Cracker by Damian Christie

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Cracker: Fear Factor

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  • Gareth Ward,

    I have seven days left at work, and if I never have to approach another dead child's parents and ask them to postpone –or better yet, display– their grief so the nation can watch, it'll be too soon.

    Well I applaud you for it - I had the unfortunate occurence of a family member dying in a "media-attracting" manner (a cousin killed on honeymoon by a shark).

    The ghoulish nature of these people appalled us all - the only media person who impressed us in the whole thing was Havoc, who pulled a significant episode of that NZ Tour show he did at the last minute because it contained footage of them swimming with sharks. Someone called him on breakfast the next morning saying "oi, what happened to the big return to Gore episode" and he just said "it had shark footage in it and we didn't want that poor guy's wife accidentally watching the show and getting upset" - as it turns out I had been sitting, blissfully unaware, watching the different episode that was aired the previous evening with aforementioned wife...
    Never have met the guy to say "cheers" but he certainly deserved it - both as an individual act and as a stark comparison to his compatriots across a variety of media.

    Auckland, NZ • Since Mar 2007 • 1727 posts Report Reply

  • Stephen Judd,

    Damien, you are hereby explicitly crossed off my shitlist, which has a generic entry for all pandering promoters of emoto-porn. Bless you.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report Reply

  • Pauline Dawson,

    I am impressed by your stance on interviews. I live on the other side of the airport and have been almost ducking everytime a plane goes over since Sunday.

    Mosgiel • Since Feb 2008 • 26 posts Report Reply

  • Don Christie,

    I'm probably writing my own WINZ cheque

    Maybe. But with the sort of writing we've seen from Cracker over the last few months I doubt it.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1645 posts Report Reply

  • slarty,

    Got rid of my TV aerial several years ago because of exactly what you have described. Sounds like I'm not the only one. So how do advertisers get at ABC1's now?

    Good on ya.

    Fancy quietly sitting at home writing legible, coherent business reports?

    Since Nov 2006 • 290 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    That's a brave and brilliant piece of writing. I'm very happy at the thought we'll be seeing more of you on the blog.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • 81stcolumn,

    Epic - Sleep well, you've earned it....

    Nawthshaw • Since Nov 2006 • 790 posts Report Reply

  • Whoops,

    Awesome. Good man.


    _________________________________

    one minor comment "...the Boxing Day tsunami, looking for the best shots. And I can honestly tell you, sensationalist and gratuitous we might sometimes be, but I saw horrors on those tapes I would never want to inflict on the general public."

    I landed in Sri Lanka at 3am in the morning on boxing day. I saw those images - the tv there was broadcasting the images non stop. No commentary or stupid anchor crap. No CNN style ticker. Just the plain raw footage. Unedited.

    The most powerful thing I have ever seen on TV. (Later, in person was another thing all together, as was hearing 1st hand stories).

    Got back home (UK at the time), and because of the 'non-infliction' approach (as I'm sure it was here) it was immediately apparent that no-one had a clue of the impact.

    SHOW THE IMAGES. Make people appreciate the severity and suffering. It's not gratuitous or sensationalist if it's done with compassion and care.

    here • Since Apr 2007 • 105 posts Report Reply

  • Damian Christie,

    SHOW THE IMAGES

    There's a line. Yes you need to show suffering, you just don't need to show ALL the suffering. Perhaps this is where the reporter comes in, to try and explain the gap between what you're being shown and what no-one should have to see.

    One specific image I still can't shake, is a shot inside a small hut, where dozens of babies bodies were lined up, presumably for identification, or counting or something. Right or wrong, I didn't use it. Sure there's an argument that everyone should see it, but I wonder if I'd be happy knowing that several hundred thousand NZers were as haunted by the image as I was.

    Likewise, when there was that spate of videotaped beheadings in Iraq, TVNZ received all the unedited footage. I watched a man having his head sawn off with a blunt machete. Should that have made the 6pm news?

