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Wednesday, March 09, 2011

Is Steven Joyce corrupt?


Your $43m lifeline to TV3 owner
The Government has thrown a lifeline to ailing private media company MediaWorks, which owns TV3, Four, and about half New Zealand's commercial radio stations.

MediaWorks' latest accounts show it has essentially received a $43.3 million loan from the Crown to enable it to renew its radio broadcasting licences for the next 20 years.

According to the accounts, which MediaWorks is obliged to file with the Companies Office because it is overseas-owned, the private company is paying 11.2 per cent interest on the money, which has been granted for just over four years.

The Government appears to have agreed to the deal despite MediaWorks taking the Inland Revenue Department to court over a disputed tax bill. The IRD alleges the company owes $24.5 million in tax, interest and penalty payments from 2002 to 2004.

Telecommunications Minister Steven Joyce yesterday said the money was not a loan, but a deferred payment system to help the radio industry during tough times in 2009. Earlier reports said MediaWorks had been due to pay the Government the $43m in October last year to renew its radio licences for the 2011-2031 period.


I've never trusted Steven Joyce when he was so deeply involved with the machinations around the Exclusive Brethren in 2005, something the mainstream media NEVER point out, but I have several times...

In the week of the 16-20 May 2005, Steven Joyce had a formal meeting with the exclusive brethren who were organizing their despicable advertising campaign and Joyce met quietly with other pro-National lobby organizations telling them the two crucial messages were “change”. Change was the main theme the Exclusive Brethren ended up using, remember National weren’t officially having these meetings with the Brethren and Joyce was the hollow brain behind this.

Joyce also saw the draft pamphlets and advertisements from the Exclusive Brethren before they went out, remember National initially pretended they knew nothing about the Exclusive Brethren.

When confronted with allegations that this was a stitch up job, Joyce’s ‘response’ was that Stephen Win (the contact person on the EB pamphlets and advertising) wasn’t a National Party guy and it certainly wasn’t a National-funded campaign – that of course is a twisting of the facts after meeting with the EB and providing input and viewing all material about to be released by the EB, we can see how hollow Joyce’s response really was.

In 2005 Joyce wrote to electoral campaign committees saying that “in this election National is planning to go close to its legal limit for Party Vote campaign expenditure (meaning $2,240,000), That has not happened previously”. Interestingly when the donation declarations were delivered to the Electoral Commission not one name from National’s largest financial backers were declared after their donations had been washed through the National Party launderette, the ‘Waitemata Trust’ so that their political influence through financial donations remained invisible. Interesting side note isn’t it, Winston was crucified in the media for something the Electoral Commission, the Serious Fraud Office and the Police cleared him on, has National’s funding ever been given that level of scrutiny?

Steven Joyce was credited in the last election by National Svengali Peter Keenan for keeping on Crosby/Texter, the Australian spin Doctors who were so good this election at spinning the ‘change’ and ‘moderation’ con job.

The Hollow Brain went to Australia to meet with Crosby/Texter and on October 19th 2004 prepared the con job they would use to try and spin the election on, it is incredible how much of that con job was so similar to the con job the Hollow Brain used to win this election, let’s go through them…

1: Stop us going down the path to rampant political correctness.
2: Put an end to the grievance industry.
3: Make our community safer by locking away violent criminals.
4: Ensure your hard-earned tax dollars are spent on Education and Health and not wasted on Labour’s pet projects and bureaucracy.
5: Put in place economic policies that will lift all our incomes closer to those of Australians.
6: Tighten up Welfare and ensure that everyone that can work does work.


Note, none of this is policy, just focus meeting tested bigotry.

Interesting to note that when Joyce was challenged on whether or not Crosby/Texter was giving National advice in 2005, Joyce said there was ‘some’ advice but National had no plans of bringing them to NZ, which was a clear twisting of the truth because Joyce had been to see them in 2004, when challenged again Joyce fudged the issue and pretended to not know the depth of any Crosby/Texter relationship and advised Don Brash to claim he only met them in passing.


...so I've never trusted Joyce and now we have this situation where Joyce as Telecommunications Minister has greenlighted Mediaworks, a foreign owned media company, a $43 million lifeline because if the Government didn't do that, Mediaworks would have to hand back the frequencies to the Government.

Does that mean if the Rock was handed back to the Government that would be the end of sex tourism and exploitation competitions?

GREAT!

So while this Government butcher public broadcasting, the Telecommunications Minister is giving a foriegn owned media outlet a $43 million extension because of poor revenue? That's just not true, radio advertising is the most lucrative part of the Mediaworks revenue empire, it's the TV that is dragging them down, this money isn't going to prop up radio, its being used to prop up the highly leveraged Ironbridge idiocy that bought Mediaworks from Canwest.

And what was Mediaworks before Canwest bought it? Why it was a company called RadioWorks and who owned RadioWorks - wait for it because it'll have you crying into your keyboard - why current Telecommunications Minister Steven Joyce, he owned RadioWorks.

