03/02/2020 33 Slater v Blomfield [2014] NZHC 2221; [2014] 3 NZLR 835 (12 September 2014) For this reason the decision in Dotcom v Attorney-General [2014] NZHC 1343 does not apply. 34 Tony Deverson and Graeme Kennedy (eds) The New Zealand Oxford Dictionary (Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 2005) at 761. 35. The News Media Meets ‘New Media’: Rights, Responsibilities and Regulation in the Digital Age, above n 30, at [3.39]. The Law Commission was discussing whether bloggers should be included in a new regulatory regime for the media, not how the Evidence Act should be interpreted, and its recommendations were not implemented by the government. [54] I have no doubt that many bloggers are not journalists because they are not obtaining and disseminating news to the public or a section of the public on a regular basis. Some may not deal with news in the sense of providing new or recent information, and some may not deal sufficiently with the public or a section of the public. Nevertheless, I conclude that a blogger who regularly disseminates news to a significant body of the public can be a journalist. Given that the medium must be “for the dissemination to the public of news ...” a blog that publishes a single news item would not qualify. The blog must have a purpose of disseminating news. Some regular commitment to the publishing of news must exist before a blog is a news medium. Is Whale Oil a news medium? [55] Whale Oil makes information available to the public for access through the internet. The blog site is a mode of expression or communication from a source to the public. There is uncontested evidence that Whale Oil was viewed 75,000 times per week day and 2,000,000 page views per month by members of the public, although it is not clear when that statistic was collected. What is clear is that in 2012 there were tens of thousands of viewers of Whale Oil on each day and Mr Slater makes the point that this is more than the visits to many provincial newspaper sites and a prominent television website. [56] Mr Slater detailed some of his journalistic work in 2011 and 2012. He has appeared frequently on television and radio as a commentator on current affairs, and has a six month contract to provide five issues per week of political coverage, stories and commentary with a prominent radio station. In November 2012 after the period in question, he commenced employment as editor of the Truth newspaper. He explained that the newspaper was struggling at the time. The job continued through to June 2013. At that point the owners ceased its publication, and Mr Slater’s employment came to an end. He claimed, and it is not refuted, that the closure had nothing to do with his performance. [57] Mr Slater referred to a number of senior journalists who regard him as being a journalist. Mr Stephen Cook, an experienced freelance journalist, stated: I was first introduced to Mr Slater in mid-2012 after he was appointed Editor of Truth. Prior to that I knew him by reputation only. Often my colleagues would receive news tips from Mr Slater or contact him to verify information they’d gleaned from other sources. I had also closely followed his work over the Phil Goff SIS scandal and the Labour Party credit card story and was impressed at the level of detail in his coverage. [58] Mr Miles has helpfully reviewed the links that Mr Slater has provided to some of his journalistic endeavours in 2011 and 2012 and summarised them: (a) January 2011: the “WhaleOil Radio Summer series” – a series of interviews with notable New Zealand political personalities including Trevor Mallard, Garth McVicar and Celia Wade-Brown; www.nzlii.org/nz/cases/NZHC/2014/2221.html 13/30