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1164 posts Report Reply

  • samuel walker,

    well done damien.

    putting myself in the devils advocate chair (just so you dont think i am advocating killing people so you can interview the grieving friends.....): The father didnt seem unhappy to be talking to you (i did watch it at work with the volume way down though....), maybe it was because of your empathetic approach? maybe it can actually be theraputic to talk through such events? to share with the world how cool and driven and passionate your son was......

    Here me now: From this moment.......

    is that an example of a NEAR-SQUARE diphthong merger ?




    and again, well done you.

    Since Nov 2006 • 203 posts Report Reply

  • Tom Semmens,

    Its good to see that in an age where journalists seem to crave power without responsibility, someone has the courage to buck the trend.

    Sevilla, Espana • Since Nov 2006 • 2217 posts Report Reply

  • Damian Christie,

    The father didnt seem unhappy to be talking to you ... maybe it can actually be theraputic to talk through such events?

    No, he wasn't unhappy - although the mum didn't want to appear, and said she felt it was turning into a 'media circus' - but he certainly seemed more resigned to talking, rather than willing per se.

    And yes, it might be therapeutic sometimes to talk things through, but is that the media's job, to provide therapy? My argument is more whether people should want to watch this sort of thing, because that's what drives us to do the stories, not a sense of altruism towards the victims' needs.

    Most disgusting moment of the whole day? When the father told me that one of the photos of his son had gone missing via an unknown reporter. I'd love to find out in which article/item that photo later turned up...

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1164 posts Report Reply

  • Tim Michie,

    Thanks Damian,

    I can barely watch most interviews for the reasons you mention and have mostly stopped altogether. What prine your humantity; at the cost of others?

    ---

    Did you have any contact with Barry Barclay? If so, any impressions of him would be appreciated at this time.

    ---

    I remeber a flatmate saying of the tsumi footage "That Doesn't look to bad," and me pointing out what we were seeing was the footage that survived, not the worst of it, some of which I saw later through some Sri Lankan connections. Now I know better and could add your point and the need to fit the broadcast format - obviously my mind was on other things at the time.

    I'm so very glad Super Tuesday id over. Many US journos were using Tsumi Tuesday as shorthand for its importance this year and it seemed as appropriate as Two Towers Tuesday would be in NY...

    Go good guy!

    Auckward • Since Nov 2006 • 614 posts Report Reply

  • Rebecca Williams,

    i first started noticing the intrusive way cameras remained trained on extremely distressed family members talking about the loss of a loved one (or some other harrowing event) in the 90s. i think it might have been on holmes. i remember criticising it at the time, and switching off the telly.

    i must say, damian, you're the first person i've ever heard making a statement like that i.e. that you're not going to interview people in those situations any more. good for you. if there were more journalists interested in actual journalism, maybe we'd all be a bit better informed and a bit less interested in the voyeurism that current affairs reporting seems to have become in this country.

    are you related to a psychiatrist in auckland by the name of christie by the way?

    Auckland • Since Mar 2007 • 120 posts Report Reply

  • Thom James,

    Good on ya Damian - but was it an attempt at irony, following up a bold statement about journalistic integrity by giving oxygen to that waste of oxygen Lohan? I hope so guy...leave that unnecessary malarkey to the Welsh chap from the Herald.
    Best of luck

    Auckland • Since Apr 2007 • 63 posts Report Reply

  • Raymond A Francis,

    It is all about censorship when it comes down to it

    There is you sitting watching footage and making judgement calls on what we the people may see
    Well hooray for the web because now we have choice and can make our own judgement calls with out some left wing liberal filter being applied, scratch that any filter

    That said, well done on your call on not interviewing people in the midst of serious emotional stress, something that is a major turn off for me but must sell because it gets so much space.
    That and the end piece on TV1 which involves cute animals/kids etc…pathetic

    45' South • Since Nov 2006 • 578 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    And yes, it might be therapeutic sometimes to talk things through, but is that the media's job, to provide therapy?

