Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Get a Clue

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  • Charles Mabbett,

    One chief reporter I know had her work cut out explaining who Scooter Libby was to her young charges. I didn't envy her.

    There are three Tonys at TVNZ. One does sport and got into some trouble some time ago on Radio Sport for likening the Williams sisters to apes. One can't quote from the internet accurately and the last one is a very good reporter.

    Since Nov 2006 • 236 posts Report Reply

  • Stephen Judd,

    Off-topic, but back a way we spent some time talking about the mythical Japanese housewife.

    She's real and freaking out.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report Reply

  • kmont,

    If the internet was flooded with y'know... dozens at least... of people trashing on Zaoui, then that could be news.

    Well, umm there are a few more than dozens over at NZ Hearld. I think there are 38 pages worth of opinion on there. But of course my time is too valuable to trawl through it all ; )
    I would like to think that this is not news, but I fear that Russell and Robyn have a point.

    In context, what people are saying on the internet is news, in the same way that vox pops, polls and protests are news.

    wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 485 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Oh right. And one of the emails pots MediaDefender management encouraging staff to remove information about their MiVii "honeypot" site from the Wikipedia article about MediaDefender ...

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:MediaDefender

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Charles Mabbett,

    Interesting link, Stephen. This makes a delightful quote:

    "Ms. Itoh is one of them. Ms. Itoh, a homemaker in the central city of Nagoya, did not want her full name used because her husband still does not know. After cleaning the dinner dishes, she would spend her evenings buying and selling British pounds and Australian dollars."

    Could be an interesting conversation when her husband finds out that she's lost $US100,000 in savings betting on the NZ dollar (among others).

    Since Nov 2006 • 236 posts Report Reply

  • InternationalObserver,

    If two people wrote letters to the editor (or, I think in this case, one person wrote a letter to the editor, and another person wrote a letter quoting the first), then it wouldn't be news.

    Three words:

    Slow

    News

    Day

    Since Jun 2007 • 909 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    And one more MediaDefender update before I get back to work. The latest leaks include an MP3 and transcript of a phone conversation between MediaDefender staff and the New York Attorney General's office and a 14GB "Gnutella Tracking Database" grabbed from a MediaDefender server. The people responsible are claiming to have access to the company's "internals" and a promising further leaks.

    Holy shit.

    The AG conversation has MediaDefender discussing tracking child porn for the AG, so I really hope that part of the operation hasn't been derailed.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Charles Mabbett,

    I would say that any chief reporter or editor worth their salt would try and milk the Zaoui story for all its worth and that means exploiting any possible angle. Public reaction is an obvious one. That was the intention with regards to blogging and forums even if Tony 2 got the attribution wrong. A story breaking like the Ahmed Zaoui decision is not a slow news day by any stretch.

    Since Nov 2006 • 236 posts Report Reply

  • Grant McDougall,

    I'm 38 and have known who Keith Holyoake was most of my life (I was at primary school in Gisborne with some of his grand-kids).

    Going back to uni as a, ahem, mature student gives you a new perspective on such stuff. You say something like "When David Lange was Prime Minister..." and the youngsters are like "You were alive when David Lange was Prime Minister?"

    The other day after a POLS 301 (NZ Political Economy) lecture on the Muldoon era, myself, the lecturer and another old bloke reminsced on Muldoon's impact on the country. It's a sign of how massive it was that we were discussing him 23 (!!) years since he was PM, yet Jim Bolger is already barely mentioned these days.

    Dunedin • Since Dec 2006 • 760 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Writing any old cr*p in an blog comments thread hasn't (until now?) had the same status.

    What, you mean the same status as The Herald's elevation of Mike Moore and Jim Anderton trying to beat each other to death with their walking frames to real, live news?

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    What, you mean the same status as The Herald's elevation of Mike Moore and Jim Anderton trying to beat each other to death with their walking frames to real, live news?

    Excellent point, given the not-so-much-a-meal-as-a-seven-course-banquet the Herald made of that ...

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • David Ritchie,

    I have to say that one thing which came out of the MediaDefender email malarkey was that I've gone and changed the password to my gmail account.

    Since Nov 2006 • 166 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Actually, while I think of it, the Herald's recent daft Wikipedia story was not a case of an inexperienced reporter, but the result of an ignorant senior journalist demanding that a a young reporter wrote a story he knew to be silly.

    Given that my sources tell me that that journalist responded to my post on the matter by dismissing me as "some nutter" (that's "blutter" to you, big boy) I don't feel any compunction at the use of the word "ignorant" ...

    I strongly believe that blogging should be about more than taking umbrage at the "MSM", but really ...

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Damian Christie,

    Given that my sources tell me that that journalist responded to my post on the matter by dismissing me as "some nutter" ...I don't feel any compunction at the use of the word "ignorant".