So the question has to be put, why on earth is Telecommunications Minister Steven Joyce cutting juicy deals for a company, part of which he used to own while Public Broadcasting is flushed down the toilet and why aren't more NZers furious about this deal?

8 Comments:

At 9/3/11 7:58 pm, Blogger Wingate said...

The cashline again explains why NZ media is such a puppet of the system- 60 Minutes was doing a doing about Matakana Island litigation- then they pulled the plug- 2 of TV 3 staff said the story was huge- massive corruption- and could not understand the decision to pull the filming.

 
At 9/3/11 8:43 pm, Blogger Grassroots said...

Your right Bomber this is corruption 100% and I'm furious don't you worry! I got a TVNZ letter printed in the newspaper on Monday (see below). This new Mediaworks scam highlights the real problem: politicians suppressing the media while feasting on kiwi SOE drumsticks!!! It would appear rupert murdoch has some apprentices in the national party.

Bay of Plenty Times 7/3/11
"Children suffer loss of free kidzone channel"

TVNZ Channel 6 Kidzone was a great example of what public service broadcasting is all about. Free to air educational and age appropriate childrens programmes with 50% local content and no commercials. It even included segments on different cultures, food, sport, music, etc written and produced by a team of early-childhood education professionals. Unfortunately it’s just been cancelled and is being replaced with “Channel U” youth and reality tv. Can TVNZ Chief Executive Rick Ellis please explain why he thinks teenagers are watching tv during school/work hours more than under 5’s? Surely Broadcasting Minister Jonathan Coleman is aware that TVNZ has just announced it’s launching a new 24 hour Kidzone pre-school childrens channel on SKY pay tv? Less than half of NZ households have pay tv so this decision has not been made in the best interests of kiwi kids or our community. Apparently our power stations aren’t the only SOE for sale.

 
At 10/3/11 2:57 pm, Blogger Rob said...

This is disgusting, absolutely disgusting. How can this effectively be used to make National lose at the 2011 General Election? Broadcasting and Public Transport are dying because of these inept, corrupt little right-wing politicians.

 
At 10/3/11 4:32 pm, Blogger Sam Hill said...

This is exactly the kind of thing that gets Ministers fired isn't it?

NOT IN THIS COUNTRY. NOT WITH THIS GOVERNMENT.

I hope John Key gets either hit in the balls or knocked out from a ball by a fast bowler at this cricket match on Sunday.

 
At 11/3/11 12:50 am, Blogger Grassroots said...

@wingate, yes the Matakana Island drama is a story TV3 should have aired since its about a multi pronged greedfest over an asset which Tauranga public would rather have unspoilt not turned into an international airport! Politicians are controlling the media, but how long can the NZ public sleep before they realise their vital organs are being removed?

 
At 11/3/11 8:47 am, Blogger frances jane said...

It is exactly why the whole internet, not just the print media, has taken control of our lives in an insidious mind sucking insurgence of less than zero quality content. I had to troll through news sights for weeks to find this page which explained why THERE IS NOTHING TO WATCH ON TV
damn this government and damn Stephen Joyce- this as all part of the great millennium brain theft, which is not, by the way, a Margeret Mahy story

 
At 13/3/11 10:55 am, Blogger countryboy said...

I have a small and simple mind . However ...It is prone to flights of fancy and I can't seen to stop it . I asked Lianne Dalziel one simple question some time ago while I had her audience . Before I asked that question however , I went to some length to explain why I was asking my one simple question . Let me explain ; Take New Zealand and rise above the land . Look down . You will see two main islands , rich and fertile . Plentiful fresh water flowing through soil that can grow almost anything and managed by the very best farmers in the world ! Take our mineral resources . LPG , sweet crude oil , coal , gold , forestry . What about an infrastructure until recently , second to none . Rail , roading , electricity supply infrastructure . Look at us ! Well educated , unified in the pursuit of happiness and security . We're an extraordinary lot also . There are , and have been some great minds rise up through the tussocks . Best of all ... There's only four million of us . Four million people on this rich land the size of the UK that has some 50 million ! My question ? Where's the f.....g money ? Where's OUR money Lianne . Opposition spokesperson on Justice and commerce . She replied ... I don't know . She doesn't know ! ? While I'm no accountant , I figured out that there must be billions of dollars missing from NZ's accounts . And it happened relatively suddenly . Where is it then you ask ? I dunno but it aint here no more . Perhaps the Swiss could help ? And another thing worth noting . In a democracy , and it's rumouered that is what we have . It is US who are the politicians ! We all have a solemn responsibility to maintain our right to , not only vote but to remove those who might take advantage of our largesse as tax payers . That is clearly happening , and what is also clear is that we can't do a bloody thing about it . That's what keeps me awake at night .

 
At 9/4/11 12:43 pm, Blogger Chris Prudence said...

MediaWorks taking the Inland Revenue Department to court over a disputed tax bill. The IRD alleges the company owes $24.5 million in tax, THAT'S THE IRD TAKING THEM TO COURT AND NOT THE OTHER WAY ROUND RIGHT?

 

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