Daily Indignation

"National deputy leader and Finance Minister Nicola Willis managed to convey the gravity of the situation in her general debate speech in Parliament yesterday. While she can see New Zealand’s economic recovery disappearing before her eyes, a recovery disrupted by the unilateral actions of a superpower over which she has no control might be the excuse she needs later in the year as the election approaches."

NZ Herald's Audrey Young says it out loud: the government will be using the Iran war as an excuse this election for why the economy hasn't done as well as they promised.

Just remember that when you see journalists and broadcasters spouting the same message (hell, Audrey will prob do it herself).

NZ Herald: "Did Nicola Willis promise to reduce food prices? Labour says so Julia Gabel Multimedia Journalist - NZ Herald • 5 Mar, 2026"

Did Nicola Willis promise to reduce food prices? Yes.

Have they? No.

But, y'know, we gotta appear neutral I guess so fuck what's true, let's make it "he said, she said" and continue to wonder why no one trusts the media anymore.

TVNZ board chair rang senior minister to discuss negative coverage Justice minister won't reveal exactly what the public broadcaster's board chair said, while police minister doubles down on concerns about bias.

“A senior Cabinet minister has confirmed the board chair of public broadcaster TVNZ discussed concerns about its journalists’ reporting of crime statistics, in a private call days before the outlet ran a follow-up story to outline the Government’s successes.”
#nzpol

This crazy position, that the US can overthrow Iran because of what happened in 1979 – but no further back than that! – as espoused by a Republican on Newsmax, is literally the position of The Post's Politics, Business and Economics Editor.

Isn't that weird?

bsky.app/profile/atta...

NewstalkZB: "Barry Soper: Is Luxon facing too much scrutiny over Middle East response?

Barry says the reason our PM gets scrutiny compared to other PMs is because he answers too many questions (??).

And if you were wondering if Soper was still salty over Ardern not starting her press conferences with him: he is. He mentions it again, and his wife says it's "media manipulation".

NewstalkZB: "Barry Soper: Is Luxon facing too much scrutiny over Middle East response?"

The NewstalkZB sub puts a question mark at the end of these headlines to try and pretend it's up for debate, but when you listen Barry just defends the govt constantly.

Like he says the media's question about carpet bombing was "preposterous" and shouldn't have been asked. Who do you work for Baz?

NewstalkZB: "Barry Soper: Is Luxon facing too much scrutiny over Middle East response?"

I only ask because NewstalkZB still presents itself as a legitimate news operation, but it what world does a journalist ask "is the Prime Minister facing too much scrutiny?"

The Curran = ‘stumbling over your words’ thing is about her answering questions in Parliament on her use of private email though. They’re not using it to imply Luxon is dishonest.

Examples of Luxon's "stumbling" over the years: Politics NWS Election 2023: Christopher Luxon stumbles on spelling, doesn't rule out banning mobile phones in schools Jenna Lynch August 8, 2023 • 6:28pm OPINION POLITICS August 21, 2024 Yes, Luxon keeps mangling his words. But what he's talking about matters far more Duncan Greive Founder POLITICS PM Christopher Luxon's second fumble on benefit numbers 3:32 pm on 14 August 2024 Craig McCulloch, Deputy Political Editor Mcraig.mcculloch@rnz.co.nz ANALYSIS: As the prime minister stumbled and stammered his way through a round of interviews on Tuesday morning, following the resignation of Andrew Bayly, Beehive insiders were cringing. Christopher Luxon's numbers fumble: Prime Minister conflates maths and reading rates P Copy Link Opinion E Share Story Share this in Julia Gabel Multimedia Journalist • NZ Herald • 19 Aug, 2024 06:56 PM O 3 mins to read

I think after numerous instances of Luxon stumbling and fumbling his words (one of these is him not being able to spell CAT) all journalists can stop using Curran as the analogy and just call it doing a Luxon.

Thomas Coughlan @coughlthom Christopher Luxon has a case of the Currans. 31/07/2023

Here's NZME's Thomas Coughlan also using Curran as an insult for when Luxon stumbled through another interview in 2023

The reason Coughlan & Young can't get over Curran is because she was a Labour Minister of Broadcasting and they are so self-absorbed they think this was the worst crime in history.

NZ Herald, Audrey Young: "Christopher Luxon's Clare Curran moment - can he recover?"

I'm sorry, I can't believe NZME journalists are STILL using Labour MP Clare Curran as a synonym for fumbling to answer questions.

Do you know what she did? She used a personal Gmail account for Ministerial use in 2018.

Know who did that more recently? Current MP and media darling Erica Stanford.

Who needs reporters

Ryan Bridge: "I went to the bank yesterday to order a Eftpos card. The bank manager came over to say hello and I can’t tell you Winston of she said, but I know she was lovely. I went home and told my partner about her. "

In a column about how AI won't replace customer service because someone was nice to him (?), Ryan Bridge might want to check if his employer is using AI to automatically transcribe his on-air rants, as I don't think he said "Winston" here.

He does mention that at the end but says “Trump’s approach will be far less costly for US blood and treasure”

The key to getting mainstream media on board with an illegal war is making them feel like an important part of it.

The Post: "Iran regime change, Trump-style - wipe out the mullahs and avoid invasion Luke Malpass March 2, 2026"

Of course, Luke Malpass' framing is out of date a date later because Trump is already talking about a boots on the ground invasion. Sorry it wasn't so clean, Luke! Maybe don't believe the world's biggest bullshitter just because he gave you a war hard-on?

