{"id":917,"date":"2019-05-31T23:58:25","date_gmt":"2019-05-31T23:58:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/written.co.nz\/?page_id=917"},"modified":"2020-11-14T05:26:44","modified_gmt":"2020-11-14T05:26:44","slug":"whale-oil","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/written.co.nz\/index.php\/whale-oil\/","title":{"rendered":"WHALE OIL: One man’s fight to save his reputation, then his life"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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‘A masterpiece of meticulous research and compelling story-telling’ – Nicky Hager<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Potton & Burton, 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In May 2012 Auckland businessman Matt\nBlomfield found himself the target of a vicious online attack, the work of\nWhale Oil blogger Cameron Slater. The attack came out of the blue, destroying Matt\u2019s\nreputation and career, stealing his identity, turning him into a social outcast,.\nThe abuse continued for years, almost certainly including an armed attack that\nalmost left him dead. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Matt Blomfield decided to fight back. He\nspent seven years and many hundreds of thousands of dollars taking a defamation\ncase against Slater, which he ultimately won, establishing that Slater\u2019s\nvendetta was based entirely on lies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a story about an egregious\nuse of a powerful social media tool that allowed itself to be used as the\nweapon in someone else\u2019s personal vendetta, to spread untruth and ruin a life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The system \u2013 of law enforcement, justice, and privacy protection – didn\u2019t work well for Matt. Whale Oil explores the fact that we\u2019re the first \u2018google\u2019 generation, and have a lot to learn about how to protect ourselves, and how to treat others, with all this power and information, news and fake news, at our fingertips..<\/a>

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MEDIA<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Newsroom – ‘Where Only Trolls and the Misshapen Go’, review by Finlay Macdonald<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Spinoff: ‘The 10 most shocking moments in the blistering new book Whale Oil\u2019, by Sam Brooks<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NZ Herald: ‘Big Read: Book reveals Whaleoil blogger’s torment of family – and the fight to expose the truth’, by David Fisher<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Radio New Zealand: ‘New book looks at battle between Slater and Blomfield’<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

TVNZ One News, Breakfast with John Campbell: ‘New book looks at ‘campaign of hatred’ by Whale Oil blogger that resulted in $70k defamation penalty’<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

RNZ Afternoons with Jesse Mulligan: ‘Matt Blomfield: Seven years of hell at the hands of Whale Oil’<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

TVNZ One News: ‘Customs refuse to reveal details about alleged passenger search involving new Whale Oil book’<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NZ Herald: ‘Revealed: Book exposes how Whaleoil blogger’s campaign spilled from internet into the real world and took a heavy toll’, by David Fisher<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stuff: ‘New book lifts lid on Whale Oil blogger Cameron Slater’s dirty tactics’<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

YourNZ: So what is the \u2018Whale Oil\u2019 book about?’, by Pete George<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Standard: ‘Whale Oil \u2013 the book’, by Lynn Prentice<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Statement from Matt Blomfield on \u2018Whale Oil\u2019 book, on YourNZ<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

‘A masterpiece of meticulous research and compelling story-telling’ – Nicky Hager In May 2012 Auckland businessman Matt Blomfield found himself the target of a vicious online attack, the work of Whale Oil blogger Cameron Slater. The attack came out of the blue, destroying Matt\u2019s reputation and career, stealing his identity, turning him into a social … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “WHALE OIL: One man’s fight to save his reputation, then his life”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/written.co.nz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/917"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/written.co.nz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/written.co.nz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/written.co.nz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/written.co.nz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=917"}],"version-history":[{"count":51,"href":"https:\/\/written.co.nz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/917\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1087,"href":"https:\/\/written.co.nz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/917\/revisions\/1087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/written.co.nz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}