ur media has been captured, and with it the ability for us to ensure transparency and the right to speak truth to power. Democracy falters where the Fourth Estate is neglected.
Much of our mainstream media has become a self-affirming political monoculture, filled with ideologues and would-be-censors who claim to bear the rubber stamp of truth.
Across issues such as climate change, the treaty, or gender issues, media professionals who take dissenting viewpoints, or even just present the issues in a balanced way, risk censure, censorship, or both.
The media now resides amongst New Zealand’s least trusted professions. We are fast becoming world leaders in consistent news avoidance because of the negative emotions it generates, and because Kiwis don’t trust journalists to give them a balanced perspective.
The journalistic enterprise has been corrupted by click-bait, algorithms, and ideological conformity. Many now gather confirmation, not information, from the news they read. The public are no longer trusted to make their own minds up, the truth is pre-packaged and delivered to them.
Our democracy depends on a free and open press that will hold our institutions, and the individuals who represent them, to account. Our media professionals need to be supported and encouraged to ask the tough questions, to delve into controversy, and to fearlessly investigate questions of social interest.
By standing up for your right to report the issues freely, you can lead the way back to a media landscape that is characterised by balanced reporting of events and a spirited exchange of diverse ideas and perspectives.
If you believe in a free and open media, and the importance of free speech in guiding the way there, the Free Speech Union is here for you.
It won’t be easy. By embodying principles of objectivity and transparency, you can lead the way to restoring a more open and honest media, and with it, the public’s trust.
Our citizens need to know that they can rely on their media to give them a fair and evenly-weighted account of events, without personal bias or moralistic undertones. That starts with you.
We understand what it feels like to be stifled and sidelined simply for holding a balanced mindset. You need to be free to pursue the lines of inquiry you choose, and present all sides of a story without the imposition of ideological agendas or narratives.
The Free Speech Union stands with you in rejecting a propagandistic culture of moralising media and truth claims from on high that threaten to corrode the public’s trust and further inculcate division.
Join a community of media professionals who value free expression and open investigation – both for themselves, and for the community they serve.
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