Until Election 2023, I had never had a story idea or pitch rejected in fifteen years of writing.
This isn't just a ‘humble brag’ (RIP Harris Wittels, coiner of the phrase and generally hilarious guy) it's also an acknowledgement that some topics, some lines of questioning, are becoming borderline taboo... Or I was just completely off with my central premise. You decide.
Every week I will dive into one of these rejections, discuss what it says about the media, and about the way politics is reported now.
Think of this as a regular feature, but one of many.
First story idea rejected during 2023:
The Ram-Raid That Wasn't - Why Te Pāti Māori candidate Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke's home invasion doesn't add up.
I can see why a column questioning the story of a political candidate suffering, at first one, then multiple, home invasions during an election cycle might be challenging. I do. But the story was falling apart even before I pitched doing more in depth reporting on it.
The Herald (who are not the outlet who rejected my pitch, FYI) at the time had just run a statement from the Police where they stated the incident in question was not a home invasion or racially motivated.
During this same article, Te Pāti Māori President John Tamihere said he would be taking civil action against the supposed invader after the election.
Since then the story has disappeared completely, the promised legal action never happened, and it became old news really quickly.
But why was it ever news? Whether it was a misinterpretation of a local elderly person's intentions, as was later reported, or a piece of creative nonfiction by a political party during an election aimed at garnering sympathy and votes, has still never really received a deep dive.
This does Hana a disservice, if it's true. It does the public a disservice, if it wasn't.
The reason why we'll never get an answer is pretty obvious - our national media are afraid of John Tamihere, a highly litigious millionaire bully (my personal opinion), and, more worryingly, are also afraid of challenging Te Pāti Māori on anything the political party propose or say out of fear that they might be called racist.
I've been contacted by half a dozen different reporters and commentators over recent years to have off-the-record conversations about ‘JT’. Nothing ever comes out of them.
The reality is there are shockingly few people in the media who are willing to publicly question anything said by JT or TPM.
It is a worry that one political party is virtually above scrutiny, but it makes sense when you factor in the majority of political journalists are pakeha. Matt Nippert of the Herald and Philip Crump of ZB Plus are two of the only reporters willing to take on both groups, and should be commended for this.
Sadly the Māori reporters and commentators are also highly reticent to criticise fellow Māori (especially high profile ones).
This ´no snitching´ mindset is prevalent amongst Māori, but when applied to a political party or leader, it only entrenches a class hierarchy within Te Ao Māori, as it creates a world of zero accountability to ensure no one loses face.
Writing about Māori politics is really boring because of this. It's the same few whānau, the same gatekeepers, decade after decade, on-loop, controlling the jobs and the narratives. Achieving little and accountable to no one.
The political campaign of a young wahine, Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke, became a story about anti-Māori sentiment and violence directed towards politicians generally.
Her surprise electorate win moved the story away from this moment even further, but since the election she has been sidelined in the media behind both her party's co-leaders and President.
If I'm in Hana's shoes, then I'm either upset that this traumatic situation has just been ignored, or I would feel a bit used by my party and an uncritical media.
Recently I have been reading the hot book of social media two years ago, Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh. In it a cruel and bored local lord is described as petty and never satisfied. This is also a fair description - petty, bored, over privileged - of my personal experience of John Tamihere. It is also the risk of creating a class of untouchables.
There is no outlet for criticising these people, but I am comforted in the knowledge that my favourite quote by James Baldwin is true of many, but JT specifically.
“People pay for what they do, and still more for what they have allowed themselves to become. And they pay for it very simply; by the lives they lead.”