By James Murray
Left-wing blogger Martyn “Bomber” Bradbury has been banned from Radio New Zealand, after criticising John Key on the show The Panel.
Bomber made comments on the show regarding the throat slitting incident in Parliament last week and John Key’s hosting of an hour long Prime Minister’s Show on RadioLIVE.
He is now saying RNZ banned him for defaming the Prime Minister, tweeting:
"RNZ now claim they banned me because I defamed the PM that wasn't mentioned in their call to me, they r making this up as they go along now."
The ban was revealed on Radio New Zealand’s Mediawatch programme yesterday and confirmed by Bomber in a blog posted today.
- Click here to see the throat slitting incident
- Click here to listen to the Prime Minister’s hour on RadioLIVE
- Click here to listen to MediaWatch
Bomber said he though Radio New Zealand were joking when he initially heard about the ban.
“I was wrong, this was no joke. I was told I would be banned, I asked if that was for life and was left with the impression that a Labour-Green Government would be in power before i was ever let back on the station,” he wrote today.
This afternoon Radio New Zealand said Bomber had not been banned for life or from other shows on the station.
He also published a transcript of what he said on the show:
What does a $43 million loan to MediaWorks buy you on RadioLIVE - apparently an hour of John Key avoiding answering any questions on politics. Why pay MediaWorks $43 million for that, when John Key can appear on Close Up and not answer questions for free. Whanau, I have been critical over our mainstream media's none ending love affair with Key, it's our first cult of no personality, but Radio Live takes fair and balanced to a whole new level of Fox News crazy.
Radio Live didn't offer any other political leader an hour of free talkback and went on to claim that allowing the Prime Minister to host an hour of radio minus any hard questions at all about his policy isn't political. Which is kinda like arguing that allowing George W Bush to write editorials in the New York Times about his favorite cake recipe during the invasion of Iraq isn't 'political'.
Radio Live say it's because of electoral law that John Key couldn't answer questions on politics. Really? Put Key in there for an hour with an interviewer and ask him questions, that would have side stepped those issues, but to give him an hour where he gets to hide behind a 'no politics' zone on the very day our credit was downgraded is simply disgraceful!
This is NZ, not Cuba, the Dear Leader doesn't get to drone on on about his personal crap 50 days out from an election. Rather than answer questions about the country going to hell in a hand basket, John Key talked about his cat and his views on Coronation Street moving timeslots.
No wonder the sleepy hobbits love Key so much, with media as uncritical as Radio Live, I'm surprised Key isn't registering 80% support.
And John Key's attempt yesterday to blame the Labour Party for a mans attempted self harm in Parliament is a new low, even for Parliament.
Yelling, "It's your fault, it's your fault" while making a throat slashing gesture at Phil Goff (as a man with mental health issues dangled from Parliaments balcony) is the sort of ravings one expects from a meth addict on a bender, not the political leader of a country.Topping this nonsense off is Key's excuse that he was actually talking about Labour's criticism of his over spending on the Diplomatic Protection service?
What could justify making a throat slashing gesture at Phil Goff for an event that had all the implications of an attempted suicide if the guy had actually fallen?
What a lovely little piece of work our Prime Minister is when he is caught off guard.
According to Radio New Zealand Bomber was banned for an “an unacceptable breach of Radio New Zealand’s editorial policies”.
He disputes this in his blog saying:
“I don't think anything I raised there as part of my opinion piece broke any editorial rules.
“The people currently flooding RNZ with complaints about my banning also don't think I broke any editorial rules when lined up against the right wing pundits who pronounce their Gospel as accepted faith.”
Labour movement blog The Standard has also weighed into the debate.
“The media was up in arms this week about Lockwood Smith’s over reaction to The Herald’s breach of rules in Parliament. I wonder if there will be a similar hue and cry when a Leftie is banned for criticising the PM,” wrote contributor Anthony Robins.
A spokesperson for Radio New Zealand released this statement to 3 News this afternoon.
“Mr Bradbury’s invitation to take part in The Panel discussion segment was withdrawn because his personal comments about the Prime Minister were deemed to be in breach of Radio New Zealand’s editorial requirements for fairness and balance.One of his comments was regarded as being potentially defamatory.
"Mr Bradbury’s comments were inconsistent with information he had provided to programme producers before going on air.
"Mr Bradbury later apologised to the programme’s executive producer.It was made clear to him that while his invitation to appear as an occasional guest on The Panel was being withdrawn, it was not a ‘lifelong ban’ and it did not apply to other Radio New Zealand programmes."
3 News
source: newshub archive
