Hatchet Job Becomes an Analysis

The Stuff article titled A brief history of Winston Raymond Peters should have been assigned to the reject pile and never published.

“The author proclaims he relied on the book Winston First by Martin Hames for much of the detail,” says New Zealand First Leader, Rt Hon Winston Peters.

“The book is nothing but a hatchet job.

“It was written and published in 1995 by a dedicated neo-liberalist, who at one time was economic advisor to Ruth Richardson. Mr Hames took exception to my criticism of the damaging ideology he adhered to.

“It is appalling that a reporter claiming to write an ‘analysis’ even relied on a book. That is poor journalism in the extreme.

“Perhaps Fairfax demands copy in unacceptably short timeframes so copying and pasting someone else’s words was the only option.

“But what kind of media company allows a reporter to submit a ‘brief history’ of a person without any evidence of an attempt to interview people who know him.

“Had the reporter dug a little he would have discovered that Martin Hames’ book was a tissue of lies and Mr Hames was challenged on television to open any page and re-state the claims to me. He refused, knowing any would be demolished as rubbish.

“As an example, had the reporter picked up a phone and called any of my 10 brothers or sisters they would have said they never recalled me having a stutter as a child.

“Stuff editors would do themselves a favour by deleting the article from their website, and themselves shortly after that,” says Mr Peters.

ENDS

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