Microsoft - Newses, Newstalk ZB, Morning of 17/03/2006

According to Newstalk ZB's morning newses yesterday, Microsoft was holding a summit on computer security in Auckland. Hardly the most riveting item. With the regularity this story broadcasted however, one could be forgiven for assuming that it was the most important story of the day. All morning, on both Wellington's and Auckland's frequencies, the story was broadcast on news bulletin after news bulletin. And each segment featured an analysis by a Microsoft spokesperson, as to why this conference was so important and why Microsoft in its infinite generosity decided to hold the summit. It actually sounded more like an advertorial than anything else; a claim Newstalk ZB strenuously denied. But if the story was so objectively important, why did not a single other radio station mention it all morning, whereas Newstalk ZB repeated it time after time after time? The sycophancy of the news segments also pointed to a less than honest and objective news analysis. A Microsoft spokesperson talking up his company's product hardly counts as good objective news. We can hence assume one of two things here. 1) Newstalk ZB has an undisclosed relationship with Microsoft which weakens its ability to present an objective account of news. Or 2) The station really has no idea about classifying news according to importance, and can therefore hardly be described as a robust objective media. Either way, Newstalk ZB needs to clean up its act and start living up to the role of an independent media outlet.