Round Two: Peters Versus Soper 'n' TVNZ
Mr Peters in his element - having a good old fashioned stoush with the media - thankfully no boring foreign affairs got
in the way of the verbal jousting.
********
If the Prime Minister had announced at her post cabinet press-conference the imminent dissolution of her government it
seems likely senior reporters from Newstalk ZB and TVNZ would still have decided to harangue her over a spat they were
involved in with Foreign Minister Winston Peters, last week, in Washington DC.
After the PM pointed out to the press gallery that New Zealand was supporting the Secretary General to bring about an
immediate ceasefire to the conflict in the Middle East - a conflict that has killed hundreds of civilians, has destroyed
Lebanon and threatens world stability - Newstalk ZB's Barry Soper decided it was essential that he ask question after
question about a spat between himself and Mr Peters.
The only time that Mr Soper was interrupted from asking questions about a news story that directly involved himself was
when TVNZ's political editor Guyon Espiner butted in to get the PM's take on Mr Peters media contretemps - a contretemps
that also directly involved Mr Espiner.
Fortunately for the Prime Minister Mr Peters had called a press conference on the same afternoon and so Mr Soper and Mr
Espiner were able to leave out the middle-person (the PM) and keep their battle going with Mr Peters in front of their
peers and colleagues.
Newstalk ZB's Barry Soper started the press conference with Mr Peters in a state of high dudgeon and later worked
himself into a state of hurt outrage
********
Mr Soper struck up a handy position in front of the cameras and kicked proceedings off by accusing Mr Peters of untruths
in a press statement. Mr Peters countered by accusing the media of spreading a tissue of lies. The general theme of
untruths, the media's hidden agenda and 'tissues of lies' then ran for the next quarter of hour.
Mr Peters was particularly upset that TVNZ may have manipulated the tape that showed him cutting short a press
conference with Senator McCain. It was uncertain wether Mr Peters was alluding to a Weta Digital FX type attempt to deceive the public or a practice occasionally used by news organisations known as 'editing'.
Much like Sid Vicious singing Frank Sinatra's 'My Way' Winston Peters was a man with few regrets. In fact the only
regret Mr Peters seemed to have was that the NZ media was infested with alleged "arrogance". Early on in Mr Peters
conference the proceedings resembled a wrestling match (WWF style) however while the media were able to tag team their
peers, colleagues and friends, Mr Peters fought alone, like a Bulgarian bear surrounded by news hounds.
After TVNZ and Newstalk ZB had caught their barbs from the irascible but also oddly jovial Mr Peters representatives
from the Dominion Post, Radio NZ and NZ Herald lined up for their own personal insults. Of these three organisations
only the NZ Herald representative was able to achieve anything like the ructions initially enjoyed by Newstalk ZB and
TVNZ.
TVNZ political editor Guyon Espiner took a backseat to veteran gallery journalist Barry Soper in the Peters baiting but
was still filled with indignation at the perceived sleights heaped upon NZ's largest broadcaster (TVNZ) by NZ's feisty
Foreign Minister
********
Midway through the press conference Mr Peters did make mention of the crisis in Lebanon which he referred to as the
"Lebanon thing". Scoop understands that this was in relation to organising a meeting with Condoleezza Rice while he was in Washington DC.
Thankfully for the media, and no doubt Mr Peters, this was the only tangential mention of what Mr Peters is employed to
do and pretty soon it was back to hearty insult trading.
********
Listen to (initially) Newstalk ZB's Barry Soper and TVNZ's Guyon Espiner duking it out verbally with Winston Peters -
following initial skirmishes other media representatives pile into the media melee/scrum/maul
Click here to download file (mp3)
ENDS