Will the media hold TPM up to the same level as they did Muldoon and Peters?

NewstalkZB reports:

Te Pāti Māori says it “will no longer engage” with the New Zealand Herald after the newspaper published a front-page advertisement bought by lobby group Hobson’s Pledge. 

This is astonishing. This isn’t just a political party effectively banning a media organisation because of their editorial stance, but they are banning them because they don’t like one of their advertisers. They are saying that if you accept an advertisement from groups we disagree with, we will refuse to deal with you.

I recall Muldoon banning Tom Scott from his press conferences because he didn’t like what Scott wrote. This was covered by numerous other media scores and scores of time. Everyone was outraged that a leader would do this. Well what TPM are doing is arguably worse,. They are saying that if you even accept advertisements we dislike, we will refuse to deal with you.

Is the parliamentary press gallery going to complain to TPM about this? Will the Media Freedom Committee? Will the NZ Council for Civil Liberties? Will NZME competitors editorialise is solidarity with NZME?

More recently we have Winston Peters regularly sparring with and sometimes attacking the media. There have been dozens or scores of articles decrying him when he does this.

So lets wait and see whether TPM are held up to the same level of scrutiny as other politicians.

The irony is that what TPM is doing, is very similar to what Donald Trump does. Trump hates it when Fox News runs advertisements critical of him, and he does late nights posts attacking them, and urging people to swap to other mediums etc.

Parliamentary parties and politicians should not be using their power to try and prevent lobby groups from being to advertise.