Winston Peters goes on the attack, targeting journalists

As much as I have gone on record to express a dislike for the Hon Winston Peters, the Foreign Minister Outside Cabinet, and express an admiration for TV One talking head Paul Henry, the Foreign Minister’s interview tonight on Close-up (which I still think of as a weekly Thursday night show) was very much won by Mr Peters.
   In it, he defended himself on the Owen Glenn affair by going on the warpath, accusing journalists of cooking up falsehoods and writing stories before they had researched them.
   As I have written here and elsewhere regularly, we have seen many examples of poor journalism, and one sympathizes with Mr Peters.
   His attacking style—coupled with confidence and some might say smugness—played on emotions well, using a mixture of rose-coloured glasses (‘There was a time in New Zealand when …’) and a keen understanding of the law.
   It also exposed the inadequacy of the research that was given to Mr Henry and his colleagues, and the desire of the MSM to sometimes cook up sensationalism when there are better things to do.
   As to whether there would be an ambassadorial role in return for political donations, Mr Peters handled that matter well, too, saying that the government had left the matter over a consul to Monaco at large since 1996.
   It was a reminder that while as daft as some of Mr Peters’ arguments have been over the years—to the point of being a broken record—he is a skilful politician who seems to have rediscovered some of his former vigour.