NZ Herald Editorials

Today's editorial looks at all their editorials over 2007, and is a useful tonic to the hysterical nutters who claim the Herald is a mouthpiece for the right.

Of their 300 editorials, around 60 were on political issues.  Now they have counted up how many were in support of or against a party or their policy.  The figures are:

  • Labour 18 positive, five neutral, 20 negative
  • five positive, six neutral, five negative
  • NZ First two positive, three negative
  • ACT one negative
  • Greens one positive

Interestingly half (ten) of the negatives for Labour were on the Electoral Finance Bill.  If they had not tried to gerrymander the next election with it, then they would have had almost twice as many positive editorials as negative.

They also talk about the ones they got wrong:

Events showed us up over the relatively harmless Mt Ruapehu lahar, preparations for which we had strongly criticised the Conservation Minister over, and President George W. Bush's “surge” of extra troops to , which has demonstrably helped to reduce the carnage in that country.

Informed opinion is an inexact , let alone prescience. And, hopefully, the more interesting for it.

It would be interesting to do this analysis to other major newspapers.

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