Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Joining the conversation

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  • Kebabette,

    Fiona is fab.
    Especially love the brevity wit hits. Tim Biggott-Smith indeed.

    Christchurch • Since Feb 2007 • 221 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    Good to see more Radiation, even if it's elsewhere :)

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Samuel Scott,

    Does the Listener have a full TV/Radio anywhere on it's site? Surely that is one of it's defining services, and its not like by with holding the information people will go by the print version, they'll simply look somewhere else on line.

    I know you're talking about editorial content, but by providing a service online that people would use a lot (and which they obviously already have on hand) that would seemingly provide the advertising bucks to have more editorial content for free. Maybe.

    The current online TV guides are mostly affiliated with networks or providers, which means zero room for opinion. Seems like there is a bit of a void there.

    South Wellington • Since Feb 2008 • 315 posts Report Reply

  • Jackie Clark,

    I'm so glad Fiona's doing this. When I'm setting my HD recorder (can you tell I still think it's very flash, even if everyone else here is light years ahead of me?), I always turn to her pages to tell me what's good and what's not.

    Mt Eden, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 3136 posts Report Reply

  • David Ritchie,

    Forget a permalink, what about an RSS feed? I feel a weekend hacking project coming on...

    Since Nov 2006 • 166 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Withers,

    I used to subscribe to the Listener, then APN bought them and turned it into a lifeboat for NBR and DomPost writers I never wanted to read in the first place. The last straw was an utterly appalling mess under Deborah Hill Cone's name after she took over from Russell Brown. Horrendous. I let the mags pile up unread after that....and the sub lapse.

    Nice to know they are still publishing....But while they read like just another corporate-media National party booster rag, I won't be buying.

    The 'old' Listener was a different voice I valued because it was different. Now, it's hard to tell the Fairfax / APN publications apart. They all read like neo-liberal house journals.

    Auckland • Since Mar 2008 • 312 posts Report Reply

  • Dan Horne,

    Hmm, I subscribed to the Listener precisely because I couldn't get its at its online content in a timely fashion. But then again, I'm old skool - I'm quite happy to pay for content to keep our writers and musicians in coffee money, even though my small contribution won't clothe or shelter them.

    Since Jan 2010 • 10 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Forget a permalink, what about an RSS feed? I feel a weekend hacking project coming on...

    Hopefully they'll be able to manage it themselves :-)

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Grant McDougall,

    But while they read like just another corporate-media National party booster rag, I won't be buying.

    Joanne Black's husband is a flunky on John Key's staff, so do the maths, as the saying goes.

    My main gripe however since Pamela Stirling took over is that it's became a bland "lifestyle" magazine. They can't go two weeks with the words "How to improve / increase your..." on the cover.

    The gradually shrinking of the size (word length) of the music review is also, personally speaking, annoying too.

    Dunedin • Since Dec 2006 • 760 posts Report Reply

  • Fraser Gardyne,

    As a Listener subscriber, it continues to bother me that they stopped identifying who wrote the editorials. Editorials are opinion and I want to know who's opinion it is please.

    More positively I'm pleased that the Listener has added more pages to their letters to the Editor. They are usually the first things I read.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2009 • 22 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Joanne Black's husband is a flunky on John Key's staff, so do the maths, as the saying goes.

    [I removed some unnecessary abuse here -- RB] try joining us in the 21st century where women are allowed to have jobs and opinions without a permission slip from their husbands.

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

  • Fraser Gardyne,

    Ohh I almost forgot...

    I also enjoy reading the guy who sounds like Russell Brown. Bill Ralston I think his name is.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2009 • 22 posts Report Reply

  • Geoff Lealand,

    Excellent!!

    Screen & Media Studies, U… • Since Oct 2007 • 2562 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    man-tronising

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • 3410,

    As a Listener subscriber, it continues to bother me that they stopped identifying who wrote the editorials.

    Not me. I enjoy playing "Who wrote that?!" of a Saturday.

    eg. ,

    Hands up those who agree with this proposal...

    "Joanne Black?"

    ... Not only should there be national standards in schools, but the Government should pay bonuses of up to $100,000 if they demonsrtate improvements in the literacy and numeracy achievement standards of their pupils.

    "Yep. The zealous willingness to promote uniformed gossip as public debate - for fun and profit! - is nearly unmistakable."

    Fact: This issue is way more complicated than your presumably "common sense" approach, and your failure to acknowledge that indicates either a complete lack of understanding or a cynical, deliberate exploitation of your influence.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 2618 posts Report Reply

  • Stephen Judd,

    [I removed some unnecessary abuse here -- RB] try joining us in the 21st century where women are allowed to have jobs and opinions without a permission slip from their husbands.

    It isn't sexism to bet that spouses influence each other more than randomly assorted couples, but common sense.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    FWIW, I'm less concerned about how Joanne Black's arguments might be influenced by her husband, than by the fact that they're so often superficial and glib, and frequently appeal to faux "common sense".

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Graeme Edgeler,

    So these are the highlights of the week that were published in print form in the listener a week or so ago, published daily on-line?

    Now what will I read in from the listener in supermarket cues?

    Wellington, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 3215 posts Report Reply

  • uroskin,

    As a Listener subscriber, it continues to bother me that they stopped identifying who wrote the editorials.

    Who do they think they are? The Economist?

    Waiheke Island • Since Feb 2007 • 178 posts Report Reply

  • Geoff Lealand,

    cues?

    Taking the cue, I think you mean queue (ain't the English language daft?)

    Screen & Media Studies, U… • Since Oct 2007 • 2562 posts Report Reply

  • Jeremy Eade,

    The painful revisting of a test driven education system,1970's style , flies in the face of what we now know about children.

    They learn incredibly well in natural, low pressure, empathetic hippy environments. They are little hippies, untroubled by politics. All they want is a swell time.

    auckland • Since Mar 2008 • 1112 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    ain't the English language daft?

    Tis a kookoo coup

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    [I removed some unnecessary abuse here -- RB]

    That's your call -- how about the nasty abuse of Black as some brainless sock puppet of her "flunky" husband?

    And I think it's actually very necessary to keep calling out the tiresome and sexist crap that keeps getting thrown at Black. Think her work is badly argued and factually deficient, fair enough. Snide sideswipes about her husband -- screw that. At the very least, if you've got to go there try and get your facts straight. Black started writing for The Listener when her husband was still working for the Herald, IIRC. Perhaps the little lady should get back in the kitchen and cook her flunky some eggs?

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

  • Craig Ranapia,

    It isn't sexism to bet that spouses influence each other more than randomly assorted couples, but common sense.

    @Stephen: 'Common sense' is quite often neither. Don't know about you, but my partner doesn't give much weight to my views about his work, and I wouldn't be foolish enough to proffer them unless he really needed a laugh.

    FWIW, I also have my doubts that Peter Davies was the pillow-talking puppet master of the Fifth Labour Government. Helen Clark has a mind of her own and knows it best of all. Perhaps Joanne Black could be paid the same basic courtesy?

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

  • Danielle,

    They are little hippies, untroubled by politics.

    Yes! This is very close to my 'babies are tiny stoned people' theory, upon which I have been expounding in Twitterland.

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

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