The Media Council has upheld a complaint by David Seymour’s office against this article on school lunches. It was found to have breached both the fairness and conflict of interest principles. The first issue was that they ran the article, and didn’t even ask the Minister for comment. They only quoted opponents of the new […]
The Press found to have breached Media Council rules with its school lunches article
The Press found to have breached Media Council rules with its school lunches article
10 Aug 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of education, politics - New Zealand Tags: media bias
The NYT screws up when touting “famine” in Gaza, but buries its correction
01 Aug 2025 1 Comment
in defence economics, politics - USA, war and peace Tags: Gaza Strip, Israel, media bias, Middle-East politics, regressive left, war against terror

The NYT has filled its main e-page with article about starvation in Gaza and other anti-Israel news. Here, for example is the upper-left of today’s front e-page: And that’s pretty much what it looked like for the past couple of weeks. My issue is that I used to trust the Times, but they’ve shown […]
The NYT screws up when touting “famine” in Gaza, but buries its correction
Will the BBC’s Gaza documentary internal review make any difference?
26 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in defence economics, war and peace Tags: Gaza Strip, Israel, media bias, Middle-East politics, regressive left, war against terror

On July 14th the BBC published the findings of its internal review into the documentary ‘Gaza: How to Survive a War Zone’ which it had de-platformed in February after one of the main child narrators was revealed to be the son of a Hamas official. A BBC Media Centre press release described the breach of […]
Will the BBC’s Gaza documentary internal review make any difference?
In the Guardian, Sally Rooney defends violent extremist group
29 Jun 2025 1 Comment
in defence economics, law and economics, laws of war, liberalism, Marxist economics, war and peace Tags: Gaza Strip, Israel, media bias, Middle-East politics, regressive left, war against terror

Written by Georgia Leigha Gilholy Much about Sally Rooney is impressive. Her books have smashed literary records, and their adaptations have been streaming sensations. Her debut novel was published when she was just 26. She is one of the most translated contemporary authors, and her works are available in 46 languages. Hebrew, however, is no […]
In the Guardian, Sally Rooney defends violent extremist group
Omissions in BBC report about strike on Iran state TV building
19 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
in defence economics, industrial organisation, war and peace Tags: Iran, Israel, media bias, Middle-East politics, war against terror

In the early hours of June 17th the BBC News website published a report by David Gritten headlined “Israel bombs Iran state TV during live broadcast” which opens as follows: [emphasis added] “Israeli aircraft have struck the headquarters of Iran’s state broadcaster in Tehran, after the Israeli military told residents of the area of the […]
Omissions in BBC report about strike on Iran state TV building
BBC can’t verify a Hamas tunnel visited by international journalists
15 Jun 2025 1 Comment
in defence economics, International law, laws of war, war and peace Tags: Gaza Strip, Israel, media bias, Middle-East politics, regressive left, war against terror

Previously we discussed BBC coverage of the May 13th strikes adjacent to – rather than ‘on’ – the EU founded and Hamas ministry of health run European Hospital in Khan Younis, including two items produced by BBC Verify: BBC NEWS WEBSITE REPORTING ON STRIKES AROUND THE EUROPEAN HOSPITAL BBC VERIFY’S AGENDA-DRIVEN RETURN TO THE EUROPEAN […]
BBC can’t verify a Hamas tunnel visited by international journalists
Initial BBC News website coverage of events in Iran and Israel
15 Jun 2025 1 Comment
in defence economics, economics of media and culture, war and peace Tags: Atomic bomb, Iran, Israel, media bias, Middle-East politics, regressive left, war against terror

On the morning of June 13th the BBC News website’s ‘Middle East’ page had little to offer its visitors in the way of reporting on the strikes that Israel had carried out in Iran in the early hours of that day. Coverage on that page itself was limited to a live page: In the ‘updates’ […]
Initial BBC News website coverage of events in Iran and Israel
“For Posterity’s Sake”: Why the Biden-Hur Tapes is a Virtual Racketeering Indictment
21 May 2025 Leave a comment
in politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election, media bias

