Uncritical

Local newspapers nonetheless gave Mr. Butler and the NZ Democratic Society wide and uncritical coverage.

The Sunday Times boasted of an "exclusive interview," while the Evening Post labelled dissenters at the public meeting as "student agitators."

A local press service contemporaneously released a profile of Mr. Fairlie Curry, president of the Democratic Society.

This lauded the society ("exploded on the public horizon," "shot into the lime-light") and denigrated its opponents ("Vietniks," "bearded wonders," "untidy, mop-haired exhibitionists," "the pseudo-intellectuals that infest the Committee on Vietnam," "the weirdie and beardie brigade").

This was published in several New Zealand dailies.