The News of the Day in a Flippant Way (Mar. 26, 2013)

27 March 2013 at 6:19 am

The News of the Day in a Flippant Way
The Panel, Radio New Zealand National, Tuesday 26 March 2013
Jim Mora, Anna Chinn, Bernard Hickey

It’s billed as “The News of the Day in a Different Way”, but in fact Radio NZ National’s chat show “The Panel” is rarely much different from the insultingly vulgar rubbish on commercial talk radio. Look at the way Jim Mora handles the horrifying first story here: it is typical of his approach to many issues. First there is the unctuous protestation of concern, then theflippant comment that betrays a lack of moral seriousness or substantial engagement with the issue….

JIM MORA: Okay it’s quarter to four, and Noelle McCarthy is here, with what the WORLD is talking about! What have you got for us today?

NOELLE McCARTHY: Well, first up is this terrible story from Texas, about a high school cheerleader who was kicked off the squad because she refused to cheer for the basketball player who raped her.

….[Mora is silent for several seconds, to emphasize how appalled he is.]

JIM MORA: [incredulous tone] How could this BE?

NOELLE McCARTHY: She has now been ordered to pay forty-five thousand dollars for “filing a frivolous lawsuit”.

MORA: But SURELY, this cannot BE. Mind you, the question has to be: why did she let herself get into this situation?

….Another long silence ensues, with Noelle McCarthy no doubt biting her tongue.….

MORA: Okay, what else have you got?

NOELLE McCARTHY: A Swedish firm has come up with the idea of letting people experience what it is like to be HOMELESS. They pay a twenty-dollar fee and they can sleep for a night on the street, or on a park bench or—-

MORA: [fervently] Oh now, surely, THIS is frivolous. SURELY….

….et cetera, et cetera, ad nauseam….

http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/05/06/164194/scotus-texas-cheerleader/?mobile=nc

• felix1.1

  27 March 2013 at 9:27 am

  “Radio NZ National’s chat show “The Panel” is rarely much different from the insultingly vulgar rubbish on commercial talk radio.”

  This, a thousand times this.
  • Tigger1.1.1

    27 March 2013 at 2:37 pm

    How did he let himself get in that situation? Oh right, he raped.

    Christ! Thanks Morrisey, these are always illuminating.
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