The State of David Seymour's Shameless Double Standards

.

.

David Seymour has come a long way from portraying himself as a “lovable scamp”, etching a vision of his distended derrière - baboon-style - for unlucky viewers of Dancing with the Stars. It reinvented him from the leader of the small, neo-liberal faction in Aotearoa with harsh socio-economic policies - to making him look, well, fairly harmless. And just a bit cute, in a Cocker Spaniel kind of way.

.

.

He was anything but.

In this regard, Dancing with the Stars’ producers ably assisted the covert rehabilitation of his public persona - something which TVNZ executives would come to rue six years later.

The “lovable scamp” was a mask for a man with a streak of vindictiveness that could only be called Trumpian.

With recent announcements still reverberating throughout the motu, TV3’s Newshub and TVNZ are both on course for what can only be described as severe amputations to news, current affairs and investigative journalism.

Aotearoa is facing an existential crisis that will undermine a good deal of our democratic foundations.

Cue: David Seymour.

At first, he explained matter-of-factly on NewstalkZB:

“That’s not quite true, the media landscape is changing.”

Which is commonly accepted as a well-known truism. The media landscape is changing in the 21st century and continues to be volatile as new devices with new features appear on the market. The notion of a family sitting down together to watch television is as quaint as the family sitting around a radio.

From this…

.

.

To this…

.

.

And now…?

.

.

But where Mr Seymour went off the rails and exposed his unfettered Trumpian vindictiveness was when he added - quite unecessarily:

"I mean I saw a report on 1News, Benedict Collins grinning down the camera about Chris Luxon's apartment costs.

These are the people that cry, 'Oh you've got to give us sympathy, and you're inhumane and you should be kinder to us'."

But they have spent years celebrating and dancing at every slip a politician makes, competing to get scalps as they call them, and all of a sudden they say, 'But oh when we have a bad day you've got to be kind to us'.

I think it shows their delightful lack of self-awareness and immaturity."

It was pointed out to Occasional Broadcasting Minister, Melisa Lee, that Mr Seymour’s comments were inappropriate, given that he is a TVNZ shareholding minister.

As Jaime Lyth and Claire Trevett wrote in the Herald:

The Television New Zealand Act stipulates TVNZ’s editorial independence from the Government, saying no shareholding minister, or any minister, can give a direction to TVNZ in respect of its programmes, content, or any complaints about its content, or “the gathering or presentation of news or the preparation or presentation of any current affairs programme or content”.

Broadcasting Minister Melissa Lee said Seymour was responsible for answering to his own comments, but said people were free to express an opinion and she was not across the detail of his comments.

However, she said shareholding ministers had a responsibility not to give instruction to the media they were shareholders in – and pointed to former Broadcasting Minister Willie Jackson commenting on journalists’ work when he was broadcasting minister.

Pressed on whether Seymour was in breach of that responsibility, she said it was possible Seymour had been talking in his capacity as an MP rather than as a minister.

After it was pointed out that the Cabinet Manual makes it clear ministers must act appropriately, no matter what hat they might be wearing at any given time – be it as a minister, a normal MP, or in a personal capacity, Lee said she would discuss it with Seymour.

Mr Seymour’s response was reported by RNZ:

He told RNZ he had not heard from his Cabinet colleague and "it wouldn't really be her job in any event, but of course I always listen to everyone and think about what they say, it's part of my job".

If comments could not be made about the "quality of media generally", Seymour said, "I think we've really shut down any kind of debate".

Which is the polar opposite to the criticism he himself dished out to then Cabinet Minister Kiritapu Allan.

Ms Allan had criticised the management of RNZ for being seemingly unable/unwilling to promote Māori within the organisation. The comments were made at a going-away function for Ms Allan’s partner, Māni Dunlop, who had resigned after being passed over for a co-hosting role on RNZ’s Morning Report.

The function was supposedly a closed, private affair: “RNZ's legal adviser George Bignell said the farewell for Dunlop was conducted in accordance with tikanga Māori as well as RNZ's protocols. This included "an open floor where people could trust that what they said was for that audience only and they were able to speak openly and frankly".”

The speakers were evidently recorded, though it is unclear if those participating (a) knew they were being recorded (b) understood how the recordings would be used (c) knew that they might be disclosed using Official Information Act requests.

