The Post argues black is white

The Media Council has upheld a complaint by Winston Peters against The Post over a fake cost blowout article.

The article claimed the ferry project was $167 million over budget. It said it had blown out from $1.7 billion to $1.867 billion. But it hadn’t.

The November 2025 said the total budget for the replacement programme would be $1.867 billion, of which the government would contribute $1.7 billion. The journalist then saw the $1.867 billion figure and incorrectly thought this mean a blowout of $167 million.

Now everyone can make mistakes. It is worth noting though that if the journalist had checked with the Minister’s office, they could have pointed this out to them.

What is extraordinary is that the journalist and their editor both refuse to accept they were wrong.They are literally arguing the equivalent of black is white. To quote:

“In circumstances where estimated costs exceed confirmed and secured funding, it is entirely reasonable to characterise a project as being “over budget” or under budget pressure in practical terms. That characterisation reflects standard reporting practice on infrastructure projects and is grounded in the documentary record.”

This is just bullshit. The estimated costs are identical to the announcement in November. They are not over budget. You can point out that the funding side is not yet finalised, but you can’t argue that it is over budget.

The Media Council come down on the side of reality:

The central claim in the headline and article is that the total cost of the ferry replacement project is “over budget”. There is no evidence that is true. …

The article reads as if the $1.867b estimate is an over-spend of the government’s $1.7b allocation. It is not. It is simply a restatement of the total project cost. …

As such both the article and the headline are inaccurate and mislead the public. 

The original mistake is forgivable (albeit it, still avoidable by checking). What is unforgivable is continuing to maintain that the article was accurate.

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