The Whaleoil and The Hager. (Spinnage)

Posted on By pukeko

I need a new word for the kind of quoting I wil be using here. There is a certain amount of Spin, and the twitterspace is going a little mental. Nicky Hager, who wrote a book called “Dirty Politics” based on emails and facebook pages acquired by someone, has had his computers and house raided.

From Stuff, which is not always neutral.

Police last week raided journalist Nicky Hager’s home in relation to its investigation into emails used in his Dirty Politics book.

In a statement, police confirmed they had “removed computers and related items under search warrant from a Wellington address as part of [an] ongoing investigation into alleged hacking of Mr [Cameron] Slater’s emails.”

Hager’s book alleged links between Prime Minister John Key’s office and right wing blogger Cameron Slater, whose Whaleoil blog attacked many of National’s political opponents.

Hager was provided Facebook posts and other material for his book by a third party who hacked Slater’s computer.

Hager sez this.

I am confident that the police took nothing that will help them with their investigation. Their actions were a fishing expedition, presumably because they have no idea who the source is and hoped they might stumble across information about them.

I believe the police actions are dangerous for journalism in New Zealand. It matters to all people working in the media who could similarly have their property searched and seized to look for sources. People are less likely to help the media if the police act in this way. The police want people to respect their role in society; they should in turn respect other people’s roles in society.

My investigative journalism work means I have an unnegotiable obligation to protect all my sources and the confidences of other people who approach me. I will not cooperate in any way with the police in trying to discover this or other sources. I am in discussion with my lawyers about what I can do to challenge the police actions.

And Cameron Slater, the Whaleoil, says in reply

Really? My emails were seized and searched by criminals, and that isn’t a threat to journalism or people working in the media?

So hacking and stealing someone emails is ok, but Police doing their job isn’t?

Of course his enablers are all rushing to his defence. Some of them may well be complicit in the crimes that were committed against me.

For Hager to claim journalistic endeavours is going to be very difficult. Journalists call people they write stories about. Journalists give people a right of reply. Journalists tell the whole story, not massaged narratives that suit their politics.

He has two problems defending that approach. First up he wrote a book and as David Fisher has found out that is fraught with danger to then claim journalistic privilege. Then there is my own case where the judge determined that it was in the public interest to know who sources are under S68(b).

If my emails were in the public interest to publish then his sources are public interest too. It must cut both ways. Nicky Hager was the recipient of stolen information, we should know who was responsible for that theft. If Hager protests the hacker then he protects a criminal.

If Hager’s and the general media’s actions in publishing my emails are not confronted then who will be next? Will someone decide that David Fisher’s emails are fair game? Or Shayne Currie’s? Or Matt Nippert’s? Or Nicky Hager’s?

Surely if my emails are public interest then so too are theirs? How can we know unless we have a look?

Did Nicky Hager not think about the threat to journalists when he accepted stolen data illegally obtained from another journalist (and yes I can call myself that, I have a High Court judgement to that effect)?

The Police are doing their job, I am pleased they are pursuing this crime against me with vigour.

I trust the Police will continue to perform their duties and more information will come to light in coming weeks.

Then we will find out just exactly where the dirty politics was at play.

This is all sounding a bit too much like Kafka: the question is who is Okrana, the police or the SJWs lining up behind Hager. My money is in the SJWs.

2 thoughts on “The Whaleoil and The Hager. (Spinnage)”

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