It has been an intense few years in New Zealand and around the world. Our journalists have often been on the front line, reporting on breaking news, life and death health news, and holding politicians to account. And in return for that hard work, they and their families have been threatened with physical violence and death by conspiracy theorists around New Zealand, amid calls for their prosecution via the (imaginary) “Nuremberg 2.0”. The people making the threats, and the misinformation they are spreading, have also garnered quite a bit of media attention. And so they should.
We won’t sugarcoat this. Journalists have a good bullshit radar and some reporting has been brilliant, alerting audiences to the threat to our democracy, but some has been bad. Really bad. But that is not always the journalist’s fault.
Journalism is going through a massive change, with revenue challenges making for lean newsrooms, who are doing a great job despite being pushed for time. This means an easy story can seem like a godsend. But it may not be. It could be an attempt to amplify, seed, or normalise anti-democratic ideas and false information, fuelling the decrease in trust in media.
The election will bring some interesting challenges for journalism in New Zealand. We have quite a few fringe parties, all fired up and begging for attention. Many have supporters that are creating astroturf groups to try to draw more attention to their causes and their candidates. So it’s more important than ever to be vigilant against manipulation attempts.
That’s why we’ve compiled tips for reporting on mis-, dis- and mal-information in New Zealand. Have a read and reach out to discuss the current landscape of election strategies, tactics, and talking points of the so-called “freedom movement”.
