Posts by Andrew Geddis
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I'm not sure I get this.
You say that the media tried really hard and asked the right questions and put the pressure on, etc, etc. So it "did its job" in that sense. But the nub of your complaint then is:
I’m also stating it explicitly because the connection needs to be made: National’s landslide victory means that the media’s reporting of Dirty Politics has had no effect. The media had no power to punish politicians for bad behaviour.
But like Craig says, exactly why is this the media's fault? What more could they have done? Are you saying they should have actively campaigned against National, in the sense of explicitly told their readers/listeners/viewers "this Government is not fit to be re-elected and you should vote for someone else"? Sorta like the NZ Herald did with the Electoral Finance Bill back in 2007 (remember how much we loved that)?
So here's a thought. Maybe the reason that the media’s reporting of Dirty Politics has had no effect is because voters actually didn't care that much about it. Maybe they discounted the ugliness and wrongdoing - especially once Collins went, accident or no - because they judged National and Key to be doing a good job on the things that they believe matter. And maybe people like us who were sickened by what we read are just outliers who live in a social media bubble with other people like ourselves, and so have no real clue what the rest of New Zealand think or believe.
Which has nothing to do with the media at all.
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Hard News: Time to Vote, in reply to James Green,
via Andrew Geddis s.168
The voter, having received a ballot paper,—
(a) shall immediately retire into one of the inner compartments provided for the purpose; and
(b) shall there alone and secretly vote—There is a later bit about being able to take a carer in, but I don’t think you need your children to physically help you to vote…
Yeah - technically you aren't meant to bring your kids into the polling booth … but my experience last time around was that so long as they don't yell out who you are voting for, the people running the place are pretty relaxed about it.
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Hey - don't worry! On the 15th, Kim Dotcom will ride in and deliver a big bag of pure, uncut … BZP? Kratom? Talcum-Powder mixed with crushed aspirin?
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Hard News: Privacy and the Public Interest, in reply to Graeme Edgeler,
You cannot be prosecuted for breaching privacy, and Cameron Slater isn't being prosecuted for it.
Graeme's right. He's being crucified on a cross of namby pamby liberal angst.
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Prediction: Slater will be successful in getting an injunction against "Rawshark", which I assume he'll then completely ignore. But he won't get one against the media organisations, because they're not going to print all the private trashy stuff, only the important political stuff.
Full disclosure: I am an idiot who may have no better a track record than a coin being spun.
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although it’s not out of the question that McVicar could pull enough votes from Tremain to let Nash squeak through.
That would be an upset, given that Chris Tremain is quitting Parliament at this election! National's candidate for Napier is Wayne Walford (which is, apparently, a real name!)
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Hard News: UPDATED: Media Take: Election…, in reply to Michael J. Parry,
Serious question though - when have the police ever actually progressed an Electoral Commission referral to the stage of pressing charges?
They do it sometimes in relation to people who "double vote". But in regards other matters … never, to my knowledge.
Hey - the system works!
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That’s because it’s imported, tasteless, has an icky flavour and very difficult to stomach.
Tasteless and with an icky flavour! Act just can’t win, can they?
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If it were so obviously illegal why wasn’t something done back then?
Not sure it is "so obviously illegal" ... there's an argument that if you are allowed onto Labour's network freely, then you are "authorised" under the Act to access anything that is publicly accessible. Sort of like if you're let into someone's house for a party, then it isn't unlawful to wander into their unlocked bedroom. So let's just say that it's arguable whether the activity was unlawful.
Why, then, was no complaint laid? Well, if you are Labour, would you want this issue in the news over the next few months?
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Hard News: Dirty Politics, in reply to Dylan Reeve,
Oh, dammit. You type too fast.