Tuesday, February 09, 2010

The Imprisoner's Dilemma

Ever get the feeling that MSM News is an unquestioning regurgitation of government press releases? Here's last night's story told by TVNZ and TV3:



Don't let the clipart fool you. Para for para, they're birds of a feather, parroting off whatever the spin department says.

I mean, how hard is it to conclude from those numbers that by 2017, the government is OK with spending a billion dollars a year housing prisoners, plus overheads. Or the contradictory messages spinning out of the Beehive, such as how National are going hammer and tongs Tough On Crime on one hand, yet expecting slower growth in the prison muster on the other. Something doesn't add up.

Here's onegoodmove with another clip from QI: