Winston Peters whinges on social media as scrutiny sharpens

OPINION: Winston Peters has once again whinged about mainstream journalism, criticising high profile journalists. With Kiwis facing real issues, patience for performative politics appears to be wearing thin.

The mainstream media has begun scrutinising the tone and strategies Peters has long deployed in political debate, including how platforms such as X are used to amplify controversial narratives.

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The growing intensity of that scrutiny appears to reflect something larger than a single clash between a politician not doing the job he was elected to do and high profile members of the press, pointing instead to mounting unease about the health of public discourse within the town square as New Zealand edges toward another election cycle.

Image: Winston Peters at the anti-mandate Parliament protest in Wellington in 2022. (Screenshot courtesy of 1News / Winston Peters at the anti-mandate Parliament protest / October 20, 2022)

During the COVID period Peters questioned official messaging and hinted that information was being supposedly withheld, stopping short of endorsing actual conspiracy theories but using reckless language to manufacture outrage. While those debates are now several years old, the rhetorical habits formed in that era have not disappeared and instead continue to surface whenever institutions challenge his claims or journalists probe the assumptions or platforms used to amplify them.

Mainstream outlets are beginning to devote more space to examining how such messaging operates rather than merely amplifying the controversy it produces, because that alone comes with defamation risk and legal consequences, a shift that has provoked sharp responses from Peters himself, who has accused journalists just asking questions of taking part in collusion and ideological bias.

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This raises questions about whether the long running cycle of provocation and rebuttal is entering a new phase as election pressures mount and as voters appear increasingly fatigued by political theatrics dating back to 2014 that heavily rely on accusation and precise targeting of everyday Kiwis and members of the press; compared to working on positive Future policy-making resolutions. The broader issue here is whether politicians should be allowed to criticise the field of journalism, since such tension is a constant feature of democratic systems, but whether persistent framing of institutions and the media is being perpetuated as corrupt or hostile, it risks narrowing the space for healthy democratic debate. In particular, distrust becomes the organising principle of political communication rather than one element of truth among many in a contest of ideas.

As political party campaigning begins to loom, many Kiwis will be asking what kind of discourse is being encouraged by rhetoric that foregrounds grievance and suspicion; whether it deepens cynicism among voters already wary of politics, and whether it pressures other parties to adopt similar tones to cut through a crowded and increasingly polarised media landscape. If the strategy is to create noise and distraction which is something Peters has long been adept at, this election period may be less successful, as Kiwis have learned to push back against rhetoric that does little to move policy debates forward.

Image: Winston Peters speaking to the media from a 2025 YouTube clip. (Supplied / YouTube / Screenshot courtesy of New Zealand First ZJEs0yaNFfU)

For Peters, the clash with high-profile members of the press may reinforce the outsider identity that has sustained him for so long. The deeper concern is the direction of public conversation in an election year. Scrutiny is intensifying into a cycle in which confrontation itself becomes the main currency of attention, but Peters seeks to strip that attention of legitimacy, leaving voters to sift through noise in search of substance as the campaign season accelerates.

The question Kiwis should be asking those in charge: When are they going to start working for us instead of putting on a performance playing theatrics?

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