Two contrasting Mainstream Media sources: One champions free and critical thought, the other promotes blind faith in authority.
Martin Harris 12/2/21
I often listen to radio talkback show Magic Talk ZB and particularly enjoy host Peter Williams: Controversial and thought provoking, questioning and critical, just as the media, mainstream or alternative, ought to be.
Shouldn’t a talkback show use controversy in order to provide interesting and, productive, and stimulating discussion?
“On Magic Talk we encourage listeners to ‘join the conversation’ which can range from the news/political stories of the day, world events and the issues that are affecting Kiwis,”
MediaWorks spokesperson responding to Newsroom
So I shook my head in disgust as I read the lead article in my Newsroom mailling subscription feed this morning. Aghast they were that Williams dared to question the COVID vaccine rollout. Hello? Are we no longer permitted to even question? And this criticism coming from the same news organisiation that used to provide such hard-hitting journalism as Melanie Reid’s Orama Tamariki enquiry?
Perhaps what really raised Newsroom reporter Marc Daalder’s ire was the “big shout-out” Peter Williams gave to Voices for Freedom, described by Daalder as “an anti-vaccine and anti-mask group”.
I suggest readers check out Daalder’s credentials and smell the Far-Left bias and underlying communist agendas at the link below:
Magic Talk’s Peter Williams Gives Shout Out to Anti-Vaxxers | Newsroom
Sad times when the supposedly free and independent media becomes the leader of censorship and the trampler of free speech and free and critical thought. And kudos to Peter Williams for actually doing his job well.
“You say they’re an anti-vaccine group, all they did was pretty much the same as I did on my radio show the other morning, was ask questions about it. I had some information from the British government about their adverse reactions to the first 46 days of the vaccine rollout in the UK and there were the best part of 50,000 separate reports,”
Peter Williams, Magic Talk host.
The lack of questions and free debate over the vaccine rollout is chilling. I read the article you linked to,
Magic Talk’s Peter Williams Gives Shout Out to Anti-Vaxxers | Newsroom.
Peter Williams correctly stated the vaccine was still in a trial period.
Marc Daalder rebutted him stating, “This is untrue. The Pfizer vaccine, the only one approved for use in New Zealand so far, completed its trials in December.”
Daalder is wrong. If he’d done his job as a journalist he would have found that the Phizer vaccine only has provisional approval in NZ and Australia. Trials have not been completed but are on-going for another 24 months.
I wanted to know how safe the vaccine was, and test whether I could trust the media. I couldn’t find the information I needed from Medsafe, so I looked on the Australian Dept of Health’s site to see what they’re doing, as they’re also getting the Pfizer vaccine.
Report: Australian Government Dept of Health and Aging
Therapeutic Goods Administration
https://www.tga.gov.au/sites/default/files/auspar-bnt162b2-mrna-210125.docx
As you can see from the Australian document, the vaccine has only had a single pivotal clinical trial of 43,252 participants for which interim findings for a period of two months data are available.
The report from the Therapeutic Goods Administration states “the real world vaccine effectiveness when this vaccine is rolled out to a larger and more diverse population is not known.”
I found this information, why couldn’t Marc Daalder? He should be sacked as a journalist. Unfortunately there are too many like him in the derelict NZ media. All we can do is turn away from them and get the information from the source if we can.
Thanks Jo
In answer to your question:
“I found this information, why couldn’t Marc Daalder?”
I think a read of Mr. Daalder’s credentials and areas of interest say it all. I have found from personal experience that the majority of today’s breed of Socialists simply don’t want to investigate facts unless those facts conveniently fit the cause they fight for.
These people block discussion and questioning with strawman attacks and labelling. As always, when one cannot argue with facts and evidence, one resorts to personal attacks, as Daalder did to Peter Williams.
As you say, he ought to be sacked. But in the current environment he will likely be praised for his propaganda efforts.
I agree this man is dangerous to journalism…he needs to go. He has really upset a lot of people and does not get the truth of the matter on anything he writes. Time for him to go…go…go…
He has only I think been in NZ for 2 years anyway. SO how can he get into journalism so quickly here?
Geez wake up NZ…
Daalder is just one of many. There’s a certain Mr. Fisher at NZ Herald who recently launched an attack on our publication making some very misleading claims.
Got a Great blog from Ben Vidgen coming shorty that goes into the whole despicable history of the manipulation and control of NZ Mainstream Media.