Cheeky Act on Campus
October 8th, 2011 at 9:00 am by David FarrarAct on Campus blog:
New Zealand Herald Political Editor Audrey Young said late last night that she was confident she would lead the New Zealand Herald political team into the election on November 26.
She was responding to questions from ACT on Campus put to her after talk that the APN board could move to replace her with Derek Cheng, a current Herald press gallery reporter.
She has fallen well short in recent Neilsen Research polls of her targeted readership figures and appalled some readers recently by airing her own views on liberalising heroin laws.
“I’ve got no doubt that the APN board supports me,”‘ Audrey Young said.
The all-powerful APN board could stage a coup simply by changing the rankings of the press gallery list.
It is scheduled to meet next on October 15.
This is a cheeky poke at the bullshit story in the Herald about Brash denying Banks is about to roll him as leader.
Related posts:
- Anderton annoyed at ACT on Campus
- NZ First on Campus
- An Act on Campus coup d’état
- ACT on Campus Essay Competition
October 8th, 2011 at 9:16 am
The real “story” is not that ACT is going to drop Brash from the top of the list, but that some within ACT still are whispering that it’s a possibility. As this Stuff story (http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/5752038/Leaked-poll-spells-trouble-for-ACT) makes clear, “Dr Brash has dismissed the speculation, which his camp blame on Hide loyalists who they accuse of running a destabilising campaign against Dr Brash.”
As for covering this being “bullshit”, how many posts have you done this year on alleged moves within Labour to dump Goff? Were those “bullshit” too?
[DPF: I think I have only once suggested a coup may happen within Labour. To the contrary I have many times said I think Goff will remain Leader until the election.
Also in Labour numerous MPs have said that Goff would probably lose his job, if someone challenged but no one wants it. A challenge is plausible there.
The thought of the ACT Board installing Banks as Leader without reference to the Caucus is absolutely ridiculous and has no credibility.
Vote:October 8th, 2011 at 9:20 am
I do not see why the Herald got so upset over being banned from Parliament. They could just ask Audrey Young to make up a few more stories. It is an outrage that the Herald has not happy with attacking ACT over the years and refusing them a right of reply has now resorted to inventing stories.
Vote:October 8th, 2011 at 9:31 am
But Chuck,
Even the Herald’s competitor doesn’t say this story was “invented” by Young … it quotes Brash’s “camp” as pinning the responsibility for the story on other factions within ACT. What was Young meant to do – not report that she’s being fed rumours about Brash’s future and Brash’s response to this? And if so, I take it you are equally outraged that the media (and bloggers like DPF) have been speculating about obviously false moves to dump Goff?
Face it – this is what political reporting is now … getting given rumours and transcribing the response. You’re just upset because it’s your Ox being gored this time around.
Vote:October 8th, 2011 at 9:55 am
Good on the speaker.
Next media organisation that breaks the rules should get a 6 month stand down.
send the message, media don’t have pre-emptive rights but are justr the same as everyone else.
Well Done Dr Lockwood Smith.
Vote:October 8th, 2011 at 10:30 am
Well Micmac what would your favourite harpies have done without them in times past.
Vote:October 8th, 2011 at 11:15 am
AG
To be fair to David, speculation that Goff is about to be rolled doesn’t require any fueling. The fact that he’s still there suggests, however, that he won’t be rolled before the election, as Farrar points out.
Doesn’t say much for Labour’s testicular fortitude really.
Vote:October 8th, 2011 at 11:17 am
Andrew said…
but that some within ACT still are whispering that it’s a possibility.
Stop right there? It is more likely that Audrey Young was talking to or interviewing herself rather than talking to any one from inside the ACT party. It is quite common for Journos to do that. REASON? Fishing for perhaps some dissatisfied members in the ACT hierarchy to come forward. Just throw the bait out there and hope there is a bite. This means she just made stuff up on the go.
Any one who remembered Herald reporter John Manukia (DPF had blogged about it here) who was fired for making up stories? There is no doubt that Audrey was doing the same here with that story about a possible coup to topple Don Brash.
Vote:October 8th, 2011 at 11:56 am
AG I am an active member of the ACT Party and I can assure you if there is a Brash camp as you put it it is the whole party.
There were moves in the past to replace Rodney unsuccessfully. There was also very vocal dissatisfaction with Rodney by a small minority. This was legitimate for the media to pick up on.
I know most of the board members some quite well and I can assure you none of them are idiots. As John Banks pointed out quite well on the Nation that it would crazy to even consider changing Brash’s list position. I would say the chance of that happening would be almost zero.
It would be fair for Young to say she heard from reliable sources that some members of the board were unhappy with Don raising the cannabis issue but the idea of a coup is totally illogical and would have no chance or success.
It is clear she just made up the story. I wonder if she votes Labour and is trying to undermine National long term. It is possible National could govern on its own after the election but not in 2014. The thought the Maori Party playing a Winston Peter’s in 2014 is worrying. National needs a reliable right of centre coalition partner and the Maori Party is not that.
