Weldon having his leash on TV 3, Oaketree Capital having majority stake in the company, the commercialism disease spreading right into the last corners of our media sector.

So again form Katharine's comments i do believe now this was not intended to cover up the TPPA, but i do find the sequence of events strung throughout this years media sector quite well timed.

I don't know the real reasons behind the flag referendum, nor do i claim to know, i just think its all just a bit stitched up if you ask me.

:)

Yes i do see your point their, Key hasn't been forcing it down our throats as such, Instead simply using it to dance around the truth.

Thank you for your input on this issue, it has become alot clearer to me now that the flag referendum although not being a TPPA cover up, has still drawn attention away from much larger issues.

Hope to see our current flag remain in its fastened position for years to come!!!

I understand that my view is very narrow with respect to this topic, and being a student my simple aim of this discussion is to grasp a better view of what this flag change really means for us as a nation.

The reason for being so put off this flag referendum is simply because i believe its not their for us.

I actually liked some of the designs people had created for the new flag, but my view point was stuck in stone in opposing this change.

Am i taking these theories of media agenda setting, and the TPPA cover up to seriously? Are they halting me from seeing the real opportunity to change our national flag for the better?

Would appreciate your comments :)

Being a third year university student in the field of communications has opened my eyes up to the reasons surrounding the flag debate, and really made me think why it has been so abruptly interwoven into New Zealand’s main media agendas. As a student I wanted to discuss the timing of the flag release and how its distracting media nature has shifted our attention away from key issues. I believe being aware of distraction has halted any desires I had of picking a new and improved flag.

I personally thought of our flag as a true symbol of New Zealand’s culture and always considered from a very young age that our flag was a sacred item. The debate around changing or not changing in combination with the barrage of designs swallowed up and spewed across our main media has tuned me out of wanting to actively participate in this debate altogether.

Without astute journalists like John Campbell to debate this issue in the open it has become nothing more than a media circus and a key distraction in order to keep the TPPA details under lock and key. The moment undergraduate education gave me the capabilities of understanding that there was more to this debate than meets the eye it really swayed my thinking from do I want to change the flag? And firmly into the question of is this change really about what we want as the New Zealand public? '

The designs presented in our final four choices for the new flag are in my opinion an assortment of options in which we really had no say in choosing from the get go, and this is why I want our flag to remain the same. If this referendum ends with our current flag keeping its position, in my mind it will be a victory for the New Zealand public, whilst at the same time leaving us with a lasting sour taste in our mouths as to why all this fuss consumed our lives for the majority of this year in the first place.

Have we had the insight and input we needed as hard working members of this country to comprehensively make the decision that we want the flag changed? And that we as a nation are clear on which designs we want? In my opinion I think the debate served the purpose it was created for, keeping our heads turned the other way while real issues that have major impacts on all New Zealanders are being addressed behind closed doors.

I would appreciate your opinion on this, as a university student in his final year I appreciate all comments and ideas you would be willing to add to this discussion.