All the news that's shit to print.

Xtra’s home page this morning lead with the “news” that there still had been no charge laid against the four English rugby players who had allegedly raped a woman in Auckland. It seems to me a strange lead. With all that has happened in the world, why would you lead with something that has not happened? The fact that those players will be subjected to an internal enquiry by the English Rugby Union may have some news purpose and that could well have been the lead. But it wasn’t. And nor, in my view, should it have been. The whole story seems fatuous from the start. It smacks of xenophobic prurient interest by our media who seems to have time as well as something else on their hands. Yes, I guess there is a place for that type of thing in our media, and readers and viewers for it, but I can’t help thinking that the investigative expertise of the reporters involved could be placed better elsewhere. For example they could investigate how a country of 4 million, akin to a small city elsewhere, can afford to shell-out almost $500 million to a small sector of society while many in our community suffer and the welfare system disintegrates around us. The “Treelords” deal, the latest but not the last in a long line of multi-million dollar so-called Treaty settlements may or may not be morally justified. But, looked at realistically and altruistically (neither of which seems to have much to do with Treaty settlements), could not have Maoridom who negotiated this deal with a compliant government have said, “look you have $500 million in assets and back-rental, we’ll drop the claim if you ring-fence those funds for an injection into our heath system, in putting more police on the beat and resourcing our schools—in helping the total community”? But no. Instead we have something like “open up your coffers, we’ll see how much you have to spare, add 10%, take it and later come back for more. And wile we are at it we have a couple of cousins lining up behind us.” I don’t think that lady was raped, no matter what inference the media take from what happened, but I think the country is.ow many more police the $400 million spent on the “Treelords” settlement would put on the beat or doctors in our wards.

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