Kate Hawkesby: I'm not sure when the 6pm news decided to be a promo channel for gangs

I'm not sure when the 6pm news decided to be a promo channel for gangs, or why they wanted to spend so much time eulogising a gang leader, but I thought the way that Mongrel Mob tangi was covered last night was disgraceful. We've lost the plot in this country - and we wonder why we have gang problems. The coverage looked like a recruitment drive or a PR video for the gangs. We got so ill served as viewers, the real news was not what a great man other gang members or whānau thought he was, it was not to display endlessly all their patches and motorbikes and burnouts like they're some kind of heroes, it was not to run glowing commentary on how they saw off their leader. The news angle was that a town got shut down yesterday, and a main road closed for two hours - by gang members who decided to block it - while Police do nothing. They allegedly said they'd try to clear it but the queue of traffic that couldn't get down the road in Ōhope for two hours may feel they didn't quite work hard enough on that. Gang members were sitting on roofs of houses yelling out, sitting on top of cars, hanging out windows, doing donuts, some locals said the state of lawlessness was unbelievable. There were shots fired at a vehicle near the convoy, no one injured thank god, but clearly weapons were present in cars. Why wasn't every car stopped and searched? Why were they allowed to block roads and close a main road? Why were they allowed to sit on top of their cars while travelling down the road? Can you imagine any of us doing that and not being immediately stopped? Why were they allowed to drive recklessly with no consequences? The Prime Minister when asked about all this, said, "gangs suck." No kidding. But we need a bit more than stating the obvious from our PM. His words have to match some actions. They suck… but we won't do anything about them, is what it looks like. He said it was up to Police, and that it wasn't appropriate for him to comment. Well sorry but this country's going to hell in a handcart on the crime and gang front, and actually as the leader of it, it is not only appropriate for you to comment, but crucial that you do. People are being intimidated and inconvenienced and shut out of their own abilities to use their own roads, parks, schools, and businesses, because of a gang tangi. Because no one says no to the gangs. Not only that, news crews turn up to pop a microphone under their chins to hear about what a great guy the slain gang leader was. They allowed precious minutes of primetime news to eulogise a Mob president. I mean, how did we get here? How did we get the bar so low, that that now masquerades as news? Did the news forget that these guys thrive on notoriety, that all that footage and all those kind words about their leader, is just fuelling exactly what the gangs want. I mean they just played right into their hands. There should've been no footage of gang patches and motorbikes burning rubber, no interviews on how much their leader will be missed and how they replace him, no acknowledgement of the gang other than it being a nuisance to society, behaving illegally, stopping hard working taxpayers from getting about their own business. The story was the state of this country and how we've fallen victim to gangs ruling the roost. That was the story. Not a promo video for the actual gang.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.