New Zealand has taken campaign finance "reform" to a whole other level, passing a law that gives the parliament power to regulate political parody and satire (h/t Instapundit).
This is why it's hard not to make slippery-slope arguments against the "reforms" the media in this country are constantly pushing, we can see the eventual result--politicians outlawing any kind of criticism of themselves with the media bearing the brunt of it:
New Zealand's Parliament has voted itself far-reaching powers to control satire and ridicule of MPs in Parliament, attracting a storm of media and academic criticism.
The new standing orders, voted in last month, concern the use of images of Parliamentary debates, and make it a contempt of Parliament for broadcasters or anyone else to use footage of the chamber for "satire, ridicule or denigration".
The rules apply any to broadcasts or rebroadcasts in any medium.
They also ban the use of such footage for "political advertising or election campaigning", except with the permission of all members shown.
The new broadcasting regime coincides with the introduction of Parliament's own continuous in-house TV feed, which will be made available to broadcasters.
Private broadcasters will still be able to opt to use their own footage, but will be subject to the same rules, which also include an instruction that cameras focus on the Speaker "in the case of general disorder on the floor of the House".