“For posterity’s sake.” Those words from President Joe Biden sum up the crushing impact of the leaked audiotapes from the interview between then-President Joe Biden and Special Counsel Robert Hur. Not only did they remove any serious doubt over Biden committing the federal crimes charged against President Donald Trump, but they also constituted what is […]
“For Posterity’s Sake”: Why the Biden-Hur Tapes is a Virtual Racketeering Indictment
Stuff’s hypocrisy laid bare
16 May 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, gender, politics - New Zealand Tags: media bias, sex discrimination
They have published numerous articles decrying sexist abuse of MPs, and then they turn around and publish a column by one of their own journalists calling female Ministers a bunch of cu**s. The greatest sign of their hypocrisy is from this note by then then Dominion Post editor: So the Editor of the DP explicitly…
Stuff’s hypocrisy laid bare
The WaPo describes (and distorts) a big “culture war” in New Zealand
10 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in defence economics, discrimination, economic history, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice Tags: affirmative action, Age of Enlightenment, constitutional law, free speech, media bias, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left

ADDENDUM: See added comments and clarifications under “addendum” at bottom. ******************** I’ve written many times about the battle of the indigenous people in New Zealand (the Māori) to get their “way of knowing”—which includes a lot of superstition and unreliable word-of-mouth “knowledge,” as well as legends and morality—adopted as official policy or as a “way […]
The WaPo describes (and distorts) a big “culture war” in New Zealand
Williams vs Seymour
08 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in politics - New Zealand Tags: free speech, media bias, political correctness, regressive left
This is a great video. Guy Williams is somehow now a journalist for someone, and tried to interview/challenge David Seymour.
Williams vs Seymour
The impact of Fox News on American democracy
20 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in politics - USA, industrial organisation, econometerics, applied price theory Tags: media bias, 2016 US presidential election, 2008 presidential election, 2012 presidential election, 2020 presidential election, 2024 presidential election
In yesterday’s post, I noted a number of opportunities for research on the economics of social media. At least one of those opportunities intersected with the impact of traditional media. So, I was interested to read this new article by Elliott Ash, Sergio Galletta, Matteo Pinna (all ETH Zurich), and Christopher Warshaw (George Washington University), published…
The impact of Fox News on American democracy
BBC Extreme Weather Complaint
04 Jan 2025 1 Comment
in economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming Tags: British politics, media bias

By Paul Homewood I have now submitted a complaint to the BBC about the about their report, “A year of extreme weather that challenged billions”. Your report claims that “climate change has brought extreme weather from hurricanes to month-long droughts” It then goes on to list a handful of random weather events, but […]
BBC Extreme Weather Complaint
Stuff refusing to run ads on the Treaty
03 Jan 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, politics - New Zealand Tags: free speech, media bias, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left
Hobson’s Pledge reports: We attempted to book the Sunday Star Times, The Post, the Christchurch Press, and The Southland Times. It would have been a tidy sum of money for the financially beleaguered media outlet… Our ad was very simple. Just words on a page communicating what is at the heart of the debate – equal rights. Vote […]
Stuff refusing to run ads on the Treaty
“This is Not the Time for Balance”: LA Times Columnist Resigns in Protest . . . Over Balanced Commentary
13 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in entrepreneurship, financial economics, industrial organisation, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights, survivor principle Tags: media bias

When now President-Elect Donald Trump was convicted, the thrill-kill atmosphere around the courthouse and the country was explosive, but no one was more ecstatic than liberal columnist and former prosecutor Harry Litman. The then L.A. Times columnist told MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace that it was a “majestic day” and “a day to celebrate.” A lawfare advocate, […]
“This is Not the Time for Balance”: LA Times Columnist Resigns in Protest . . . Over Balanced Commentary
Recent Comments