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Empowering Men:
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Radio New Zealand and Women's
Refuge
(three times updated)
Peter Zohrab 2024 |
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(Open Letter to the
Minister of Broadcasting)
Dear Mr. Goldsmith,
Introduction
As I said in my emailed letter of 28/07/2024 to you as Minister of
Justice, New Zealand lacks both a democratic media sector and a democratic
education sector. Instead of these sectors examining both sides of every
issue, they are full of activists who concentrate on furthering particular
political agendas (especially Feminism) and blocking the expression
of views or publication of evidence that contradict these agendas.
In this connection, I am now writing to you to accuse Radio New Zealand
of being (amongst other things) a megaphone which is devoted to frequently
providing Women's Refuge with undeserved credibility, by frequently
quoting its views and pseudo-statistics, as if (a) Women's Refuge were
a reliable source of information on Domestic Violence in New Zealand
and (b) Women's Refuge were the only source
of information on Domestic Violence in New Zealand -- without subjecting
Women's Refuge to any sceptical inquiry, cross-examination, or forced
debate with opposing parties (such as myself).
For example, on 5 August 2024, on its 8:00 AM news, Radio New Zealand
reported that Women's Refuge had given record numbers of food parcels
to women who were (allegedly) escaping violent relationships.
I inserted the word "allegedly", because Radio New Zealand
never expresses any degree of scepticisim about anything that Women's
Refuge states.
As I stated on my webpage "Incitement
of Hatred Against Men by Women's Refuge", Women's Refuge lies
and states that Domestic Violence is a pattern of power, control and
coercion. In fact, Domestic Violence is violence which occurs in a domestic
setting. If there is a pattern of power, control and coercion, that
is a separate issue. The reason that Women's Refuge states that Domestic
Violence is a pattern of power, control and coercion is because it wants
to blame men for most or all Domestic Violence, and it is playing with
a stereotype (created by Feminists), whereby such so-called "power,
control and coercion" can only be exercised by men.
In order to establish the facts, I am forced to submit an Official
Information Act request to Radio New Zealand. I am sending this
request to you, initially, in the hope that you will pass it on to Radio
New Zealand, because it is a highly political matter that you need to
be made aware of.
In so doing, I emphasise that I am not asking for your opinion, and
I am not wishing to debate any matter with you (at this stage, anyway).
Official Information Act Requests
Under the Official Information Act, could Radio New Zealand please
inform me, with regard to the last ten years:
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How many times it has reported statements by Women's Refuge;
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How many times it has investigated those statements for accuracy;
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How many times it has asked political opponents of Women's Refuge
for comment on statements by Women's Refuge;
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How many times it has quoted statements by opponents of Women's
Refuge;
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How many times it has thoroughly investigated the ways that Women's
Refuge carry out their work.
Yours sincerely,
Peter Zohrab
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In due course, I received the following reply from Radio New Zealand:
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Subject:
RE: CORPG1805 Radio New Zealand and Women's Refuge
From:
George Bignell <George.Bignell@rnz.co.nz>
Date:
18/09/2024 8:31 am
To:
"peter.zohrab@xtra.co.nz" <peter.zohrab@xtra.co.nz>
Dear Mr Zohrab
Your request lodged with the Minister of Broadcasting (copy below)
has been referred to Radio New Zealand for reply. You have asked for
the following information over the last ten years:
1. How many times it has reported statements by Women's Refuge;
2. How many times it has investigated those statements for accuracy;
3. How many times it has asked political opponents of Women's Refuge
for comment on statements by Women's Refuge;
4. How many times it has quoted statements by opponents of Women's
Refuge;
5. How many times it has thoroughly investigated the ways that Women's
Refuge carry out their work.
Your request is refused under s18(e) of the Official Information Act
as the information does not exist as we do not compile the statistics
you seek. RNZ advises that we have operated our website www.rnz.co.nz
since 2008 and a search for "women's refuge" will return a
number of RNZ stories which are publicly available and may be pertinent
to your inquiry. This would need to be considered an incomplete record
as it would not include, for example, every news radio bulletin broadcast
on RNZ National over time.
You have a right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman
of this decision. Information about how to make a complaint is
available at www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone 0800 802
602.
Nga mihi
George Bignell
RNZ, PO Box 123, Wellington, New Zealand, 6140
DDI +64 4 474 1424
Mobile: +64 27 491 2246
www.rnz.co.nz
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I replied as follows:
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Dear Mr. Bignell,
Thank you for your reply to my Official Information Request.
Since you say that you do not compile the requested statistics, could
you please -- under the Official Information Act -- send me copies of
every news radio bulletin broadcast on RNZ National over the past ten
years -- preferably in digital (electronic) form, so that I can compile
the statistics myself?
Yours sincerely,
Peter Zohrab
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In due course, I received the following reply from Radio New Zealand:
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Dear Mr Zohrab
Your request for "...copies of every news radio bulletin broadcast
on RNZ National over the past ten years is refused under section 18(f)of
the Official Information Act as follows:
" 18 Refusal of requests
A request made in accordance with section 12 may be refused only
for 1 or more of the following reasons, namely:
...
(f) that the information requested cannot be made available without
substantial collation or research:"
By way of explanation, the manner in which we archive bulletin stories
is on an item by item or story by story basis within each bulletin which
means you are seeking to access over 1.5 million records. We have been
unable to identify a technical means by which this could be achieved
for you either directly into our editorial computer system or indirectly
by way of a "file dump".
You have a right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman
of this decision. Information about how to make a complaint is available
at www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone 0800 802 602.
Nga mihi
George Bignell
RNZ, PO Box 123, Wellington, New Zealand, 6140
DDI +64 4 474 1424
Mobile: +64 27 491 2246
www.rnz.co.nz
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Someone has let women out of the kitchen -- and they
have been telling lies ever since!
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