My first radio show "The Dialogue" was broadcast yesterday from 10am-1pm on RCR. It was a childhood dream I never truly expected to eventuate. I grew up listening to a lot of talk radio—and I mean a lot. There were years where I listened almost daily. I always imagined what it would be like to be a host, put a show together, and execute it. The RCR team is really great to work with and we have a few shows planned in the coming weeks.
It's been a big decade for me. I turned 29 this week. Back when I was 19 I was studying at university and planning a wedding. A career in software engineering, the better part of a house, a blogging hobby, and three kids later I can look back at a busy decade in which things got better for us. Perhaps worse for society, but that was inevitable. What matters is the counter attack. What matters is taking back what was taken from us.
People sometimes say I sound like I am too busy, and yes I am—I find that being too busy is the way to get things done. I take a few breaks every now and then, and I do really focus on my family and the things most important to me. In particular the strict sabbatarian requirement of the Reformed faith keeps me sane in a world where people struggle to switch off. Without that grace I do think I'd probably go mad.
I think back to when I started blogging in 2016. The right-wing media landscape was a few fellow bloggers. Now we have The BFD as a big media player and a few other smaller independent outfits trying to follow that path being forged. We have Reality Check Radio producing awesome interviews every week. I suspect it's only a matter of time before we really see someone on the right break out into the video space as well.
We're part of the new media landscape here. We are the future. You dear readers are making that future possible.
The "Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill" was before a select committee this week with the presstitutes lining up to beg the government pass it.
Media bosses sounded a warning in Parliament today about journalism in jeopardy and the potential damage to democracy if the government does not back a Bill making offshore tech giants pay for their news.
RNZ chief executive Paul Thompson said media companies did not have a "level playing field" with tech giants like Meta and Google.
He said several could close in the foreseeable future and the resulting vacuum could be filled by misinformation and disinformation from offshore.
If I were on the committee I would have laughed at that. All this does is raise the question as to why the current government hasn't fired Paul Thompson for running propaganda for the previous government.
[Stuff chief executive Sinead Boucher] said she had spoken to several media executives who said their companies were "clinging on by their fingertips" and proprietary innovations in AI could make it worse.
"This is looking increasingly like an extinction-level event."
We can only hope.
Thankfully the bill looks to be dead-on-arrival as National and ACT voted against a similar proposal last year, and NZ First generally treats the legacy media with contempt and ridicule.
The landscape is changing, and the media that will thrive are the ones that can produce quality content that people are willing to. This creates excellent creative opportunities for brash, focused, and dedicated people on the right-wing to step in and expand our own work in this information war.