Part of Ms Allan’s critical comments of RNZ’s management was subsequently made public:

"There is something within this organisation that has to be looked at. Now I know that you said that you would pick up that, the wero, that Māni left. It is not for just you, it is for your SLT (senior leadership team) to pick up. It's for your SLT to pick up. It's for your boards to pick up. That there is something within the organisation that will not, and has not been able to keep Māori talent and that is a question that I think deserves some deep reflection.

We are looking at these two, and we are looking at this organisation and how it treats its talent. Want to know ... she doesn't need to do it, it's not her role to carry that anymore. So it's to this room, and the people within this place to grow and nurture, show that they have a viable future within this organisation. That you can come in as an intern and that you can get to the top spot, not just because you are Māori but because you have trained them well, you have nurtured them well."

Ms Allan was roundly attacked for her comments and she duly apologised. (The so-called Free Speech Union apparently did not come to Ms Allan’s defence, defending her right to free speech. )

Being a Minister of the Crown, her comments were viewed as violating the Cabinet Manual.

And then-Opposition MP, David Seymour, chimed in:

ACT leader David Seymour said Allan should have remembered she is always on duty, especially given the heightened awareness of the Cabinet manual since the sacking of Stuart Nash.

"There is a real problem when the people who hold the purse strings aren't absolutely critically cautious about even the perception of interfering with media."

Nobody loses their democracy all at once, it's always a thousand little chips and we don't want to see them. It's good she's apologised, but I can't believe she did it."

It seems inconceivable that Mr Seymour could make his ill-advised comments about TVNZ and its political reporter, Benedict Collins, and not recall that he condemned Kiri Allan for almost the same ‘sin’. (Ms Allan made her comments at a private function. Mr Seymour broadcast his remarks to the entire nation.)

Ms Allan apologised.

Mr Seymour has doubled-down.

Which raises the very real question whether the ACT leader is fit to be a Minister of the Crown if he can thumb his nose at the Cabinet Manual.

It also raises the question: where is Prime Minister Luxon throughout this fiasco? Will the PM reign in one of his ministers? Or is it a free-for-all as ACT and NZ First are the real power-brokers behind this shaky coalition?

Is Mr Luxon impotent to act decisively?

And how long will it be before the public come to fully understand the impotence of our current Prime Minister?

Expect more shenanigans from ACT and NZ First.

And an early election.

.

Epilogue

Joshua Drummond, writing in The Bad Newsletter, made these salient points:

Naturally, David Seymour, the future Deputy Prime Minister and shareholding minister in TVNZ, is already dancing on journalism's grave. It's absurd. Very few politicians or political parties have manipulated or benefited from media the way David Seymour and ACT have; witness this telling tale from The Spinoff, wherein Seymour utterly ghosts the media that have helped him so much the moment he has no more use for them.

There is some truth to Seymour's allegation that political news media can be more concerned with scalps than with substance. One major problem with his take is that he's been a huge net beneficiary of their optics-first focus, and that the "scalps" tend to belong to people quite unlike Seymour. Too often they're young, brown women. Just because there's accuracy to elements of his critique doesn't mean it's being offered in good faith; in fact it seems that as a shareholding minister of TVNZ his comments could be breaking the law.

The ACT leader certainly exploited the ‘scalp’ handed to him by the media. And scored a few political points in the process.

Perched high atop a moral high-ground is not Mr Seymour’s usual habitat. Think: fish-out-of-water.

.

Hat-tip

Philip Matthews

.

.

References

NZ Herald: David Seymour blasts TVNZ reporter, TVNZ hits back

RNZ: David Seymour denies overstepping with attack on TVNZ journalist

RNZ: RNZ releases comments from Kiri Allan speech

RNZ: Allan backed by commentators over Māori broadcasting remarks

Twitter/X: Philip Matthews - Kiri Allan - David Seymour

Additional

DPMC: Cabinet Manual

Other Blogs

The Bad Newsletter: The bad news for news

The Knightly Views: Newshub bell is tolling but who can hear it?

Previous related blogposts

ACT Party candidate David Seymour – revealed (2014)

David Seymour – A Valid ‘Hit’ and a Colossal ‘Miss’ (2018)

The State of David Seymour's Shamelessness

.

Acknowledgement: Jeff Bell

.

Liked what you read? Feel free to share.

Have your own thoughts? Leave a comment. (Trolls need not bother.)

.

= fs =