Wednesday, 20 January 2021, 7:39 am
An in-depth analysis of media coverage of the euthanasia
and cannabis referendums has found that while both sides of
the euthanasia referendum were given reasonably fair and
balanced coverage, the YES position in the cannabis debate
received a heavily biased share of the media coverage during
the campaign period – especially from some particular
media outlets and journalists.
The analysis looked at
more than 400 New Zealand-based media articles and opinion
pieces as they appeared online during the cannabis and
euthanasia referendum campaign period between May and
October 2020. For the euthanasia
referendum, there were 123 (75 news items and 48 opinion
pieces) and for the cannabis