Vote:October 8th, 2011 at 12:46 pm
It is clear she just made up the story.
Or you just made up that statement. You’re getting into Labour v media conspiracy territory with your claims.
Vote:October 8th, 2011 at 12:47 pm
DPF,
Agreed it is ridiculous … but we are talking about ACT here! And unless FF & Chuck are right and Young just made this up (more on that in a moment), she’s obviously been fed a rumour from inside ACT. She’s then put that rumour to Brash and reported his response. So – in one way it’s as silly as Whale’s countdown clock on how long Labour has left to roll Goff, and in another it’s just another day in NZ political journalism. Moving on, then …
FF & Chuck,
Just so we’re clear, it is more likely that Audrey Young AND the Dom Post are just making a story up with no basis whatsoever (or, rather, because they OBVIOUSLY are Labour supporters ought to sabotage National’s only hope of returning to office) than it is that there are disaffected voices within ACT who are continuing to agitate against Brash and suggest that the only way it can survive is without him at the helm? Even after DPF’s own polling shows there’s a real risk of Banks losing Epsom? That is what “reason” tells us, right?
[DPF: Of of course the media did not invent the rumour. I heard the rumour myself from a dozen or so people. It swept through Wellington. However my point is that before printing rumours, it would be nice to put them through at least a mild plausibility test.]
Vote:October 8th, 2011 at 1:24 pm
The Herald chief cheerleader Armstrong bitches this morning about freedom of the press, supported by the Dom of course, and the nasty speaker’s ruling
- Precious Herald and stupid Editor – being higher and mightier than parliamentary rules of course – in publishing Aud’s picture – continue being as perfidious as ever.
Vote:October 8th, 2011 at 1:25 pm
AG you got it. The Dom Post and The Nation are just repeating a baseless rumour.
ACT may not win Epsom. I think it likely will but it may not. If the ACT board did as Young suggests ACT would have very little chance of winning.
Every party has nut jobs. There could be an individual within ACT who may have made something up but I doubt it. It is possible a disaffected former ACT member made it up. The most likely scenario Young made it up hoping to find a disaffected former ACT member .
Now let us look at Labour. Shane Jones has publicly shown disloyalty to Labour on Q + A. Why doesn’t Young ask him if he thinks Goff is the best man to lead Labour after the election. Labour could increase their share of the vote if they changed leaders before the election but none of the Labour MPs have the balls. They will wait till after the election.
Who do you think would make a better leader than Goff?
Vote:October 8th, 2011 at 8:05 pm
[DPF: Of of course the media did not invent the rumour. I heard the rumour myself from a dozen or so people. It swept through Wellington. However my point is that before printing rumours, it would be nice to put them through at least a mild plausibility test.]
So … it ISN’T the case Young et al “just made it up” … FF & CB will retract and apologise now, I am sure. What we then have is a rumour that apparently is widespread “within the beltway”, which two newspapers have chosen to report at face value to a wider readership (along with Brash’s denial of the rumour and, in the case of the Dom Post, an unattributed “Brash camp” claim that it is all due to Hide supporters continuing to cause trouble).
What then is the criticism for doing so? I guess it is that the rumour is so far fetched/unlikely to be true that it should not be given any credence by any credible journalist. OK – but is it the job of political reporters to decide what is a “likely-to-happen-thus-news” widespread rumour as opposed to a “unlikely-to-happen-thus-not-news” widespread rumour? Isn’t a large part of “politics” and “political reporting” about what the folks in Wellington are gossiping about/speculating on at any given time? And, in any case, isn’t the story that such a rumour is continuing to circulate (fed, according to the “Brash camp” by disaffected Rodneyists) irrespective of whether it actually is true? After all, when it was claimed back in August that Goff had asked his frontbench if he should quit, you quite aptly summed up the situation thus (with appropriate amendments to cover the present situation):
“Now I don’t think anyone really thinks that both the [Dom Post] and [Young] are simply inventing stories and specific quotes.
This leaves two possibilities:
[There was serious consideration given to removing Brash from the top of ACT's list], and [he] is now lying about it
A member of the [ACT Party] has invented this story and fed it to the media in order to destabilise [Brash]
It goes without saying that neither scenario is particularly good for [Brash] and [ACT].”
http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2011/08/someone_is_telling_lies.html
So … was THAT all “bullshit” too?
Vote:October 8th, 2011 at 8:08 pm
CB: “Who do you think would make a better leader than Goff?”
Dunno – Labour’s not my Party. I suspect, though, that whomsoever replaces Goff won’t be the next Labour PM of NZ.
Vote:October 8th, 2011 at 10:17 pm
Shane Jones. Sure he has made a mistake but who hasn’t. He is brighter than Goff and has enough balls to stand up to the Rainbow Branch. Like ACT he has a genuine concern for unemployed young Maori.
I used to vote labour many years ago so Young can ask Goff if the rumour is true.
Vote: