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The Spinoff
5 days ago
- Politics
- The Spinoff
Chung's non-apology deepens storm over sexist smear campaign
He promised to make a public apology to Tory Whanau. Instead, mayoral hopeful Ray Chung last night issued a video statement in which he claimed to be the victim of a dirty tricks campaign, writes Catherine McGregor in today's extract from The Bulletin. No apology, no accountability Wellington mayoral candidate Ray Chung is facing a growing backlash after failing to deliver a promised apology over a degrading email he sent about current mayor Tory Whanau. Chung claimed over the weekend he had scripted an 'unequivocal apology' for the 2023 email in which he circulated a second-hand rumour describing Whanau's supposed 'night of debauchery'. Instead, last night he published a video statement alleging the email leak was part of a 'concerted campaign' to discredit him. In the video, Chung said he regretted writing the email and sharing it 'with people whom I thought trustworthy'. As reported by Tom Hunt in the Weekend Post (paywalled), Chung had at one point told the paper he didn't see why he should apologise at all, 'due to embarrassment he said Whanau caused him at a conference a couple of years back'. Whanau says she is yet to hear from Chung directly following the email revelation. It's fair to say that for many, his dithering, tin-eared response has only reinforced the original offence, and the perception that he's unfit for leadership. Whanau considers legal action over smear campaign The mayor, meanwhile, has signalled she is no longer willing to stay silent. In a detailed public statement, Whanau said she is seeking legal advice over what she called a campaign of 'malicious, sexist rumours' spread by both Chung and fellow mayoral candidate Graham Bloxham. 'Throughout this term, I've endured a constant stream of false and malicious rumours,' she wrote. 'I've chosen to stay focused on our city's progress and ignore this behaviour – until now.' Whanau's legal threats could encompass action under the Harmful Digital Communications Act and potentially a trespass order against Bloxham, who posted about her on LinkedIn and the Wellington Live platform which he is still fronting, though he now claims not to own it. 'These lies often start online, but their impact in real life can be devastating,' Whanau wrote. 'They are a tactic designed to dehumanise, wear people down, and discourage good people from standing for public office.' 'Trump without the tactics' Chung's email scandal is just the latest in a long list of controversies. In a blistering Windbag column published in The Spinoff this morning, Joel MacManus argues that the councillor had disgraced himself long before the Whanau email surfaced. Chung has been accused by colleagues of making wildly inappropriate comments in the council offices, including a grotesque remark about a deceased young man and repeated verbal abuse directed at Whanau. He has compared council sustainability efforts to the Cambodian genocide and frequently loses his temper or gets procedural basics wrong in meetings. 'He lacks the intellectual and temperamental qualities that we should expect from our elected officials,' Joel writes. 'Ray Chung is Trump without the tactics. Winston Peters without the wit. Wayne Brown without the brains. The human personification of the angriest and least-informed comment section on Facebook.' Chung, Joel notes, became the default candidate on the right thanks to an aggressive campaign and early fundraising – potentially blocking more competent right-leaning contenders from stepping forward. Controversy engulfs Independent Together and Better Wellington The furore around Chung has capped a disastrous 10 days for his campaign ticket Independent Together (IT) and its backer Better Wellington. As The Post's Andrea Vance revealed on Wednesday (paywalled), a Better Wellington–commissioned opposition research dossier labelled one candidate a 'Labour Covidian', mocked others for supporting te reo or climate action, and described a Māori hopeful as 'brazenly and belligerently pro-Māori'. The group later distanced itself from the report, claiming the researcher had gone 'mad'. Separately, Better Wellington social media accounts mocked councillor Ben McNulty – including references to his children – and boosted an attack from IT candidate Lily Brown, who misrepresented mayor frontrunner Andrew Little's remarks at a mayoral debate. Brown was later forced to issue a clarification. Chung has alternated between disavowing knowledge of these attacks and downplaying their significance. But with legal threats mounting and key financial backer Mark Dunajtschik withdrawing his support, his campaign is flailing. For a group supposedly committed to 'bringing back sanity' to Wellington politics, Independent Together's tactics are suggesting just the opposite.
The Herald
10-05-2025
- Business
- The Herald
How it all comes together
The Herald news editor Kathryn Kimberley explains her role on the occasion of The Herald's 180th Anniversary: Q: You were appointed news editor at a crucial moment in The Herald's history — be it relatively recent. That was the task of running a newsdesk and newsroom in the midst of a global pandemic. What were the greatest obstacles/challenges you and your team faced, and how did you deal with them? A: I was officially appointed news editor of The Herald and then-Weekend Post in February 2021 — a job I have now held for more than four years. Unofficially, however, I stood in as the news editor for a few months prior to that. So for just over a year, I stepped into what most news hounds would describe as the most challenging role in the newsroom (I use the analogy of it being the neck that turns the head) at a very trying time for everyone. Staff mostly worked remotely, some were losing loved ones due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and for a long time courts were closed and we weren't always able to physically attend to stories because of the restrictions. So most interviews were conducted over the phone or via email during that time, which always feels a little impersonal, particularly when it is a sensitive topic. Also not getting to interact with my colleagues in-person as their new manager was trying and we kind of had to just say a little prayer that everyone was doing what needed to be done, albeit mostly from home. However, what it taught all of us is that there is a lot of wasted expenditure when it comes to how many companies operate. Meetings can be held via Zoom instead of everyone flying to Joburg, for instance. As I mentioned above, it was also a difficult time because people in the newsroom were losing loved ones. I, myself, lost a very dear friend in advocate Terry Price SC, and felt I owed it to him to write his obituary myself, which was not the easiest job to do. Q: How is the role of the news editor evolving as we develop The Herald's footprint in an increasingly competitive digital age which has to serve both a print edition and its 24-hour online readership? A: Like all roles in the news industry, with social media and even AI presenting added pressure, we have to constantly evolve to be able to keep up with demand. It is so easy for keyboard warriors to post something unverified online and not have to account for it, while we as a brand need to first verify our facts. So, even if we know something has happened, we still need to wait for the police etc to confirm it, which can be frustrating at times. Then, with changing focus to an 'online first' mentality, we try to keep back some of the more in-depth articles with added commentary for the print edition. So breaking news stories will always appear online first, however, we try to flesh them out for print (of course, everything becomes available online for the reader). As the news editor, it is my job to decide when a story is ready to be sent to the online team — and which stories to hold back on a little longer. Q: As a journalist and manager in this industry, how would you describe The Herald's 180-year legacy? A: We have sadly seen far too many print publications come and go. So, for The Herald to turn 180 years old — the oldest newspaper in SA — is a remarkable feat. Q: What have been some of the biggest scoops and stories for the newspaper during your tenure as both a senior reporter and now, as news editor? A: I joined The Herald from the Daily Dispatch in East London as the senior court reporter in 2012. Court has always been my first love, so many of the stand-out stories to me have come from there. I actually came back from maternity leave early after having my first child to attend to the Jayde Panayiotou murder trial. It was a case that gripped the nation and The Herald was always a few steps ahead in its reporting of the developments there. I still can't believe that it was the 10th anniversary of her death this year. Another was of course our beloved Madiba's death. We were a small team who worked late into the night to get that story out, and I can still see the beautiful tribute to him which we displayed on the front page in my mind. Another was a story I worked on with my husband, politics editor Michael Kimberley. We knew we were competing with national media on this one, so from the moment we got the tip-off, it was just go, go, go. We had heard about Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi being accused of rape at the time. So I hopped on the next flight to Joburg to meet with the source, knowing the story needed to go to print in just a few hours. Needless to say, I waited at the airport for my source for four hours, but they never rocked up. However, we still managed to break the story. The Herald
