Editorial: Kim Dotcom
By Media Matters President, JOHN TERRIS
Friday, 25 January 2013
The extent of the media coverage in New Zealand of the sayings and doings of Kim Dotcom, raise some questions about the sense of responsibility of our media at a time when there is very little local news because the Government and workplaces here have yet to gear up fully for the New Year, and so there is a dearth of serious news.
The Blimp-like figure's new site Mega is certainly international news but two things appear to be emerging from informed commentators.
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The new site may be legal but it also lacks a point of difference from other cloud services already available and is therefore unlikely to amass the sort of enormous following that Megaupload enjoyed.
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That in turn suggests that the "hundreds of jobs" which Kim Dotcom has airily referred will be unlikely to eventuate and certainly not in NZ.
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However, as a highly skilled public relations practitioner, KDC clearly appreciates the international reputation for probity which NZ as a nation enjoys, and which has led him to base himself here, despite his being a fugitive from the United States justice system.
Since doing so he has launched a charm offensive on the New Zealand public (including probably baseless job promises which at least some of our media seem to have accepted at face value) in a manner which is reminiscent of another fugitive from justice, Julian Assange's suddenly embracing the republic of Uruquay, because of its stance on Human Rights.
The serious question is "Are we all being taken for a ride here by an overweight con-man with a big bank account who is trying to delay the inevitable day when he must front the Justice System in the US and defend what are apparently serious breaches of the law there?"
John Terris is National President for Media Matters in NZ, is a former TV producer and also former Labour (Opposition) spokesperson on Broadcasting.
