University cancels ads, Clark apologises to PM for flouting lockdown rules disengages from ‘Critic’
THE University of Otago will no longer answer media requests from student magazine Critic, a decision the magazine’s editor described as an insult to students.
The stoush erupted yesterday after the university said in a statement it was ‘‘choosing not to engage with Critic’’ because of its apparent ‘‘sluggish’’ response when asked to help get Covid19 information to students, and for ‘‘meanspirited reporting’’.
It also pulled all of its advertising from the publication.
Editor Sinead Gill responded saying the university’s refusal to respond to its media requests ‘‘on the basis of perceived slights is not just an insult to the work we do, but an insult to students’’.
She said the decision had ‘‘completely blindsided’’ her.
It also meant Critic would be unable to include balancing university comment in future stories, which she described as ‘‘ironic’’.
The standoff appears to have stemmed from a recent opinion piece titled “University f **** up covid response”.
‘‘University staff have had repeated demoralising experiences with Critic
in recent months,’’ the university said.
‘‘This has included inaccuracies, unfair, shallow, unbalanced and meanspirited reporting, sometimes including naming and shaming.’’
It said it was not given the opportunity for a right of reply before the opinion piece was published.
It also accused Critic of being slow to help with the Covid19 response.
‘‘We really needed Critic’s help weeks ago, and in this context it was hypocritical for an editorial to now criticise the university when Critic
was sluggish to help us get important messages out to the very students they should care for.’’
Ms Gill disputed that characterisation, saying it was instead taking its lead from OUSA, which also launched a Covid19 campaign.
‘‘Critic has reported on how the Covid19 response by the university affects students.’’
She said opinion pieces did not require a right of reply because they were the opinion of the author.
‘‘We realise that the university’s current focus is on the response to Covid19, but cannot accept at any point that the university is no longer open to scrutiny by the very students who pay tens of thousands of dollars to attend it.’’
Critic would continue to contact the university for responses.
The university said its communications staff were dedicated to the pandemic response, and it would continue to engage with the ‘‘many media outlets who will report with accuracy and fairness’’.
If Critic raised Covid19 or lockdown issues on students’ behalf, the university would try to find individual responses for the students involved.
Media commentator Gavin Ellis described the university’s approach as ‘‘extraordinary’, and he criticised the decision to pull advertising.
‘‘The principle of it is that robust opinion is part of the fabric of university life, and the way to counter it is with counteropinion, not by refusing to engage.’’
It had the right to spend its money how it wished, he said.
However, it had the potential to threaten the publication’s future, which was a ‘‘drastic act’’.
The university would still have to comply with the Official Information Act, which meant it could only refuse requests on certain grounds.
HEALTH Minister David Clark apologised to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern yesterday for flouting the Government’s advice to exercise locally during the lockdown.
He confirmed he drove to a Dunedin park to go mountain biking on Thursday.
‘‘I spoke to the Health Minister last night, who apologised to me,’’ Ms Ardern said in a statement.
‘‘It’s my expectation that ministers set the standards we are asking New Zealanders to follow.
‘‘People can go outside to get fresh air and drive short distances if needed, but we have asked people to avoid activities where there is a higher risk of injury, and the minister should have followed that guidance.’’
Dr Clark was caught out after parking his signwritten van at the Logan Park car park — 2.3km from his Dunedin home — and was reported to media.
‘‘As Health Minister I try to model healthy behaviour and this afternoon I decided to fit in a bike ride between videoconference meetings,’’ Dr Clark said on Thursday night as the story broke on social media.
‘‘This was my only chance to get out for some exercise in daylight hours.’’
The 6km trail, dubbed ‘‘The Big Easy’’ was not challenging and was a popular local destination, Dr Clark said.
‘‘I know that now is not the time for people to be engaging in higherrisk exercise activities.’’
New police commissioner Andrew Coster yesterday clarified lockdown exercise rules.
‘‘I’d encourage people, if they’re unclear, to go to the Government’s Covid19 website,’’ he said.
‘‘You can go for a walk, you can walk past other people. The guidance says to keep a distance of 2m and from what I have observed, the vast majority of New Zealanders are doing that.’’
He said people needed to exercise locally.
‘‘If you think about the distance that you’re travelling to access your essential services, that’s probably a pretty reasonable rule of thumb for the kind of range for exercise . . . ’’
Asked if Dr Clark’s outing on Thursday was a good look, he said: ‘‘I doubt he needs any further conversation about that.’’
Finance Minister Grant Robertson said yesterday Dr Clark ‘‘got it wrong’’.
Dr Clark had not offered his resignation, nor should he have, Mr Robertson said. — The New Zealand Herald/RNZ