Summarised by Centrist
“There is a yawning—and dangerous—gap between what the mainstream (and celebrities) believe and report and what the public see and think,” writes conservative advocate Simon O’Connor.
O’Connor argues that mainstream media is nearing irrelevance as its coverage increasingly disconnects from public sentiment.
During protests against New Zealand’s Treaty of Waitangi Bill, several media figures, including those from taxpayer-funded outlets, displayed blatantly biased behaviour. A senior TVNZ executive attended the protest and promoted her involvement online. Similarly, a reporter, also with TVNZ, sang in support of protesters during live coverage. An RNZ journalist chose to actively support the event rather than reporting neutrally.
O’Connor asks, “How can one claim to report objectively while actively taking sides?”
He also takes aim at celebrities like the singer Lorde and actor Jason Momoa attempting to influence the voting public.
“Now, [Lorde] is welcome to share her opinion but she and others (such as Jason Momoa) might wish to reflect on the US experience, where such views of celebrities only highlighted the opposite and emphasised how out of touch they are with the ordinary person,” he writes.
“The public are sick and tired of being told what to think on various matters and being hectored on what they are meant to accept as truth,” O’Connor says, warning that this trajectory will lead to the media’s “failure and irrelevance.”
