The NZ Herald

The NZ Herald has responded to my letter of complaint about the appalling article concerning Tania Wysocki and the blatant mis-representation by Simon Collins of the true story:

To: Cameron Slater

By email

Dear Cameron,

I refer to your email of February 23.

The article was neither inaccurate nor unfair. It was balanced — indeed, it specifically mentioned the help Tania Wysocki had received from National and Greens MPs.

The prostitution angle of the story that you have complained about — and the fact that Ms Wysocki had advertised herself on a website — was legitimate. The headline accurately reflected the story. The article was not over-dramatised.

Regards,

Shayne Currie

Editor
The New Zealand Herald

What a pathetic and wholly underwhelming response from the nations biggest tabloid. What do my loyal readers think I should do next? Press Council?

The NZ Herald used pretty much the whole front page for a non-story about the SFO drinking a $70 bottle of champagne that they didn’t pay for.

Sometimes I think newspapers should carry warning labels.

Kermadec Crunchy-wasp is in the news again.

An Olympic athlete will stand trial for a second time on charges of raping his ex wife.
The sportsman, who has name suppression, will face two counts of rape and one of male assaults female at a trial at the High Court in Auckland next July.

The man was acquitted of nine charges and a jury failed to reach a verdict on the three other counts at a trial last month.

I am charged under s139 for allegedly naming the victim…which I never did. The NZ Herald has provided exactly the same information, I just bet they don’t get charged. End the burqa of name suppression, it allows defendants to hide behind their victims.

An Interesting Name?

Andrew Chapman and his mates have been at it again, this time in Wellington, The NZ Herald has the video. The first video i uploaded has now been viewed 287,957 times. The NZ Herald video has 212 views at the time of this posting.

George W. Bush had a lovely turn of phrase to describe how people thought of him. It was “misunderestimating”.

That word perfectly describes our head in the sand attitude to corruption in New Zealand. Transparency International constantly tells us that New Zealand is the least corrupt country in the world. Quite how they get to this situation is beyond my comprehension.

White-collar crime in the first six months of this year hit a record high of $72 million – more than for the whole of 2008 – a survey released today reveals.

The Fraud Barometer report, conducted every six months by international auditing firm KPMG, shows that more fraudsters are stealing more money than ever and the statistics are expected to get even worse.

KPMG forensics partner Stephen Bell said that based on fraud cases in which $100,000 or more was stolen, the average fraud reaching the courts was now $2.7 million.

“It is very high … it’s the highest it’s been,” he said.

“In the six-month period ending December 2009 it was about $2.3 million.

“Already frauds in the first six months of 2010 have exceeded all of 2008.”

Let’s call it what is really is, corruption. The NZ Herald uses a picture of Versalko to illustrate the point and yet the repeater fails to understand just exactly what Versalko was on about or who he was really working for.

Even KPMG has no idea of the extent of corruption in New Zealand. People should start to turn over some rocks, they would be surprised to find what is lurking there.

Direct from Tim Blair. There is nothing I can add to this post other than the rather obvious suggestion that you pick your causes a bit more carefully next time…if she gets a next time.

Canadian journalist Beverly Giesbrecht, who converted to Islam following 9/11 and launched the website Jihad Unspun seven years ago, faces beheading after being kidnapped by jihadists in Pakistan:

A video of a Canadian journalist held captive in Pakistan surfaced on the Internet Thursday in which she said her captors would “probably” kill her by the end of the month if their demands weren’t met.

“The time is now very short and my life is going to end,” a pale and tired Beverly Giesbrecht says on the video before it fades out.

The Vancouver journalist is shown sitting in a chair with a dagger mounted on the wall behind her, pointed at her head.

“We have a very short time now, I’m going to be killed, as you can see,” Giesbrecht says.

Post-conversion, Giesbrecht changed her name to Khadija Abdul Qahaar. Not that it makes any apparent difference to her Taliban captors.

UPDATE. JeffS asks: “Is she being held by moderate Taliban?”

UPDATE II. Rayhan looks on the bright side:

It is always heart warming to hear people coming to Islam especially prominant figures like journalists. Thanks for notifying us of her conversion.

The kid who started a “Kick a Ginger” group on Facebook is being investigated by police after reports of attacks on redhead children.

Nearly 5,000 people joined the online campaign which urged members to “get them steel toes ready” for a day of booting this week.

As usual bleeding heart liberals are blaming none other than a recent episode of the cartoon South Park, in which a young character called Cartman describes people with red hair as evil and soulless.

The Group appears to be gone.

No worries, you can join in these Ginger support groups;

Ginger Kids – Help find a Cure

“you’re not strawberry blonde, you’re ginger, deal with it”

Ginger Kids Have No Souls