Programme starts at 06:27.
Near election time there are charges of the press 'slanting, suppressing and distorting news'. Mrs Kirk is reported as saying the media "protect the National Party from all sorts of blows" and that if anything controversial was coming up the press ran small articles on it so that it was not a shock when the story broke. The newspapers are accused of being conservative.
In Ian Cross' memoirs, Such Absolute Beginners, he notes that "he put the boot in with his Column Comment TV programme in 1969 when the nation's newspapers all lined up as a one-party press against Norman Kirk's election campaign. His point was that in a healthy democracy the media should be open to every viewpoint. He believes there is enough diversity today.
A weekly review of the press in New Zealand from the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation (NZBC).
Theme is Miles Davis, Milestones