NZ POLITICS DAILY: Has the GCSB scandal run out of steam?
Or was it a media and partisan beatup from the start?
Or was it a media and partisan beatup from the start?
Has the GCSB scandal run out of steam, or was it a media and partisan beatup from the start? That seems to be the view of veteran media and political commentator Brian Edwards in his contrarian blogpost, Of knuckleheads, long-running stories, media beat-ups and Judith Collins parting the waters.
The crucial part is this: ‘Will the GCSB affair do any permanent damage to John Key? I very much doubt it. This has been a saga of huge interest to the media but, so far as I can see, of precious little interest to anyone else…. On The Nation yesterday my colleague Bill Ralston described the GCSB saga as “one of the longest running stories I’ve ever seen.” I suspect we may look back on it as one of the greatest media beat-ups’. Edwards, a staunch leftwinger, is very sympathetic towards the Prime Minister over the issue and sides with him about the need to be less up front with the media.
How has the media performed over the GCSB saga? Fairfax parliamentary gallery journalist, Andrea Vance, has taken the lead on the scandal, and produced some excellent news and analysis items. Her work shows that investigative political journalism is far from dead in New Zealand, and the parliamentary gallery can play a strong role in holding the powers-that-be to account. Her latest three items are all well worth reading – see: Where's the evidence for GCSB law changes?, Green light to change law to spy on Kiwis, and Key dials back on memory loss over call. But, as security analyst and blogger Paul Buchanan points out, Vance has also made some serious errors – such as labelling him a ‘former US spy’ – see: Journalistic license.
For another example of excellent journalism, read Anthony Hubbard’s Who is watching the watchers?. This is an in-depth examination of the scandal and an illuminating critique of the status quo. (Although on this topic of the health of the media, Chris Trotter asks today ‘How far away are we from the collapse of news and current affairs journalism? – see: The Spin We’re In).
The Opposition have also performed well in holding the Government to account on the GCSB scandal, although at times, Labour and the Greens seem to descend into pure partisan point scoring. John Armstrong makes this point very well today: ‘The very real danger for Labour is that in building a case against Key it is thus seen to be fixated by relative trivia; that Labour is so obsessed with destroying Key as a political force that it can no longer see the wood for the trees’ – see: John Key's ever-changing story. Armstrong is referring to parliamentary debate over Key’s latest blunder in which he has dithered over the issue of how he came to have Ian Fletcher’s phone number. United Future blogger, Pete George, also levels a charge against the Opposition of trivialising and pettiness over the issue – see: “No clue” and “lying by omission”.
Reflecting on the latest twists and turns, Patrick Gower says, ‘So, the political spy games continue’ – see: Key's weapons of mass 'distraction'. He could be referring to both sides of the House, of course. Games are clearly being played by all. And more than anything else, this apparent game playing by the Opposition will help take the steam out of the scandal.
The media, Opposition and blogosphere have also given the PM a hard time about his claims of ‘weapons of mass destruction’ as an attempt to justify the extension of powers for the GCSB – see Danyl Mclauchlan’s Scaremongering for dummies, No Right Turn’s Laughable, Adam Bennett’s PM's hacking claims a distraction – Labour, and Andrea Vance, above. John Armstrong has also written about the significance of Key dangling ‘two disturbing pieces of intelligence agency-obtained information’ to help win us over – see: Information is power.
Could the PM be correct about the cyber threats? Professor Robert Ayson, director of Victoria University's Centre for Strategic Studies appears to give credence to Key’s claims – see Dan Satherley’s Hackers after 'dual-use' technology – expert.
Similarly, Paul Buchanan has said that the ‘PM's remarks that the threat of terrorism and cyber espionage is real are accurate’ – see Chris Keall’s (paywalled) NBR article, Analyst decodes the PM's proposed GCSB law changes. Buchanan cites ‘Auckland's Rakon is an example of a defence-related firm’ that could be under attack from hackers. Notably, Buchanan also lends some credence to the justification for proposed changes to the GCSB act, but stresses that the spy watchdog will still be subservient to the spies, and ‘It is not the fully independent and autonomous agency that one might have expected’.
The news that the Government should have no problem passing its new GSCB legislation – see Adam Bennett’s NZ First backs wider spying – suggests that the GSCB saga may soon run its course. Rightwing blogger David Farrar is painting the changes as merely a correction of ‘what was basically a drafting error in the 2003 law’ – see: GCSB Changes. Increasingly, this version might be the one that the public agrees with.
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