Wednesday 27 June 2007

Satire, ridicule and denigration all richly deserved by both politicians and press gallery

Former press gallery journalist Lindsay Perigo is outraged at the supine noises emerging from the Parliamentary Press Gallery at the "the new rules to govern the extended telecasting of Parliament from next month: the use of material for 'satire, ridicule or denigration' will be banned. Transgressors could be thrown in jail." Says Perigo in disgust:
Press Gallery Chairman Vernon Small, a wimpish, whining pommie commie sympathetic to the Clark Government, has made whimpering noises in lieu of a kick-ass protest. The Press Gallery as a whole is comprised of leftie lickspittles whose only objection to the Clark Government is that it's not Stalinist enough. With these new rules, that objection no longer stands—and it's to the abiding disgrace of the other parties that their MPs on the Standing Orders Committee have acquiesced to this outrage. Among the media, only TV3 has risen above its usual socialist predilections and fearlessly ridiculed politicians in response to the Standing Orders Committee's fatwa.

Politicians with a conscience, journalists with integrity, and members of the public with an awareness of the sacred status of freedom of speech must rise up in unison against this cross-party commitment to fascism.
Read it here: Lindsay Perigo: NZ's Politicians - United in Fascism.

UPDATE 1: I like Whale Oil's reaction to this news:
Never fear, this blogger will stand up and continually use Satire, Ridicule and Denigration of MP's and I will use any footage that I can get my hands on. In fact I am setting up a video server for just such a purpose.
If there was ever a corruption* of MPs so richly deserving of Satire, Ridicule and Denigration then it's this lot.

UPDATE 2: "We need protection," say MPs. There's no one who deserves it less, and nothing as chilling for free speech as a parliament that demands it. Remember that this is the same parliament that has seriously discussed rationing free speech over election periods, of banning "third party" criticism of politicians in election year! They really mean it! This parliament is still headed by the same government that has created "an atmosphere where criticising the government is becoming pretty hazardous." Do we want to see people jailed for offending these corrupt morons?

UPDATE 3: Good on the Dominion's Tracy Watkins:
THIS PICTURE IS BANNED: MPs think we should not be allowed to show you one half of this picture because it "may not be representative" of what was actually happening at the time.
Should Tracy and her editor be jailed for publishing this on the front page?

UPDATE 4: Make sure you visit the Herald website and vote on their poll on this. [Scroll down to the right]. Early days, but so far the results are very encouraging.
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* A "corruption" is the collective noun for MPs.

11 comments:

KG said...

"Politicans with a conscience, journalists with integrity, and members of the public with an awareness of the sacred status of freedom of speech must rise up in unison against this cross-party commitment to fascism."

They should, but here's not much a few dozen people can do.

Julian Pistorius said...

KG: "They should, but here's not much a few dozen people can do."

You're wrong. Not about the number of people, that's probably about right. It's that a few dozen people can't do much about it. :)

deleted said...

needs more catpix.

"In ur press gallery, saturizin ur faces!"

"Press gallery cat is watching you procrastinate"

etc

Anonymous said...

Precious little flowers these parliamentary types, arn't they?

I would like to see most of that crew covered in tar and feathers and put on a nationwide tour in cattle trucks.

Craig Ranapia said...

They should, but here's not much a few dozen people can do.

Really? Well, I'd respectfully suggest the media will always have Paris (Hilton, that is) to meet their quota of brain-dead non-news.

If the Press Gallery could find its collective balls they have the freedom to decline to cover Parliament or its members while there are unacceptable restrictions on their legitimate freedoms.

Instead, I suspect we're going to see the same old, same old: a bit of huffing and puffing, but in the end, they're just going to roll over and get fucked. Again.

KG said...

"...same old, same old: a bit of huffing and puffing, but in the end, they're just going to roll over and get fucked. Again."

Exactly.

Anonymous said...

Herald poll running at 92% against & 8% for the politicians' call.

Interestingly, the recent poll for Bradford's harebrained, Green-vote-getting scheme to lower the voting age to 16, now closed, had the same result.

Gee. Couldn't be the same dumbfucks, could it?

KG said...

Bound to be--there'll always be a few idiots voting in favour of harebrained ideas.

Anonymous said...

"Politicans with a consience,Journalists with integrity". Although they both exist, these are rare creatures to find.

Greg said...

"They should, but here's not much a few dozen people can do."

droll, lol ;)

Matt Burgess said...

There are already extraordinary constraints on freedom of speech in this country. In 1995, legislation came in that prevents a private citizen posting political advertising over a certain amount within several months of an election (my recollection is fuzzy). Freedom of speech isn't nearly as well protected or respected in NZ as I had thought.