It seems naive to bemoan how state agencies spy on ordinary citizens without addressing how those agencies came to be the hired hands of the policies of the government of the day.
So how is journalism faring in its role of (a) speaking truth to power, and (b) keeping its independent distance from those it seeks to monitor?
Politicisation of state-gathered and state-managed information should be a concern to everyone.
Anyone feeling that the watchdog roles of the media and Parliament have seen justice done to the scoundrel behind the taping scandal… well, maybe they should think again.
[Go to Todd Barclay comment] When a small town kid makes good, everyone in the village – who after all, raised that child – is […]
This fiasco has been a perfect example of a bad policy, terribly executed – on a rushed timetable that appears to have been driven by an MSD desire to cut costs in the contracts due for renewal, mid year.
The chaotic presidency of Donald Trump has been a weird form of spectator sport for the past three weeks. Horrible, but you can’t stop watching […]
Reportedly, beneficiary parents who refuse to disclose the intimate details of their child’s conception stand to have their benefits substantially docked.
Thanks to Sacha Baron Cohen, Kazakhstan will always seem like a bit of a jokey, ramshackle kind of place. To that end, the Stuff story […]
Basically, the world is divided into two types of people: those who think the Panama Papers illustrate the bad shit that some people do, and […]
To no-one’s real surprise, the Cullen/Reddy review of the security services has recommended an extension of the powers of the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB), […]
Labour’s readiness to play “Gotcha” politics over the 27 incidents where refugee status were first granted and then revoked is pretty shameful. According to documents […]
It is unusual for anyone to vote for an early execution, but that’s effectively what President Barack Obama’s friends in the US Senate have just […]
As many have noted, the Hager/Snowden revelations of the spying by our security agencies on our Pacific neighbours and allies is a virtual re-run of […]
Could the June review of New Zealand’s security and intelligence be about to bestow on our spy agencies the express right to break the laws […]
Like most events in security intelligence, the resignation for “family reasons” of GCSB boss Ian Fletcher has got (a) a simple straightforward explanation and (b) […]
When Parliament resumes on October 20, Prime Minister John Key will reportedly be making a major speech on security and intelligence issues. The speech is […]
This election campaign is getting no less strange as it heads on down to the wire. Winston Peters is still refusing to say whether a […]
All that hanging out with the All Blacks clearly hasn’t taught Prime Minister John Key a thing about the ethics of playing the ball, and […]
Ironic that in the same week that Kim Dotcom will appear before a Parliamentary committee to defend the right of New Zealanders to live free […]
In a week dominated by surveillance and privacy issues, the Economist has done its level best to rationalize why Barack Obama has chosen to expand […]
Chances are, scrapping the system of trial by jury is not the top priority for most New Zealanders. Not many of us woke up this […]
In these last few days before Parliament opens and the cycle of normal political life resumes, significant stories are gaining coverage that they might otherwise […]
Eight days before an election. The Police are poised to search major newsrooms to try and validate the government’s determination to conceal (at least until […]
What is it about National’s plans for welfare reform and natural disasters? On the same day in February that the Welfare Working Group released its […]
Free speech can be hard to defend – with a Bill of Rights OR with a written Constitution
Article – Gordon Campbell Surprisingly, there still seem to be a few liberals out there who regard Wikileaks as operating in a morally fraught, grey […]
Click for big version More Images from The Lovely Bones premiere in Wellington. Co-incidentally, just as Arts Minister Chris Finlayson readies himself to release Peter […]
As the civil rights we enjoy get whittled away, the pattern is becoming very familiar. Initially, fresh powers of search, detention, use of secret evidence […]
One of the year’s major foreign policy decisions will soon be landing on the table of John Key’s government. The US will be coming round […]
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