Luke Malpass: "The Iranian Islamic Revolution in 1979 was just that, a revolution. Designed to overthrow the previously more liberal regime and replace it with theocracy headed by an Ayatollah and priestly class, to whom civic leaders are accountable."

Luke Malpass does what all Western media does and starts their Iran history lesson in 1979. What was this "previously more liberal regime" Iranians were overthrowing, Luke? How did we get here? No? Not important?

The Post: "Clarity is important here: Iran is a terrible, extractive regime that oppresses women, murders its own people and has tried to spread its poison around the world. No one should shed a tear for it. ... It wanted negotiations to resume, but said nothing about the nature of the attack, which some, including former prime minister Helen Clark have denounced as illegal. Clark called NZ's response a disgrace before asking "why the servility"? That's as may be. But international law has only ever been an idea that reaches as far as hard power allows it to, whether it be that of US, China, Russia, Iran or anyone else. Hard power has been the story of just about all of human history and international institutions, high-minded ideals and a few decades of James Taylor songs didn't make that fact go away. Iran regime change, Trump-style - wipe out the mullahs and avoid invasion - Luke Malpass, The Post, 2 Mar 2026"

The Post's Luke Malpass talks about how "hard power" is the real rule of law, yet somehow he keeps falling for the West's motivation for using it. Or does he truly believe this is about how bad Iran is, or Trump's concern about the oppression of women?

We don't have to keep playing this game, bro.

NZ Herald: "For the first time, Gallup has found more Americans sympathise with the Palestinians than the Israelis Opinion by Michelle Goldberg New York Times· 2 Mar, 2026 12:00 PM"

This is despite the concentrated efforts of the media, who continue to run the US/Israeli imperial line and platform a never-ending stream of bad faith actors in their opinion pages.

This shows the majority of media is on the wrong side of public opinion.

Stuff: "So much of this depends on political alignment between political parties. We’ve seen how governments with different views are capable of diluting KiwiSaver over time to appease their constituents."

Ah yes, "governments".

When one side is responsible for every worsening of a public service, you don't need to be vague, Stuff. Be honest.

Stuff: "So much of this depends on political alignment between political parties. We’ve seen how governments with different views are capable of diluting KiwiSaver over time to appease their constituents."

National's changes to Kiwisaver: taxed employer contribution, got rid of $1,000 kick-start, cut government contribution from $1,042 to $260.

Labour: introduced it.

Stuff: "We’ve seen how governments with different views are capable of diluting KiwiSaver over time to appease their constituents."

I dunno about anyone else, but I personally became a bit distrusting of mainstream media when they continually lied and provided cover for US interests during the Iraq War.

I'm sure the way they're acting now will have no bearing on their trust levels in the future.

NZ Herald: "Iran's decline began two years ago, with Israel's tough and sustained response to an invasion by Hamas from Gaza."

It is March 2026. The NZ Herald is publishing this gob-smacking version of history by the New York Times.

They are crafting these verbose statements when all they have to say is “No war, this is dumb and bad and must stop immediately” and it would be infinitely more popular with everyone except journalists.

"Capped"
"Extraordinary"
"Glitzy"
"Striking"
"a departure from his predecessors"

Ten years in, and they're still torturing the English language & writing in euphemisms.

Today in "neither our media nor our political system is designed to deal with a far right authoritarian party"

washington post push alert saying "Trump's attack on Iran risks alienating war-weary supporters", I crossed out alienating war weary supporters and wrote "killing people"

not everything needs to be viewed as a meta political story on polling. humans are dying.

When media decide to be all demure in their headlines is always revealing

4 iran analysis stories on the Stuff home page, only the one about a Kiwi family in the Gulf is not a telegraph reprint.

3 of these 4 stories are reprints from the Telegraph. Outsourcing foreign policy analysis to a paper as nakedly ideological as that - and not informing readers until the END of the analysis - is A Choice that I think reflects poorly on stuff.

“The assault on it has come not only from the United States obviously, but also from Russia with its totally unjustified, uh, invasions, two of them of, of Ukraine.”

Omg Stuff did an AOC-quote-style thing on Helen Clark. Those fuckers #nzpol

Stuff: "US military lists the jets and ships it’s used against Iran, plus their targets The US military has listed the jets, ships and missiles it has used against Iran, while listing their targets. The targets do not include nuclear sites in Iran, while some of the military’s capabilities were not shared publicly. US military assets: B-2 Stealth Bombers LUCAS Drones Patriot Interceptor Missile Systems THAAD Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems F-18 Fighter Jets F-16 Fighter Jets F-22 Fighter Jets A-10 Attack Jets F-35 Stealth Fighters EA-18G Electronic Attack Aircraft Airborne Early Warning & Control Aircraft Airborne Communication Relay P-8 Maritime Patrol Aircraft RC-135 Reconnaissance Aircraft MQ-9 Reapers M-142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems Nuclear-Powered Aircraft Carriers Guided-Missile Destroyers Counter-Drone Systems Refueling Tanker Aircraft Refueling Ships C-17 Globemaster Cargo Aircraft C-130 Cargo Aircraft Types of targets: Command and Control Centers IRGC Joint Headquarters IRGC Aerospace Forces Headquarters Integrated Air Defense Systems Ballistic Missile Sites Iranian Navy Ships Iranian Navy Submarines Anti-ship Missile Sites Military Communication Capabilities - AP"

Wow that's really cool, thanks Stuff!

I don't see "girl's school" listed in the targets, but I'm sure the US military is a neutral news source and you have no reason to question what they gave you!