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Political Posturing

It’s just a billboard/radio show… yeah right.

When DJ Key hosted a one hour radio show ‘The PM’s Hour’ on RadioLIVE last Friday he was at pains to tell listeners it was an ‘election-free zone’, and was careful to avoid any mention of politics, preferring instead to chat about Coronation Street, his cat, and interviewing national celebrities like Sir Peter Jackson and All Black Captain Richie McCaw.

But this didn’t stop the Labour Party immediately lodging a complaint with the Electoral Commission, alleging DJ Key had breached the prohibition on paid election programmes with an unauthorised election advertisement.

Embattled Labour leader Phil Goff also questioned whether The PM’s Hour’ had anything to do with the Government’s decision to defer $43 million of licencing fees for MediaWorks.

MediaWorks’ responded to that allegation simply: “This is not true.”

MediaWorks’ Jana Rangooni said in a statement they had ‘taken advice’ before airing the show.  It was not election coverage.  “And it was a show for the Prime Minister of New Zealand and was therefore not available to Phil Goff this year (for obvious reasons).”

“We fully understand our responsibilities as a broadcaster and the rules around election advertising and programmes – our advice is that ‘The PM’s Hour is neither, but we understand that a complaint has been made about the programme so we will not comment further on this aspect. “

In their own bid to associate themselves with the All Blacks, plus have a bit of fun at their own expense, the Labour Party has quickly erected 40 black billboards around Auckland and Wellington with the words ‘When things look black, we’re at our best.’

Below that in red letters is ‘Go the boys.’ And, slightly ironically, it uses the same font as the RadioLIVE logo.

Noticeably absent on the erection-free-zone is any mention of the All Blacks, to avoid falling foul of the strict advertising rules around the Rugby World Cup.

Hey it’s just a game, boys.

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