OPINION: AUCKLAND (Pacific Media Watch): The so-called "teapot tapes'"and their future are currently in the hands of New Zealand's High Court in Auckland, and freelance cameraman Brad Ambrose is standing by for the determination of whether or not the tapes recorded a private conversation.
Most media outlets are standing by as well. A decision that the conversation was not in fact private would exhonerate the myriad of news media which have dogged Prime Minister John Key over the past week demanding he come clean on the content.
TV3 reported today that the judge was shown 45 minutes of their footage from the Prime Minister and John Banks' promotional event.
It's a sideline to the more important election issues, but newspaper articles and opinion around the country are fairly consistent - that while that may be, the Prime Minister or his team were at least naive to organise such a promotional event and then deal with the recording as if it was strictly confidential.
The police are "holding off" on their warrants to search media outlets for the content of the tapes, as they too wait for today's outcome.
As lawyer Mai Chen argued in the New Zealand Herald, the court will use an objective test for the decision on the conversation. It won't depend on Key and Banks' subjective belief that it was so.
Offering the tape to the police, and walking a fine line with the letter of the law, the Prime Minister has been able to hide behind his "no comment", as the matter is with the authorities.
Now, as the election on Saturday draws near, he'll be sweating on the result as well.
Stay tuned.
(cc) Creative Commons
Alex Perrottet
