The Herald’s Principles

The political bias of the Herald’s reporting and commenting has now reached ludicrous proportions.

The average reader can no longer ignore the uncomfortable truth. Our supposedly leading news source is now following the dictates of its owners – NZME – who have suborned the Herald to join Newstalk ZB, its stablemate in the broadcast media. The New Zealand public and the country’s political debate are both short-changed as a consequence.

None of this can come as a complete surprise – the telltale signs have been there for some time. What is a surprise is that presumably self-respecting journalists have allowed themselves to be recruited to this disreputable cause.

Some of the Herald’s journalists will not have found this betrayal of their readers to be difficult; they will have found the enterprise entirely congenial since it conforms with their own political views.

But I would like to believe that there are some writing for the Herald who will feel uncomfortable at
serving what has now become just a propaganda sheet for the National party. One such is surely John Roughan who is, I have always found in the past, well aware of his responsibilities to his readers.

I know where John’s political preferences lie, but I continue to think, in light of my earlier dealings with him, that he would always give priority to his principles as a journalist. The Herald – and its readers – rely on those principles.