By the time chapter 3 rolls around it's no surprise that Cameron Slater and his associates like Catcus Kate/Cathy Odgers attack their political opponents by using malicious methods. They have no qualms about acting unethically where winning is concerned. Their philosophy might as well be "win at all costs" and "sabotage at all costs".
Chapter 4 starts how the previous ones have left off, nothing about honesty or integrity. All Slater cares about is his readership ratings. That's not what true journalism is about. True journalism, as I've said in my previous posts about the book is about informing and engaging the public. It's not a contest of who is better. Or at least it shouldn't be, and this is a major issue with the majority of the mainstream media in New Zealand. Australian media is significantly better and more ethical.
Cam Slater and former Justice Minister Judith Collins are portrayed in chapter 4 as vindictive and there's a difference between wanting to win, and being outright vindictive and sabotaging opponents, they fall into the latter category. We're talking editing Wikipedia pages to suit, replacing bad information with good information and influencing what's out there about them.
The bottom line is Slater and Collins are not just using attack politics. They're using smear campaigns, dirty tactics, bullying, sabotage and the language in some of their conversations is disturbing and not what you would expect from the now (former) Minister of Justice. You would expect some level of ethics in public and private. Collins showed neither in her interactions with Slater.
It also appears from this chapter that former Collins was involved in the ACC leak involving Bronwyn Pullar and Michelle Boag.
This just gets more and more demented, twisted and tacky politics.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.