Both the NZ center / right blogs Kiwi Blog and BFD News with what I believe to be the greatest readership, have posts on Media and a perceived bias in favour of the “Left”, prominent this AM

A. problem I see as having manifested massively during the last six years with the virtual monopolistic introduction of the “Public Interest Journalism Fund”, PIJF.

Originally sold to a largely ignorant population to counter Miss and Disinformation that the ruling class saw as a threat to “their” notions as to the facts, particularly in relation to the WuFlu that escaped from a bio laboratory in China where research into “enhancement” of virus was being undertaken, in part funded by US interests forbidden under US law to be carried out on US soil, and the entirely experimental mRNA solutions to what had become a pandemic.

If the assertions contained in the paragraph above do not arouse any pause for thought then consider some additional factors not yet mentioned.
New Zealand had a “Pandemic response” prior to the escape of the WUFlu, formulated quite recently and updated as factors altered but that was reportedly binned when the Pandemic threatened and a more politically intensive regime built on the fly, initiated, involving serious disruptions to business, personal travel and a multitude of assaults on basic human rights. One most egregious factor, in refusing re-entry to citizens wanting to return “Home” while the confusion reigned, that saw grieving families denied any options to participate in behaviours previously deemed essential. All done while stories emerged of some more fortunate able to apparently circumvent such draconian bureaucratic power trips and come and go with ease, to witness, certain “DJs” (Music operatives) and a prominent Green party MP who managed a trip to Mexico and a return with a best friend in tow.

Of course “The Internet” that contributed significantly to the dismantling of the USSR in its early days became a thorn in the power drunk governments desire to control information, where “alternative” versions of truth gained traction, and that needed to be countered resulting in the PIJF that rapidly became seen as merely a propaganda arm of those in power. I say versions of “truth”, installed in my psyche many years ago by a friend and neighbour with his little truism; “There are three sides to every story, yours, mine, and lying somewhere between, the actual truth”.

Such a threat by what the “net” offers anyone seeking alternative information was an anathema to a political manipulation and ways to prevent their truth, real or made up predominating, immediately became a focus. Merely relying on a subservient MSM staffed with Journalists trained in what to think in a total absence of any “How” to think assiduously entwined into institutions from kindergarten to university could no longer be relied upon.
That triggered some feverish activity in ways to limit or even to prevent such alternative views to be available resulting in cancel culture, internet blocking such as is very effectively employed in Communist China and many other regimes where “Truth” threatens an official narrative, even to the appalling”Thugs veto” so successful used in thwarting a UK visitor from speaking at Auckland’s Albert Park under an ineffective over sight of the New Zealand Police who only intervened after the speech was forcibly ended, vulnerable people assaulted and the UK visitor requiring escort away to the Airport.

Joseph Goebbels the mastermind of Nazi Propaganda understood such tenets nearly a century ago with the rarely published addenda to his much more widely known claim on lying;
“repeat a lie often enough and people will believe it.”
The rest of the theory;
“The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie.”

That lesser quoted line reveals what is motivating those wishing to control information, ongoing, and more effective controls necessary

That is why free speech must be maintained even for statements that cause offense, discomfort, and distress. Resilience needs to be restated as we were told in the age old “Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me” as children all those years ago

Graduates from every level need to be given the power to reason, question, and discus as tools in the “How” to think and divorce themselves from the current “What” to think so favoured by those wishing for a compliant docile population.