I've just sent the following email to Cam Wallace, CEO of MediaWorks, which owns Magic FM and Magic Talk. If anyone else feels inclined to do the same, the email address is feedback@mediaworks.co.nz
Dear Mr Wallace,
I want to thank you for providing me with the incentive to
download Spotify Premium after putting it off for many years.
Let me explain. For as long as it has existed, Magic FM has
been my radio station of choice. As long as it played the type of music I
wanted to hear (at least most of the time), I felt no need to turn to
alternative sources.
That all changed with the announcement that Sean Plunket was
leaving Magic Talk – obviously not out of choice, but because of pressure from
virtue-signalling advertisers and online vigilantes.
I’m not a Magic Talk listener, but at that point I decided I
could not, in conscience, support a media company that so timidly succumbed to
pressure from corporate advertisers with no commitment to, or understanding
of, the importance of free speech in a democracy.
Accordingly, Magic FM has been wiped from my radio pre-sets
at home and in my car and I’m now happily streaming Spotify. As a bonus, I don’t
have to listen to commercials (or Neil Diamond several times daily).
I don’t necessarily expect banks or telecoms companies to
respect free speech principles, but I do believe a company that’s in the
business of providing news and information should show a bit of spine.
Yours faithfully,
Karl du Fresne
