P DRAKE AGAINST THE KAPITI MAIL
A complaint by Mr Paul Drake of Raumati against the Kapiti Mail, has been dismissed by the New Zealand Press Council.
Mr Drake's grievance arose from a letter he wrote to the Mail, a letter he said was written tongue in cheek, which was published and to which the editor Mr Richard Woodd attached a footnote. The footnote, according to Mr Drake, referred to the Community Choice team in the recent local body elections as a party ticket. That caused personal offence to the complainant because the Community Choice team, of which he was a member, campaigned as a non party-political team.
In his response to the Press Council, the editor accepted that he does not like party tickets in local government and suggested his own view on party tickets was shared by voters who apparently rejected the Community Choice offering.
On the wider question of editorial bias, Mr Drake offered no substantive material, except to suggest that since the editor did not agree with his particular point of view, then the editor was not impartial.
In any case the editor is free to express his own opinion. The complaint is not upheld.