August 14, 2014
Book highlights Dirty Politics
Mana's Waiariki candidate Annette Sykes says independent journalist Nicky Hager is doing the country a great service with his latest book on political chicanery.
Dirty Politics is based on a trove of hacked emails to blogger Cameron Slater, alleging that senior National Party ministers and prime ministerial staffers feed sympathetic bloggers with stories to manipulate public opinion and attack political opponents.
Ms Sykes says she is particularly alarmed by an exchange of emails indicating then-police minister Judith Collins may have provided information for Mr Slater's Whale oil blog about the Urewera raids.
"That kind of breach of confidence between an SIS reporter to the prime minister or the minister of police then finding its way to a website which is really about promoting discontent and highlighting untruths in Te Urewera is just the tip of the iceberg of the kind of manipulation that has been seen in this Government," she says.
Ms Sykes says Maori should demand to know why a police minister was giving private information about Maori families to a political blogger.
FOR THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH ANNETTE SYKES CLICK ON THE LINK
https://secure.zeald.com/uma/play_podcast?podlink=MjExMDI=
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