Larry Williams Drive

Well, blow me down - I did not think that Paul Goldsmith had the courage or the inclination to do something as bold as actually scrapping the Broadcasting Standards Authority. I thought it was all talk when he kept dropping it as a possibility but it turns out I was wrong. He’s announced the BSA is gone; the laws will be drawn up in the next few months and they’ll be passed before the next election. Why this surprises me is because this is culture war-adjacent stuff. This is exactly the kind of thing the Nats have tried to avoid of late - anything that makes you feel just a bit icky. People aren’t going to like it. They’ve tried to get away from it because there is quite a high risk of blowback. If the Nats are accused of trying to protect their mates in the more fringe parts of the media, like Platform for example, that’s not necessarily a good look. And on the other hand, there’s little upside - other than making a few broadcasters like me, irritated by the BSA, happy. The BSA is funded by the media so ther