But what has been cleared up? Last I heard a decision couldn’t be made while the police are investigating and their investigation has stalled

But so what? At some stage they will need to make a decision about whether to proceed. If they feel that the situation doesn’t warrant further investigation, or if their legal advice turns out to be that it wasn’t a breach of privacy, they’ll make that call. The point is, we don’t know yet and with a distracting controversy that is possibly going to be repeated in the future until the legality is cleared up, it will be useful to know (from the media’s point of view if nothing else).

I don’t know why the police prioritised the investigation, I’m just speculating. of course I’m not suggesting that public interest is the sole determinant of police focus, that’s an absurd straw man. Only that it maybe a factor. I haven’t listened to the alleged recording, btw. Personally, I think the fact the Herald and TV3 pursued the matter despite knowing the contents of the recording because of hubris – reminding the politicians of their influence during an election (“we can take you down if we want” etc).

I didn’t realise Nat supporters did satire. I was wrong.

Simple test to see who sincerely believes it is a matter of principle. We just have a show of hands of the people who did not go and listen to the recording on Youtube because if they did so they would have participated in the violation of Mr. Key’s privacy.

Perhaps such an especially blurry situation could benefit from clarity in the court? One way of clearing it up, particularly if the situation would otherwise be taken as a precedent by our intrepid reporters… as far as the use of police resources are concerned, I couldn’t comment specifically on their priorities; but from what they’ve said in the past, public interest does seem to have some influence in their decision making.

But what has been cleared up? Last I heard a decision couldn’t be made while the police are investigating and their investigation has stalled. As for the public interest, the public may take an interest in a lot of things. Sonny Bill Williams dating some girl appears to take the interest of the public going by Stuff’s ranking of top stories at the moment. But when it comes down to it I think the public, after sober reflection, would consider that the police could put their resources towards more useful endeavours rather than investigating a political scandal. The public may not take notice of every burglary, assault, rape or homicide but I’m sure they expect the police to do so and to prioritise such matters far above any recording of two men having a cup of tea.

(iii) Suppose Key does a…”

Lets stick to what happened in this particular case. My point is not to argue whether or not the journalist was justified in recording the conversation. My point is simply to argue that it is debateable and that the use of the police was a waste of resources.

The point of my examples is that there are shades of grey when it comes to privacy and we shouldn’t expect the PM to retreat to a secure room, have GCSB sweep for bugs, and demand that everyone sign confidentiality agreements before meeting him before he can say something candidly. The media should act in good faith and anyone should be able to expect some privacy when indicated.

You’re right there are shades of grey. That is why this isn’t comparable to the phone hacking scandal which is a very black and white case with no question of whether it was justified.

Moreover, in this case the PM orchestrated this circus as part of an election stunt. He created a situation where the lines between private and public were blurred and so given his involvement in setting up this situation I feel little sympathy for him when it backfires.

Of course it’s hard to say it really backfired when it kept Labour out of the spotlight in the days leading up to the election.

And, Weihana, hopefully you agree that releasing the PM’s phone number is just a dick move without any justification.

Sure. But it would seem less of a waste just to change the phone number rather than mobilizing the police when the tape would, in all probability, be leaked at some point. And now it has been leaked and he has to change his number anyway.

To media companies media freedom means the freedom to discover anything and publish it without any concern for the rights of those being used to gather the information.

The rest of us have no freedom at all to say what we want in the media, except for on our own wee blogs.

“Some of my family members are haunted by Lance’s last few moments of life without The Herald employing staff whose emotions supercede logic and covet pseudo-science flatulence to disguise that as news. They only add to our grief. Shame on them!”

“I found a reporter hiding in the garden of my mother’s house who identified himself as working for the NZ Herald in the days after the tragedy. They are truly scum.”

(Relatives of victims of the Carterton balloon tragedy write to me about the Herald )

Is this the sort of freedom The Herald demands?

wrong…when will these people learn they are not above the law.

and as aside…if media freedom means,some journalist,can print an one sided article on the particular traits of a typical right wing supporter then to be fair,why not mention the particular traits of a leftwing supporter eg more likely to be unemployed,live in a defacto relationship etc.

Media freedom…it hasnt been free for years…research has shown,it is totally dominated by the left.

I’ll return it to him in a new, improved version, I’m sure!

Minimalist casual would define my attire. Rugby shorts, swandri & boots covered in sheep shit are high fashion where I live.

Nah….give the uniform a miss.

These opposition cells must be identified and dealt with. I really hate pretenders.

I’m not sure that a mittelalterliche Burg Wainuiomata isn’t already under construction. Your humble correspondent heard of a secret resource consent hearing held recently & initial reports make mention of dungeons, underground sheep dips & a torture chamber set up like a butcher’s shop.

A spokesman for the simple folk who inhabit the nearby village was interviewed during a lull in hostilities at the Wainuiomata Tavern carpark. While St John’s tended the wounded & removed the dead he spoke of “evil” goings on at the castle up the valley. Truckloads of sheep enter every night but none leave.

Due to your close proximity to the house of death we will have to leave it to you to infiltrate the cell & take appropriate action.

Yeah I know. It’s just that it’s a useful image through pavlovian association Johnboy. This is what keeps the masses in line. Marketers use pavlov every day but they seem for some reason to prefer poofy things like rainbows, lollipops and such. Why use candy when you can use a hammer, is my worldview.

I’m awfully keen on the uniforms. Black becomes me I’ve been told and how can a farmer not fancy big black boots?

This is excellent Johnboy for I too like uniforms and I look pretty good in black as well. As a matter of fact using the principal enuciated by Michael Gerber in the E-Myth to make a game out of work in order to motivate and orient your employees toward customer service, I intend to make a game of rewarding my ministers for saluting smartly, clicking heels and shouting “Jawohl mine Fuhrer” as often as they possibly can, when I’m in the room. Of course certain misunderstandings may ensue amongst the public were they to hear of such goings on hence my plan to “educate” the media in advance.

The chicken conversion may be a goer. What are you like with pentagrams and suchlike? How would like a castle on your farm?

Try 8 Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse. Sounds like you are on the right track though.