Daily Indignation

Audrey Young, NZ Herald: "Brickbat Goes to minister Tama Potaka for declining to rule out a run at the National leadership and Catherine Wedd for telling Stuff: “I think that Christopher Luxon is the perfect Prime Minister at the moment.” Wrong lines."

Absolutely the weirdest thing that only makes sense to 'political commentators' (like Audrey Young here) is they WANT to be lied to.

Telling reporters they fully support their party leader, right up to the second he's rolled, is apparently the CORRECT way to conduct politics and serve the people.

Headline reads "The Covid immunity cycle: Why catching the virus is basically our new booster" below picture of glived hands preparing a wooden syringe or something honestly the picture is weird I can't even tell what it's meant to represent

Dangerously stupid headline.
(It implies catching Covid is a neutral alternative option to getting a booster. It is not).

You're doing great work with your newsletter but you (and I) don't know what hasn't been reported. As the Covid press conferences showed, the press gallery believe their job is to form a narrative (which is why the press gallery fucking hated the Covid press conferences).

Second date should read 20/1/2026. Source here: www.acc.co.nz/assets/oia-r...

RNZ: "Speaking at Parliament, NZ First leader Winston Peters told reporters he had serious concerns about vaccine safety. "Hundreds of thousands of people have been affected here. They need to know the truth. They need to know why they were denied the truth.""

Between 18/2/2021 & 20/1/026 ACC received 4495 claims for injuries relating to the Covid vaccine, accepting 1779.

So either none of the reporters Winston was talking to asked "Do you have any evidence of that?" or they did and just didn't report his response. Either way, they failed their audience.

Unlike Tucker Carlson, Ryan Bridge hilariously still claims he's not a conservative. So he's actually less honest than that charlatan.

NZME's Ryan Bridge amplified this claim and tried to gotcha Tamatha Paul, asking her "what's more important, flushing the toilet or riding a bike". Instead of apologising for spreading disinformation, NZME gave him a TV show.

Shane Jones on his Facebook blaming Labour for Marsden Point

If you're wondering where Ryan Bridge got the idea Labour was to blame for Marsden Point closing, it's because he, like his hero Mike Hosking, just repeats whatever VERY UNPOPULAR politician Shane Jones says the day before.

NewstalkZB: "Ryan Bridge: On oil shock, people want more self-reliance Ryan Bridge,Tue, 10 Mar 2026 ... We're reliant on energy imports to keep us afloat now more than ever. Marsden Point used to refine 70% of our petrol and 90% of our diesel. Extracting oil and gas became a cardinal sin under Labour."

Did you think NZME's Ryan Bridge, in a column titled "On oil shock, people want more self-reliance" would criticise the govt's LNG deal? God no.

No, instead he blames Labour for Marsden Point closing, even though that was a business decision made by private companies.

1) Healthcare "woes" are purposefully engineered by corporate-allegiant politicians, so that 2) banks committed to profit can write reports promoting privatisation, so that 3) compliant media outlets can write headlines like this. This is the process by which we lose our public health system.

From Bryce Edwards' post "The Hidden politics behind NZ’s opinion polls"

www.linkedin.com/pulse/hidden...

NZ Herald: "Christopher Luxon begins his most challenging week as fresh poll results shows Chris Bishop and Erica Stanford less unpopular Thomas Coughlan & Jamie Ensor NZ Herald • 9 Mar, 2026 07:58 AM ... Last Friday's Taxpayers Union-Curia poll, revealed early in the Herald, had National on 28.4%, just under three points above the party's dreadful 2020 result. On those numbers, the party would shed 12 MPs. ... The Herald can reveal further details of that poll, the March Taxpayers Union-Curia poll, which show Luxon's net favourability has fallen three points to -19%, well behind Labour leader Chris Hipkins on -5%. Luxon is also more unpopular than NZ First Leader Winston Peters who has a net favourability of -8% and two of the people tipped as his potential replacement, Chris Bishop with a net favourability rating of -14% and Erica Stanford with a net favourability of -16%."

As the NZ Herald brags about getting the Taxpayers Union-Curia poll results early, & now releasing more tidbits from it to generate yet another story, this is your reminder that the media doesn't cover Roy Morgan polls even though both orgs are not RANZ members.

So why does Curia get so much sway?

Oh a new leader may lose. But I predict a poll bump in the short term because pretty much all new leaders get a poll bump because people don't know them that well, and the media do a few rounds of "get to know the former security contractor from the North Shore".

Newshub, The Am Show with Ryan Bridge, Dec 2021: "Christopher Luxon offers to wear cowboy hat during interview, help The AM Show hosts water-ski Jamie Ensor Country-music loving Christopher Luxon has offered to wear a cowboy hat in an upcoming The AM Show interview to "cover up my missing hair" as well as help the show's hosts with water-skiing, another of the new National leader's favourite hobbies."

No matter who National select to replace Luxon it will help them in the polls, because I guarantee the new leader will get a few solid months of this sort of honeymoon coverage.

(Both Jamie Ensor and Ryan Bridge are now with NZME btw)

"Iran conflict could sink the economic recovery ….. and Christopher Luxon - Liam Dann Opinion by Liam Dann Business Editor at Large • NZ Herald • 8 Mar, 2026"

And here we go: Liam Dann in the NZ Herald blaming the war in Iran for NZ's economic woes AND Luxon going... because, as we all know, Luxon was incredibly popular before the Iran War.

Mike Hosking, NewstalkZB: "The war: 6/10 As much as you want to give a war a number, this is not World War Ill, it is not going to last four years. It most likely won't last four weeks."

Operating under my maxim that Mike Hosking Is Always Wrong, the US-Iran War is going to last at least 4 years.

I actually missed that. That makes it so much funnier.

Audrey doesn't mention it, but it wasn't just Goldsmith talking to TVNZ news. Mark Mitchell's office also spoke to political editor Maiki Sherman, resulting it a follow-up feel-good story. Perhaps that would make a bigger "scandal" NZME's "journalists" could use to keep it in the "news".

NZ Herald: "Why Paul Goldsmith's TVNZ crime stats phone call is unlikely to stick as a scandal Opinion by Audrey Young Senior Political Correspondent - NZ Herald • 5 Mar, 2026"

We're all trying to find the guy who did this meme

An AI image of a man in an overcoat walking from the rubble of the National party to TOP. "Jackie Blue has defected from the National Party after 23 years of membership, and joined TOP. This (very amusing) composite image was made using Gemini AI. Photo: Gemini AI"

Some people may be dismayed that Stuff is using AI for its images instead of paying creators, but when it's producing such amazing, witty, and beautiful work as this, I don't see a problem.

You might think a column called 'Media Insider' would take state interference into news seriously, but the point of Currie's column isn't to analyse the media, it's to take potshots at non-NZME media. Ever since he turned the Herald into a tabloid, he's never given a shit about media ethics.

"TVNZ has faced heat over a news story on Thursday last week that focused on rising gang membership but ignored new data, released by the Government on the same day, that showed a dramatic reduction in the number of violent crime victims."

Hey did you think the important story was government ministers interfering in editorial decisions of our state broadcaster? No, no, no. The story, according to NZME's Shayne Currie, is the state broadcaster wasn't sufficiently flattering of the government. Luckily, we have NZME for that.

"National deputy leader and Finance Minister Nicola Willis managed to convey the gravity of the situation in her general debate speech in Parliament yesterday. While she can see New Zealand’s economic recovery disappearing before her eyes, a recovery disrupted by the unilateral actions of a superpower over which she has no control might be the excuse she needs later in the year as the election approaches."

NZ Herald's Audrey Young says it out loud: the government will be using the Iran war as an excuse this election for why the economy hasn't done as well as they promised.

Just remember that when you see journalists and broadcasters spouting the same message (hell, Audrey will prob do it herself).

NZ Herald: "Did Nicola Willis promise to reduce food prices? Labour says so Julia Gabel Multimedia Journalist - NZ Herald • 5 Mar, 2026"

Did Nicola Willis promise to reduce food prices? Yes.

Have they? No.

But, y'know, we gotta appear neutral I guess so fuck what's true, let's make it "he said, she said" and continue to wonder why no one trusts the media anymore.

TVNZ board chair rang senior minister to discuss negative coverage Justice minister won't reveal exactly what the public broadcaster's board chair said, while police minister doubles down on concerns about bias.

“A senior Cabinet minister has confirmed the board chair of public broadcaster TVNZ discussed concerns about its journalists’ reporting of crime statistics, in a private call days before the outlet ran a follow-up story to outline the Government’s successes.”
#nzpol

This crazy position, that the US can overthrow Iran because of what happened in 1979 – but no further back than that! – as espoused by a Republican on Newsmax, is literally the position of The Post's Politics, Business and Economics Editor.

Isn't that weird?

bsky.app/profile/atta...

NewstalkZB: "Barry Soper: Is Luxon facing too much scrutiny over Middle East response?

Barry says the reason our PM gets scrutiny compared to other PMs is because he answers too many questions (??).

And if you were wondering if Soper was still salty over Ardern not starting her press conferences with him: he is. He mentions it again, and his wife says it's "media manipulation".

NewstalkZB: "Barry Soper: Is Luxon facing too much scrutiny over Middle East response?"

The NewstalkZB sub puts a question mark at the end of these headlines to try and pretend it's up for debate, but when you listen Barry just defends the govt constantly.

Like he says the media's question about carpet bombing was "preposterous" and shouldn't have been asked. Who do you work for Baz?

NewstalkZB: "Barry Soper: Is Luxon facing too much scrutiny over Middle East response?"

I only ask because NewstalkZB still presents itself as a legitimate news operation, but it what world does a journalist ask "is the Prime Minister facing too much scrutiny?"

The Curran = ‘stumbling over your words’ thing is about her answering questions in Parliament on her use of private email though. They’re not using it to imply Luxon is dishonest.