A weird article

Stuff reports:

When leader of the opposition, Chris Hipkins joined broadcaster Sean Plunket on radio outlet, The Platform, on Wednesday, it seemed a strange fit for the leader of the Labour Party.

The Platform is an online radio station that was founded by former Magic Talk broadcaster Sean Plunket in 2022. The station describes itself as an “independent digital media site” which does not “take your tax payer dollars through government funded agencies”. It promotes itself as a space to “receive and impart views and opinions the mainstream media simply cannot handle”.

While rare, it wasn’t the first time Hipkins had spoken to Plunket on the station. Plunket introduced his morning guest by saying it had been “a while between drinks”, and that Hipkins had “become and un-become prime minister”.

While mostly cordial, there was a bit of back and forth when Plunket suggested the Labour party was too “woke” for middle New Zealand and that the Labour Government “tended to cancel and de-platform people” and was “far from tolerant of people ideologically different from it”. Both claims Hipkins denied.

It seems weird for Stuff to publish an entire article on the fact Chris Hipkins was interviewed on The Platform.

The Spinoff’s readership is very left leaning, but no one suggests the National MPs should refuse to talk to them.

It is in fact smart to do media interviews with outlets that are not ideologically friendly to you. You get challenged in a way, you won’t with other media. It actually gives you a chance to confront issues that many NZers care about, but are not generally put to MPs.