Still, every now and then, our low opinion of Mr Hosking manages to sink even further and his Friday column for the NZ Herald website really did manage to plummet to new depths, and can not be so easily ignored.
In the column - and you'll have to look it up if you want to read it, because there is no fucking way we're linking to it here - he launched a vicious attack on Stuff's latest #metoo efforts, which is encouraging people who have been sexually assaulted and abused to get some justice. It should be noted that this isn't really anything new - every major news media organisation in the country has done many stories on horrific abuse in homes, workplaces and general society and have all been open to telling the stories of victims who are brave enough to come forward. The new campaign is riding a new zeitgeist of justifiable outrage, but is part of some long-term efforts.
But to Mike and his mates, this is a step too far and he spewed his vile opinion on the matter all across the homepage of the once-great NZ Herald. Not surprisingly, Mr Hosking is quite concerned by all these matters coming to light, and in a column full of the usual half-truths and scare-mongering, he kept wondering why we can't just move on with things, and forget the past.
Mr Hosking has made his position on the matter clear in the past, but this new column was another cavalcade of the usual bullshit and was particularly distasteful. Even for him.
It's not just his usual hypocrisy, because you'd expect that from him now, and when he starts randomly attacking journos for getting basic facts wrong, it's inevitable that he's going to fuck up with a couple of his own facts - such as a) they're not called Fairfax anymore and b) yes, actually, pinching somebody's arse IS a fucking crime.
And it's not just the snide dig at Stuff and insistence that his company, which is publishing his idiotic ramblings, would never do a thing like that, which is pure horseshit - the Herald has proudly named and shamed those guilty of sexual misconduct, and has happily crowed about the page hits these things produce on its website.
And it's not just the idea that journalists should never investigate everything, because they can't be trusted. Leaving aside the fact that Stuff's #metoo campaign has some extremely solid, experienced and professional journos involved, and also has a lot of experts and lawyers backing it, it appears that Mr Hosking thinks reporters should be transcribers of notable events, and shouldn't go digging into things, especially into the affairs of people with a bit of power. Mr Hosking frequently asserts that he is not a journalist, but that doesn't that ignorance stop him from telling journos how to (wrongly) do their jobs.
It's not even the blithe, arrogant assertion as fact that Hosking wasn't alone in his uneasiness, that there was widespread derision and a large consensus that this was all a witch hunt by a bunch of stroppy feminists, when even the most casual reading of the reaction showed wide support for the project from everybody who wasn't an old straight white dude. Or a Christchurch cartoonist.
No, above all, it's that nobody fucking needed another example of 'there's nothing to see here' mentality, which has allowed the shitheads responsible for so much misery and harm to get away with it for so long. It's the casual misogyny of it all, and the seeding of distrust of any potential victims who may have the guts to come forward. That's what really stings - the lack of concern for people who have been fucked over and the idea that everyone would be happier if they just kept their traps shut.
The Herald still produces a fucking heap of great stories, and has a lot of great journos working for it, but they're all tainted when this sort of trash is published. Hosking's complaining reeks of the fear of somebody who has something to hide, and is so at odds with everything great journalism stands for that it has no place sitting alongside legitimate reporting.
It's easy for most of us to ignore most of what Mike Hosking says most of the time, but we're not getting anywhere until places like the Herald start ignoring him too.
- Steve Lombard
Posts
