Slow justice on teapot tapes

Another View

It should not have taken the police more than three months to decide no charges should be laid in the so-called "teapot tapes" affair. From the beginning, when the Prime Minister and Act candidate John Banks were inadvertently recorded at a stage-managed photo opportunity during the election campaign, it was clear no crime had been committed.

The cameraman who left his device - and yes, it was unusual that it was in its little black bag - did so by accident in a media scrum. Only after he realised it had been taken by the Prime Minister's staff, who would not return it, did he discuss the recording with the Herald on Sunday newspaper. That paper considered the contents, sought permission to publish from the participants in the conversation and did not do so when that permission was withheld. End of story. No crime had been committed, despite the police attempt to save face by claiming the cameraman's action was unlawful or, in a telling show of doubt, saying it was "at least reckless." The lawfulness would have been for a court to decide, but no prosecution will be taken.

The Herald on Sunday had no involvement in the recording.

It reported the tape's existence and hinted in the broadest manner of the controversies within.

It suited the political times, or so Mr Key's advisers thought, to turn this into a week of allegations against the media. We were, predictably, likened to the News of the World, the UK tabloid closed after hacking a murdered girl's mobile phone, among many other outrages. Then, Mr Key claimed we would publish parents' private discussions of suicidal children. When those preposterous attacks fell flat, he shrugged that the police had time to investigate this case because National had lowered the crime rate.

As it happens, the police took months to locate those who also drank coffee near the two politicians that day, to take statements from photographers and journalists and to work out a way to let the whole sorry mess drop without further embarrassment.

So a letter from the cameraman, Bradley Ambrose, to the two politicians expressing regret and explaining he meant no harm was considered adequate contrition, and the Prime Minister agreed with prosecutors that that should be that. The police announcement conveniently coincided with Mr Key being in Korea, responding through a brief press release. He did not believe a prosecution was "now necessary" and thought all could now move on.

Sadly, that should have been his view at the time. It was a stance he seemed incapable of adopting because of a misguided mission to stop what he imagined to be a "slippery slope" of media intrusion. There is no slope, slippery or otherwise, in the coverage of political or public affairs. There is a slippery slope, however, in police inquiries arising from political discomfort.

- APN News & Media