Opening up a can
Attack on proposed media laws: From Cook Island News.
of worms?
Dear Sir, It amazes me that in the middle of a financial crisis, when some government departments cannot afford to buy pens and writing pads, the government is busy setting up a new entity, the Media Standards Council. (Is this to be another case of jobs for the boys who get to sit on the council, and jobs for the girls who get the secre
tarial position?
Which ministry is going to have its
operating budget plundered this time to
supply furniture, computers, printers and stationery for the new council?) And what will the new council have to do? Probably just make life a hell for that one particular publication which has been a thorn in government’s side over the past year. How else can this particular instance of fiscal madness by govern ment be explained?
Nevertheless, I wonder if government, in its haste to rush this bill through par liament, has stopped to consider the implications? It could be opening up a real can of worms.
I am curious as to what standards will apply? Will we see TVNZ news barred from our screens because it broadcasts news, that may damage our off-shore industry, of air scenes of savagery from Bosnia and Rwanda that may be too vio lent for us to see? In recent months, 60 Minutes has aired programmes on sub jects like homosexuality, white racism in New Zealand, and the Samoan woman who disciplined kids in school with her fists. Will that programme be removed from our TV screens because it affects
someone’s sensitivity?
If an overseas newspaper like the New Zealand Herald covers news which can’t be covered by the local media because of a council decision, can you imagine the result? We won’t be able to buy the New Zealand Herald and other such publica tions from our local bookstore because no book seller can afford to keep on importing and stocking newspapers that have to pass censorship before they can be sold.
What is also to stop the council from imposing standards on the media that are
commercially damaging? For instance, on the basis that 90 per cent of the popu lation are Polynesians, might not the council require 90 per cent of local news papers to appear in Cook Islands Maori?
Or if 90 per cent of Cook Islanders have church affiliations, might not the council reach the conclusion that 90 per cent of the music we hear over radio should be
gospel?
The government needs to do a lot of explaining and reassuring if they expect this bill to have the public support. With only a minimum of public consultation to date, the chances of getting that at the moment are just zero, I should think.
‘Full of Worms’
[Name & address withheld]
Media bill
sickens
Dear Sir, I am sickened by government’s pro posed Media Standards Bill. As a letter writer to your newspaper, I will not accept the power of political appointees to determine my expressions according to their own interpretations of “fairness”, “privacy”, and “good taste”.
To empower a stacked council to pre side over complaints, and then impose penalties, opens the door to victimisation and media censorship. I, and many other letter writers, will never be able to express freely our opinions for fear of a
legislated threat.
This sick attempt to clamp down on the news media shows that government regrets giving up newspaper control by dumping Cook Islands News back in 1989. In the context of steadily receiving the sharp end of the criticism stick from Cl Press and Cl News, the government obviously wants to regain that lost con trol in any way that it can.
If the bill does go ahead, that big yel low banana stuck to the roof of the BC ought to be removed and permanently attached to our national flag for the whole world to see.
‘ Somebody’
[Name & address withheld]