Anonymous innuendo

Stuff has a story on Hutt South MP Chris Bishop which quoted 100% anonymous sources saying a parent or parents were upset that he had been communicating with teenagers on social media.

The headline and story are designed to make you think the worst, and buried deep down you find the statement “None of the parents were concerned that Bishop’s intentions were anything other than misguided.”

Chris has done a post on Facebook setting out the full context. Basically his crime is to be engaged on social media. In fact his Snapchat account went to Story only mode after a few weeks because he heard third hand someone was stirring about this.

It is interesting that this is all about events of many months ago. And it hits the media now. You wonder about the political motivation of those involved and are either of the two parents members of a political party? If so, this is information that is relevant and should have been published.

Disappointed Fairfax has run a story like this, with anonymous sources.