Posted by Blogger Name. Category:
Chester Borrows
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E-mail from a reader
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Letters to the Editor
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Media bias
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Wanganui Chronicle
Our local MP has been prohibited from submitting his weekly columns to the Wanganui Chronicle until after the General Election. Oddly though, the Chronicle is still happy to publish opinion-pieces from other columnists who write about political issues, and who have established links to other political parties.
A column in yesterday's Chronicle from an opinion-writer with links to the Green Party and a strong environmental focus upset one of our readers, and he has sent us a copy of a letter he has sent to the Editor of the Chronicle. With his permission, here 'tis:
Can we please rename the Saturday morning column by your Taranaki based correspondent? “Party Political Column for the Green Party”, although lengthy, sums it up nicely. Or how about ‘Glass Half Empty’ which is how ‘ordinary Kiwis’ will feel when the lolly scramble of the left is taken back in covert taxes such as enforced KiwiSaver, tricky capital gain taxes and the ETS (where we end up paying for China’s pollution). Not to mention taking us back to the bad old days of state control of markets, the nonsense of printing money to bring down the exchange rate and their maniacal contempt for our core farming and agricultural sector.Like most Greens your columnist presents herself like ‘mother earth’ in the guise of environmental protection which attempts to conceal the true nature of her political bias – in much the same way as the Green Party hides its radical left leanings.I think that, given the local MP cannot write his column and has no opportunity for rebuttal of last Saturday’s muck raking and use of highly emotive but inaccurate rhetorical wording (straight from Green Party HQ), you should seek out a columnist who will provide this paper with some balance. My own column has highlighted the National Party’s excellent management of the economy because it is relevant to my subject matter, which I stick to – business. What relation do actions of the Justice Minister, Maurice Williamson and transparent and legal fund raising have to the environment?
The irony with the column in question is that it is not even written by a Wanganui-based person. Another column which frequently criticises the Government is written by a former Wanganui resident now based in Australia.
We can understand the Chronicle wanting to avoid any suggestions of bias during the campaign period. But the General Election is more than four months away, yet the Chronicle has deprived the sitting National Party MP and Minister Chester Borrows of any right of reply to accusations that may be made in the guise of opinion-pieces.
We add our voice to our correspondent's. We call on the editor of the Wanganui Chronicle to either reinstate Chester Borrows' weekly column, or to balance the view of opponents of the Government with the views of those who support it and re-elected Chester Borrows with a handsome majority in 2011. That's only fair.