    That's right. He's not "some nutter". He's our nutter.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1164 posts Report Reply

  • LegBreak,

    Ignorant / inflammatory posters are a minor sore in running any website.

    But over at Sportsfreak we were hacked over the weekend by some Ghost61 creep (who is apparently well known). Embarrassing, time-wasting, annoying etc; it’s all sorted out now, but I do have a lot of sympathy for the Weeds homepage… I guess that’s about the only thing still in the MSM’s favour.


    OK, I feel better now.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1162 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    I strongly believe that blogging should be about more than taking umbrage at the "MSM", but really ...

    Well, yes, but irony squared: Anyone remember what the second blog post from the political editor of the Herald was about?

    For all us illiterate, factually-challenged psychotics out there, here's the headline and first two pars to refresh your memories:

    **I'm bloody angry with Key**

    John Key has just issued a press statement saying my story in today's Herald on the transtasman therapeutics regulatory agency misrepresents him.

    I'm bloody angry because his press statement totally misrepresents what took place yesterday.

    I can understand why you and DPF have much better things to do with your time, but surely it's fair to expect the MSM to live up to the same level of professionalism and ethical representation they demand from others?

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    And one final bitch to get the bile out of my system: The day Deborah Coddington (of all people), writing in the Herald on Sunday (who managed to have Sharon Shipton unemployed and leaving her husband, to her considerable surprise) becomes a credible source of ethical instruction to anyone, the Four Horsepersons of the Apocalypse can't be far off.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Stephen Judd,

    Wisdom for newspapers from Ben Goldacre.

    Money quote: Do not under any circumstance employ anyone from TV. They do not know how to help you: they are the problem, and the reason we come to you instead. Concentrate on the ideas.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report Reply

  • Rich Lock,

    I'm glad someone mentioned Ben Goldacre.

    Seems to me that a good proportion of the problems with accurate reporting of tech/science stuff could be boiled down to: most people working in journalism don't actually have a technical background, but have what for want of a better word we could refer to as an 'arts' background (I'm prepared to be corrected on this).

    Seems to me that this is why stories like the magic car that can be powered by seawater (but goshdarnit, the inventor just can't attact the development fundng, for some reason) turn up on a depressingly regular basis, instead of being laughed into the round file where they belong.

    This isn't to say that the way science is taught is any good. It unfortunately generally tends towards the dry rote learning of facts and figures that discourage independent thought. However, mentions of being able to deconstruct to first principles and randomised double-blind trials can occasionally sneak through and find fertile ground.

    back in the mother countr… • Since Feb 2007 • 2728 posts Report Reply

  • Felix Marwick,

    I was mulling over whether not to add my 2 cents worth to this thread given some of the comments directed at my profession.

    But what the hell, maybe I might be able to add something of value.

    One of the major issues facing journalism over the past 15 years is down-sizing. It started with commercial radio in the mid-90's and has slowly graduated to other media (outsourcing sub's at the Herald, and recent cuts at TVNZ being most recent examples). One of the newsrooms I recently worked in had around a dozen journalists in 1990. Now it has just 4, and one of those is the chief reporter/sub. As commercial imperatives have increased the cutting reporter positions has been become a way of keeping the bottom line healthy.

    On top of that pay rates (which have never been flash) haven't really moved all that significantly. Entry rates are also not that flash. As an example a starting rate for a rural radio reporter in a sole charge position can be as low as $24k p/a. Journalism, comparative to PR, really doesn't register in the salary stakes unless you've been around for a while. I know if I went to the darkside I could earn 20-40 thousand more a year than I do now.

    So is it any surprise many journalists make the jump after 5-6 years in the job? Not really.

    Personally I've not really been tempted yet because I do what I do because I love it - not for what it pays. Journalism is the only job I've ever had where I actively look forward to going to work and I've never felt the need to take a mental health day. Everyday is literally a new adventure as you can never really tell what might happen. And it's that unpredictability I love.

    Take today's comedy gem that was the Destiny Church/ Gordon Copeland political announcement - a perfect example.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 200 posts Report Reply

  • Phil Palmer,

    >Take today's comedy gem that was the Destiny Church/ Gordon >Copeland political announcement - a perfect example.

    Ar matey, sorry, I'm not about gettin' yer point. A perfect example of what, would that be now? When that item was draggin' itself onto the One News I 'ad to be tellin' meself that if them journalists be thinkin' this be important then I'm a-wonderin' why we be botherin' to have them. Walk the planks with them varmints. The little misfortune that's becalmed the Northern Rock bank, OTOH, barely be gettin' a mention.

    It's that day again.

    Since Nov 2006 • 36 posts Report Reply

  • andrew llewellyn,

    It's that day again

    International Speech Impediment Day?

    Since Nov 2006 • 2075 posts Report Reply

  • David Hamilton,

    Hamiltron • Since Nov 2006 • 111 posts Report Reply

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