The above headline appeared in the New Zealand Herald (NZH) last evening, Friday; just in time for that publications large weekend readership, although to be completely honest it wasn’t exactly the same, we thought it lacked a little something so we slipped in the word “authority”.
It seems to us that Dean Winter, the REAA’s acting executive registrar, may have been up to another of the tricks he would have undoubtedly acquired whilst in the New Zealand Police Force; manipulation of the media. We suspect that the REAA’s Marketing and Communications Manager, Ngaire Vanderhoof, may have had something to do with the article being written and its timing. It may pay Ngaire to read some of our posts or at least perhaps take heed of the words of the naive journalist Bruce Johnstone who recently lamented:
“From time to time I may well have been unwittingly manipulated by people with their own agenda. It is an occupational hazard for journalists – especially inexperienced ones who are keen to break stories.
What exactly was I guilty of – believing and trusting a police officer?”
Lauda Finem’s posts on the miscreant behaviour of the hotshot “movers and shakers” at the REAA is beginning to bite in the Google rankings so what better way for the REAA to change that than have a major daily like the NZH run a story on how good they all are, nice if it were true but of course its not! Sorry boys and Girls of the REAA but we’re onto you, seen it all before. The Gisborne Herald started this ball rolling decades ago, in fact we posted a piece on just how it was done, that is until the full bench of the Court of Appeal put the kibosh on the technique in 1995 in the landmark case [Gisborne Herald Co Ltd v Solicitor-General [1995] 3 NZLR 563, 569 CA].
The cops in Gisborne had a very special relationship with the papers publisher Michael Muir, its editor John Gillies and journalists such as Marianne Spence (now Gillingham).
So with that in mind just how did this story get to be run on the home page of the NZH’s website last evening. Dean Winter’s name featured twice (so that Google’s crawlers couldn’t miss it), Winter is also qouted by the NZH journalist, Hana Garrett-Walker:
REAA acting chief executive Dean Winter said the penalties which the CAC could impose acted as a deterrent to realtors repeatedly offending.
“The penalties that can be imposed by independent CACs are substantial and significantly higher than what was available under the old act,” he said.
So just how did Hana Garrett-Walker get hold of the story? Well to be honest we’re not exactly sure who telephoned who; but we’ll be doing our best to find out exactly who it was that made the first call.
As our regular readers (those who, like us, are perhaps just a little cynical) will have deduced the timing of the NZH story is convenient given the hot water Mr Winter and his mates at the REAA are in; but you can read all about that in the related posts listed conveniently below. We’ll also be giving the agents that Hanna has named a quick call, just to hear what their side of the story is, we especially want to know all about just when it was that they had all been contacted by Hanna Garrett-Walker of the NZH.
Related articles
- REAA; a very very big mistake, conspiracy to defeat the course of justice? (laudafinem.wordpress.com)
- Kristy “family meal” McDonald uses a mate, Anna “canna understand” Tierney, as the REAA ramps up corruption in an attempt to silence fraud victims (laudafinem.wordpress.com)
- The REAA; lies,delusion, politicians and willful blindness (laudafinem.wordpress.com)
- Lauda Finem’s response to New Zealand’s Real Estate Agents Authority (laudafinem.wordpress.com)
- REAA: A letter to Ms Anna Tierney (laudafinem.wordpress.com)
- REAA, favouritism, cronyism and conspiracy; the ethical dilemma (laudafinem.wordpress.com)
- Open letter to New Zealand’s real estate agents (laudafinem.wordpress.com)
- Jackie “the fixer” Blue (laudafinem.wordpress.com)
- The REAA, & the mysterious case of Nathan Guy, Kristy McDonald QC, Crown Law and the Coroner (laudafinem.wordpress.com)