Media don't want COVID to end

Interesting how in a number of countries hit hard with severe restrictions on civil liberties since the start of the COVID pandemic, the media has been overwhelmingly pro-lockdown, pro-terrifying the population on the dangers of COVID, pro-destroying our lives at any cost to "defeat" this virus. 

When life  is crazy, it is easy to just focus on your local news.  As insanity piling on insanity takes hold, local news demands attention, and the bubble of focus becomes quite small.  Especially when you are working and have to think about work things.

However, having spend the last month researching news in Australia especially, with some British and US news thrown it, and having watched and read the voices of reason rather than whimpering bed-hiding as seems to be the case here in NZ, I can see that this phenomenon of media complicity in government messaging is widespread. 

As Mark Dolan, of GB News (UK media) says in the video below (dated last week), the majority of the media don't want Covid restrictions to end.   

Though, as lockdown fatigue has set in, the worm in turning slightly.

 

For the NZ Herald, Derek Cheng (who unwittingly helped expose Jacinda Ardern's creepy, totalitarian steak to the world) writes:

The Delta tightrope that Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has been inching along since the start of the outbreak won't get any easier if she lets Auckland open up more next week. 

But the fact she has signalled more freedoms - which can only mean Aucklanders will be more likely to catch Delta - shows how her decision-making has changed in recent months. 

Step 2 of level 3 means retail shops, museums and libraries can open with no limit on numbers, and outdoor gatherings can be held for up to 25 people. 

If that seems reckless for a city in the grip of rising cases numbers, then Ardern's counterpoints are fear of lockdown fatigue, and vaccination coverage. 

The former appeared on Saturday when a protest of up to 5000 people marched through Auckland.

It's hardly a large proportion of people in a city of 1.7 million, but it only takes a small number to break the rules in a way that could see the virus spread far more widely.

What Cheng and NZ media will not say, is that the continuing compliance of New Zealanders allows this freak show to keep going. You cannnot comply your way to freedom, it never works that way.