The time has come for the New Zealand news-media to close-down Family First by starving them of publicity.

Imagine if every week or so, you produced a ‘Press Release’ and sent it to the varying media-outlets, and then ‘hey-presto’ automatically they went ahead and published your pet-subjects & musings.

No questions asked, nor justification needed – the fact you think you are right and someone-else happens to be wrong - is enough for these releases to see day-light.

Your fringe pet hates & loves don’t need to be of concern to the vast majority of New Zealanders either – they will still turn-up on page four of most daily newspapers.

It could be something as trivial as an advert for Viagra that get’s up your nose, or the promotional activity of a Pizza company.

As ridiculous as this scenario first appears, it happens to be the current reality of the forth estate in New Zealand.

Hardly a week goes by without the irrelevant, evangelical pressure-group Family First issuing a press-statement of some-kind – all of which are published, mostly without critical review and ‘of right.’

Last week it was promoting a return to corporal punishment in New Zealand Schools.

On receipt of the latest release, not one journalist asked pertinent questions like “will this mean the return of the days when 5 year-old Kiwi’s were strapped by teachers?”

Instead of facing critical analysis the ‘release’ and its predecessors were published all but verbatim.

Here is a brief ‘Readers Digest’ list of the sort of narrow-minded, predictable stuff pouring out of Family First, that has managed to garnish both air-time and type-set over the years since the group set-up in 2006, largely as a result of the former champion of its causes, Graham Capill, being imprisoned for child rape and indecencies.

Return of corporal punishment in schools, making prostitution illegal again, ban on abortion, leading advocates for the right of parents to smack their children, banning in-flight movies which are not G rated, banning the TV Series Californication, wanting Gays to be prevented adopting children, promoting abstinence for teens, encouraging mums to stay at home and look after their kids, banning Boobs on Bikes, preventing brothels setting-up in residential areas, chastisement of Broadcasting Standards being too liberal, fighting the right for people to die in dignity, wanting cervical cancer vaccine distribution to be banned, continuing a ban on Easter Trading, placing the rights of married couples above those who choose a civil-union, varying attacks on The N.Z Family Planning Association to do with the distribution of contraception and access to abortion to the point they have even formed a splinter-group dedicated to the closure of Family Planning , fighting the right of parents to choose the sex of their child where there is a medical reasons like a genetic predisposition to a deformity, banning the video game ‘Grand Theft Auto’, highlighting child sexulisation e.g., pretend bra’s for 10 year olds, demanding the judge who let a naked-cyclist off with a warning should lose his job, wanting a Wellington’s shops adverts for sex-toys and bondage gear banned, fatherless families leads to more crime, wanting the internet to be censored, demanding a controversial Church bill board be removed last Christmas, denying Gays the right to marry or have a civil-union, wanted radio adverts for ‘the morning after pill’ to be banned, banning adult magazines in petrol station, banning The Atheist Bus Advert Campaign, getting a ‘clothing optional beach’ closed etc.

The list goes on ad nauseam, but you get a fair idea of the type of stuff Family First are all about & the New Zealand media can’t get enough of this sort of crap.

‘Banning’ and ‘prevention’ are high on Family First’s agenda.

Who takes seriously a group, with less membership than my suburban soccer club, who want to ban on one of the world’s most popular video-games and censor the internet so we can become like North Korea?

A sad minority, group that wants homosexuality to again be outlawed in New Zealand and nationwide cancer-prevention and birth-control policies scrapped.

A petty-minded bunch of bible-bangers with nothing better to do than complain to BP and Shell about girly-magazines on the shelves of their outlets.

An indication of just how out-of-touch Family First are with mainstream New Zealanders - they would rather a couple had a child live with birth-defects than allowing them access to medical-science that could prevent these defects occurring in the first place.

These Old Testament zealots even see it as their ordained ‘right’ to tell other Christians what they can and can’t have outside their church!

The New Zealand Media should treat any sort of broadcast coming from Family First with the derision and scorn it deserved, by placing it straight in the rubbish-bin.

Above all the media should stop giving these bigoted, creationist, flat-earthers, ‘the oxygen’ they need to exist – publicity.