Covid Comparisons - NZ and the Commonwealth

We’ve seen constant attacks from media in the US, UK and Australia, often spreading outright disinformation about Aotearoa being a prison camp, or using other such language to describe the (imaginary) authoritarianism that has taken over our country.

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Kyle Church
Neoliberalism as Content Marketing

Trying to trap the lost baby whale in a net of austerity clichés through headlines and press releases came across as a vote loser rather than a vote winner. It might have gotten people to click and share but turning the poor creature into a main character in the culture war seemed relentlessly negative, cruel and pointless.

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Kyle Church
Measuring Media Bias

As far as an eyeball check for reasonableness and believability, it’s a big problem if your analytics system spits out an assessment of media bias that roughly accords with the conspiratorial claims of deplatformed white supremacist Twitter accounts

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Kyle Church
Introducing: Blueprints

Building and sustaining left-wing independent media organisations has always been, and will always be, a key strategic task for those of us working toward a socialist future

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Kyle Church
The Second Coming?

At some point, we may find that the economic consequences and social harm of elimination will prove too much for New Zealanders. Unemployment is already forecast to reach double figures. While there is a lot of goodwill and support for the government’s approach now, at some point this is going to subside.

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Kyle Church
Credit Where No Credit Is Due

While reporters are right to argue that the unprecedented emergency powers of the state require serious scrutiny and that this is of huge public interest, it seems unrealistic that a news-making process that is highly adapted to support partisan shit-flinging and horse race coverage is fit for purpose in this new information environment.

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Kyle Church
Supercharge the Stimulus: Wipe student debt now

In response to the devastating economic conditions wrought by COVID-19, New Zealand’s government has announced a fiscal stimulus package of ambition, surpassing that of other governments (e.g. Australia), and indeed surpassing the ambition of New Zealand governments for decades. Regardless, it falls short of a ‘new social contract’… Labour have an opportunity to change Aotearoa's trajectory over the coming years, by dealing with the issue of student debt.

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Kyle Church