Saturday, July 14, 2012
Times are tough throughout the world, with chaos in many places. Sadly, one casualty is the loss of people’s freedoms.
Although separated by a vast expanse of ocean, our country may also be at risk of losing some freedoms.
An editorial in the New Zealand Herald on May 3 (Centuries of press freedom under threat) said newspapers here and in similar countries faced the threat of statutory regulation. I wrote on the same topic earlier this year (Gisborne Herald, March 14).
I am very concerned with pending global instability, and the threat of a mainstream filtering of news — with an ever-growing role of money, politics, and corporate interest — corrupting the coverage of information we receive.
I fear we are already being fed slanted and censored information spawned by powerful, self-interested groups.
The latest hot news on this subject is mining magnate Gina Rinehart and her likely success in wresting control of Fairfax Media (Rinehart may win Fairfax fight, Stuff.co.nz, June 29). No need to mention where interests lie there.
Recently I was shocked at the low priority our media paid to the most important news of all, the proceedings and outcome of the Rio+20 summit. Was this deliberate?
I am, however, so pleased this newspaper was forthcoming and had opinion pieces and an editorial on the event.
If the predicted big changes descend upon our world, it is so important to have honest, free media and press sources.
We have just witnessed in Rio how very important decisions can be influenced and manipulated by interest groups. Can the same forces also be exerted here, affecting New Zealand’s press freedoms? I say yes.
A free press is essential to democracy. The public must have full and correct information to form correct judgements on every issue.
With the pending crisis, we need to be properly informed by a free press more than ever before. Truth, justice and our futures are at stake here. Let’s speak out and fight for what is right.
BOB HUGHES