…what’s this about a dirty campaign?
We have endured months of allegations and innuendo about all sorts of matters. Most of the time National didn’t want to be seen directly getting its hands dirty so it passed this task to its stable boy, Rodney Hide, providing him an endless supply of extra supplementary questions in the House.
National’s other trick is to get its vast network of right-wing commentators and bloggers to pedal its brand of political smut on the airwaves and around the internet, hoping to attract the attention of naive journalists. National’s main man for this underhanded practice is someone called Matthew Hooton. Most of you probably haven’t heard of him. But he pops up on Radio New Zealand, on TV, in newspapers, on the internet, etc as a “right-wing commentator”. He’d like you to think he’s independent. He is anything but. He used to work for the National Party and as far as we can tell still does, via his own consulting firm. The number of Official Information Act requests his firm has needlessly bothered our offices with over the past few years suggests to us that the National Party is his main client.
It would be pointless to speculate how much the National Party pays Hooton to peddle his dirty wares, but peddle them he does. His comments are usually extreme and disgusting. I’m told he turned up at some of the Privileges Committee hearings, sitting with his fellow right-wing bloggers audibly saying things like “you’ll get 10 years prison for that” to our staff members sitting nearby. Having grown tired of labelling NZ First “charlatans” and “crooks”, Hotoon’s latest phrase of choice is to call us “Nazis”. That is offensive on so many levels to so many people, it defies belief that someone would be stupid enough to actually say it. But that’s Hooton for you.
Hooton is an odious presence in New Zealand politics. The National Party should come clean on what it pays him to do for them. And our public radio broadcaster, Radio New Zealand, should be embarrassed it gives this man a vehicle for his ugly, hate-filled comments.
Remind me, what was it the media said about dirty campaigning?
October 6th, 2008 at 7:48 am
Hi
It’s common practice & polite to link back to the source blog when you critique it.
Thanks
Bryan Spondre
Blog Producer - Matthew Hooton,Chris Trotter
Winston says: It would be polite not to allow such offensive, hate-filled words on your site.
October 7th, 2008 at 8:13 am
Hooton is only one of them. There is an echo chamber of these people who are filling the blogosphere with hate — Whale Oil (Cameron Slater), Roar Prawn (Tina Nixon), No Minister (Darren Greenwood), Clint Heine, The Hive, etc.
For two weeks last month, they peddled filth about a (totally fabricated) police conspiracy to cover up a (totally fabricated) rape by a cabinet minister. They tried to get journalists to run with this appalling fiction, and when they were finally forced to admit it was a hoax, they tried to claim the hoax was perpertrated by the government.
October 7th, 2008 at 3:37 pm
(comment deleted)
Winston says: Mike, there’s no place for those sorts of comments on this site. There are plenty of sites run by non-entities out there if you want to talk that sort of rubbish with your mates.
October 7th, 2008 at 7:22 pm
This sounds like very serious. I am shocked that Matthew Hooton pretends he is an independent commentator. He should be required to announce every time he is on the radio that he worked for the National Party so that the public knows where he is coming from. I am sick of these media commentators going about pretending they are neutral.
I am not sure why the National Party would use this rat-bag Hooton to file OIA requests, though. Why can’t they just file OIA requests themselves? I don’t know much about the political system (although Winston seems to be the only honest guy around), but can’t the National Party file these requests? Why do they have to get Hooton to do it for them? Are politicians not allowed to file OIA requests?
I think it is brilliant that Winston is blogging. Keep it up and good luck with this election.
October 7th, 2008 at 8:55 pm
Hey, Mike Johnson, are you the writer from waiheke Island? If so, I was on a writing course you took years ago through Auckland uni’s Continuing Education? I agree with you about some of the right wing bloggers being a little hyped up, but some of the Left wing bloggers do the same, too, guess everyone just wants to air their views, and as Garth George says, this is not such a kind world anymore! (will this comment be delected, or will it stay? hmmm…) see ya later, gotta talk with my mates.
October 8th, 2008 at 10:16 am
It’s a good question to Matthew Hooton: “what does the National Party pay you for your services?”
Blogger:
Bill Hazeldine
Bay of Plenty
October 8th, 2008 at 7:57 pm
Matthew Hooten is ghastly. I heard he was an adviser to Don Brash. Perhaps he advised Don Brash to “walk the plank” when boarding that flash boat that the media so lovingly made fun of. And if he was an adviser to Don Brash, and Don Brash lost the election, how good an adviser does that make him?
I agree with Tim Ellis above that all “commentators” should declare their involvement EVERY time they come on the radio or TV.
Isn’t Bill Ralstons wife doing media traning for John Key? He should be delcaring that every time he comes on the radio so the listeners know that he won’t be giving a balanced view or debate.
October 9th, 2008 at 7:32 am
Hey, Mike Johnson, are you the writer from waiheke Island?
Humbly, sorrowfully, no.