    Hear hear. The only possible thing therapeutic about being in the media, if the victims think their story should be told to the public and that will help. The "I hope by talking today other families won't have to go through what we've gone through".

    The rest is just the media exploiting other people's grief for news. Victims of crimes and accidents absolutely should be supported. Just doesn't need to happen at 6pm in front of a million people.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • Damian Christie,

    But was it an attempt at irony, following up a bold statement about journalistic integrity by giving oxygen to that waste of oxygen Lohan?

    Yeah, duly noted, but I was just looking for a bunch of things to write about. Probably shouldn't have made a joke about Heath Ledger's cat either. But I've never claimed my blog was journalism. Although you won't see me chasing around grieving families on Cracker either.

    Rebecca Not sure which psychiatrist Christie you're referring to, but no. Nor Don (above), nor Julie either.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1164 posts Report Reply

  • Stephen Judd,

    I'm pretty sure it was Holmes who ushered in the era of "how did you feel when your daughter/husband/close relative/puppy was stabbed to death/garotted/fell into an industrial meat mincer?"

    On the other hand, if it wasn't him, it would have been someone else.

    I used to think it would be neat if a grieving interviewee would turn on the journalist and tell them where to get off with their nosiness - but then I realised that perhaps that does happen, but we never see it, which in turn would help to train people that your proper response when in the depths of personal agony is to blub obligingly (but not too incoherently) for the camera.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle,

    Well, this seems germane to the discussion:

    'They talked to the sister, the father and the mother
    With a microphone in one hand and a chequebook in the other
    And the camera noses in to the tears on her face
    The tears on her face
    The tears on her face'

    Elvis Costello, 'Pills and Soap', 1983

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Barnes,

    I'm probably writing my own WINZ cheque

    Maybe. But with the sort of writing we've seen from Cracker over the last few months I doubt it.

    Personally I think Damian's writing is more than adequate for the purpose of writing cheques.
    If more jounalists had your attitude Damian maybe, just maybe, the quality of our "news vendors" might improve.
    Good on ya, best of luck and welcome back to Auckland.

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report Reply

  • Michael Savidge,

    This thread ties in nicely with Russell's (and others) ongoing frustrations with the state of journalism in NZ.

    Whether it be the broadsheets, so-called current affairs or the 6pm "news" offerings, it's obvious that there is a growing feeling of discontent being expressed both outside and inside the journalism sphere.

    I'd love to see this translated into a concerted and ongoing effort to put real heat on those responsible by pointedly asking those responsible WTF?

    I realise that this, to a large extent, is what you guys are already doing, but it'd be interesting if we could all ratchet it up a notch or ten?

    Somewhere near Wellington… • Since Nov 2006 • 324 posts Report Reply

  • johnno,

    Case Study A: One of the most intrusive things I've ever filmed was a man wailing and sobbing as his dead wife and child were placed inside a hearse. The area outside the church was filled with mourners, but there was absolute silence as the distraught husband and father came out the church, supported by his two closest friends. I was one one side of the hearse, and the competition's shooter was on the other side.

    Case Study B: Outside a building, waiting for the extended family of a dead young girl to come out. There were about 8 press, cameras and reporters. The family pushed their way past, shouting that they wanted to be left to grieve in peace, and that we were vultures, picking over their dead moko's body.

    The first subject was Mark Lundy, the second was Rachaelle Namana and Rongomai Paewai, "caregivers" to Hinewaoriki Karaitiana-Matiaha.

    Did you watch those stories?

    wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 111 posts Report Reply

  • Don Christie,

    johnno, the world is often grey. But occasionally black and white presents, recognising those occasions and doing the "right" thing is defining.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1645 posts Report Reply

  • Don Christie,

    Steve Barnes, I think (I may be wrong) that you have turned my original comment about Damian's writing into something negative.

    That was not my intention. It has been of the highest quality.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1645 posts Report Reply

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