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Rip It Up, Issue 117, 1 April 1987, Page 2

The Auckland Star’s coverage of ZZ Top in Auckland has been interpreted by media observers as a trial run for the type of journalism we can expect from the Star's proposed morning off-shoot, the Sun. Certainly it is rare in New Zealand, outside the reactionary tabloids Sunday News and Truth, to see such a transparent attempt to raise a paper’s circulation through oldfashioned shock horror tactics. ® Friday — The first salvo of the ZZ Top affair is shot when the Star headlines their coverage of the band’s press conference “ZZ Top denies links with KKK.” The story goes on to report police expectations that up to 1400 gang members will be attending the concert, although later paragraphs quote the policeman organising security saying such reports are “wildly exaggerated” — and police intelligence saying they couldn't estimate the number of gang members attending. But the mud has already begun to stick. No source is given for the KKK allegation; the “ZZ Top denies ... headline is an ancient tactic that gives the impression the subject has something to hide. ® Sunday— the morning after the concert, the Sunday Star's headline reads “CONCERT SEIGE — Police arrest hundreds in ZZ Top crush.” Those who attended wonder what they missed. The “seige” turns out to be the smooth removal of 150 Black Power members from the ground when a confrontation with the Mongrel Mob seemed likely. The “hundreds of arrests” (actually 239) were unrelated to the incident. Most were people taken away before the concert began for being drunk and disorderly — outside the gates — and Auckland’s assistant police commissioner was later quoted as saying it was “about what we expected.” Pictorial coverage of the concert shows three gang members, one policeman, two band members — and three lads from Palmerston North whose car blew up. By comparison, the Sunday News pictures showed four policemen, three am-