Journalist of the year Andrea Vance and The Post have been found out by the Media Council for telling ‘ferry-tales’.
In early March, Vance published a story that our ferry replacement programme is “$167 million over budget”.
This was totally and factually incorrect.
We pointed out to Vance directly, twice, that she confused two different numbers that had been public for all to see for almost four months.
The first number was $1.867 billion, being the total programme cost including funding from ports for assets they will own, and $1.7 billion being the Government’s share of costs for assets the taxpayer will own.
Vance conflated the two figures and misled the public as a result – or as the Media Council said: “As such both the article and the headline are inaccurate and mislead the public.”
The Media Council found “Mr Peters is correct to say that The Post’s confusion could have been avoided if the reporter had simply rung any of the relevant parties to check her facts.”
No doubt we will see far more ‘Opinion’ pieces from Vance, because that’s what media do when they let their story get in the way of the facts.
Meanwhile, we will carry on fixing the Cook Strait mess with two new road and rail ferries and the marine infrastructure to support it, without all the ridiculous waste the Labour Government added in, and saving New Zealand $2.3 billion in the process.
Good luck on becoming ‘Journalist of the Year’ this year. Bon voyage.
@NCR_fc@nzleagues@NZ_Football
Pro football hopeful Aston Hurd on his special tā moko, hard work and sporting goals, via @nzherald
https://t.co/GsoQbSHrQo