The Mud to Give Voters Clearer View of 2013 Elections

21 June 2013

Rotorua Online Media has launched an interactive news service to provide voters with a clearer view of the 2013 local elections.

www.themud.co.nz uses short videos and written opinion articles to allow users to see and hear candidates’ views and policies, and presents background analysis and information by interested people. The Mud takes its name from the district’s unique geothermal resource and reflects the founders’ view that “Rotorua is New Zealand’s hottest city”.

Election coverage by The Mud will build up during the election campaign to deliver a comprehensive picture of campaigns for the mayoralty, council, Lakes District Health Board and the regional council Rotorua Online Media will evaluate the potential for The Mud to provide wider community news and information coverage after the elections.

“We want to break out of what we believe has become a dreary and clichéd affair,” one of the Rotorua-based founders, Mike Smith, says of traditional local election coverage.

The Mud has been launched partly out of frustration stemming from the last few elections where residents felt uninformed about the new candidates through the regular local news services, Smith says.

“Coupled with the downscaling in news rooms, these self-imposed restrictions have limited the quality of election coverage.”

Candidates were packed into silos too tight to allow a free flow of information between would-be representatives and the voting public.

Events in Christchurch, Auckland and Wellington showed The Mud’s backers that whoever is running your city does matter, so The Mud is moving election coverage out of the two-dimensional approach of previous years.

The Rotorua election has added spice this year with the incumbent Mayor Kevin Winters being challenged by former Labour MP and Cabinet Minister Steve Chadwick. In a break from tradition, Steve Chadwick launched her campaign at a $50-a-head function attended by 300 people, including many prominent Rotorua business and community leaders.

Mike Smith is a journalist and director of Business Media Services Ltd, a publishing services company, and Trade and Media Services Ltd, a southern hemisphere news and information service. The other principals are Kevin O’Connor, director of Zeal, a public affairs advisory service and business consultancy, and David Dowthwaite, principal of a busy family and commercial law practice. Videographer Lorne Davies is a former John Paul College study and is now studying computer science at Bay of Plenty Polytechnic.

Visit: www.themud.co.nz

ENDS

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