How about an apology Willie and JT?

We just received the following e-mail which is re-published in full:

I am Murray Hill, a personal friend of Bernard Shapiro and he asked me to issue the following statement on his behalf.

On Q&A in May this year Te Ururoa Flavell spoke to Paul Holmes about the Urewera Four and made the case that they were treated severely because they were Maori. From the transcript of the program he singles out one Bernard Shapiro.

"And the last one, Paul, is that about two years ago a gentleman by the name of Bernard Shapiro, he had unlawful possession of two military style semi-automatic rifles, thunderflash explosives, power gel explosives, eight sticks, two military flares, a smoke grenade, a grenade launcher, an anti-personnel mine; he pleaded not guilty. He’s found guilty on seven of the eight charges. And what does he get? He gets asked to pay $5000 to the St Johns Ambulance. You’ve gotta measure it up on those sorts of terms.”

There are a few problems with Flavell’s account. Shapiro was found guilty by technicality and was discharged without conviction. Unlike the Urewera Four who were found guilty and convicted. Flavell also made the comparison or possession of items with actually using explosives and firearms. Flavell also claimed a Shapiro had a grenade launcher which he did not. Flavell is untouchable for what are at the very least factually inaccurate statements by virtue of parliament privilege.

The following day on their radio show Willie Jackson and John Tamihere (commonly known as Willie and JT) picked up Flavell’s comments and expanded on them claiming machine guns and made numerous personal attacks on Shapiro while asserting that he had been treated lightly because he was white. When Mr Shapiro called the station himself in an effort to correct their inaccuracies both men abused and ridiculed Mr Shapiro calling him a liar while comparing him to Hannibal Lector.

Their actions were unprofessional and well outside any reasonable standards journalistic ethics. They abused their power as media personalities to further a political agenda of supporting four people convicted of arms offences by claiming race was a factor in their sentencing. Their behaviour led to a numbers of people calling the station to complain and a Broadcasting Standards Authority complaint. The station itself defended their actions and rejected a request for an apology. However, yesterday the Broadcasting Standards Authority complaint was upheld and Mr Shapiro was vindicated. Coincidentally the appeals of the Urewera Four were rejected on the same day.

In addition to the above I would add that Mr Shapiro is pleased by the finding and has no other comment to make. Any questions should be directed to his lawyer Jonathan Eaton.

I will also make the observations that these three men – I must include Mr Flavell – have attempted to support people who did clearly commit serious offences with Tama Iti having a history of discharging firearms in public with a man who has no criminal record but was chosen as an example by them because of the colour of his skin.

Had any of them made the slightest effort to find out about the man they were attacking they would have gotten an entirely different picture from the one they constructed. Bernie Shapiro has served in the New Zealand Army, I pinned his NZDSM on him myself shortly before my wedding earlier this year. During the Christchurch earthquake Bernie set up a hot food and drink station at his home for his neighbours and then worked  with Sam Johnson and the Student Army, specifically to bring aid to Aranui – a predominantly Polynesian/Maori area that was being neglected. Bernie did this using his own Willy's jeep to get into the area where other vehicles would not go until he was incapacitated by exhaustion and made ill for weeks from silt inhalation. Bernie was the first contact from outside for many people and was interviewed by ABC Australia as a result. Bernie has yet to be appropriately acknowledged for these efforts in my opinion.

I, like many of Bernie’s loyal friends, was appalled at his being used as a political toy by Flavell and the subsequent abuse by Willie and JT. One is immune to any kind of fallout by virtue of his exulted position, the other two have been found to have breached the standards of their profession. At an absolute minimum I would expect to see three apologies. Assuming any of these men had any degree of class.

We agree wholeheartedly with Murray with regard to apologies. We would suggest however that Te Ururoa Flavell did NOT have the protection of parliamentary privilege when he made his erroneous statement on Q&A.

We have nothing but respect for the men and women who serve in defence of our country. We come from a military family, as we have blogged in the past. Unprovoked and inaccurate attacks such as this are most regrettable.

All three men profess to be men of mana. A measure of that mana would be for each one to offer an unconditional apology to Bernard Shapiro for having made false accusations against him. Somehow though, we don't expect that to happen any time soon.


UPDATE: A Facebook friend has helpfully provided some background information on Mr Shapiro's Court appearance. To compare his case with that of Tame Iti is absurd.