Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Privacy and the Public Interest

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  • James Hart, in reply to Russell Brown,

    Looks pretty obvious that the order for removal probably came from Odgers, looking at the list of links.

    Onehunga • Since Nov 2006 • 9 posts Report Reply

  • James George,

    I appreciate that most of the population round here are likely to judge me far too cynical to be considered, but I have to say most of what surfaced through Hager & Whaledump has been pretty much as I thought was happening.

    Not being a big believer in coincidence -the way that things have been taken down or knocked outta play before they even reached public consciousness has long had me convinced that behind the scenes media management favourable to the tories has been going on here for years.

    We saw it fine tune in the latter part of the Clark years when #1 whore for the rich pricks, Don Brash played his Tangata Whenua bashing, exclusive brethren ass kissing role and got pipped simply because (A) the machine still needed tuning and (B) the Green Party refused to put up with that shit (RIP Rod Donald).

    I am still appalled at the lackadaisical attitude the Labour Party took towards the co-ordinated attack on TVNZ's independence during their last term in office.
    This was reflected in doubling down on tory leadership with Ralston & Ellis. Ellis had already been flicked once over his determination to accede to Sky platform dominance and then the dimwits or crooks (I dunno which because the re-appointment made no sense) hired him again.
    Friends who worked in the TVNZ newsroom used to whine about executive interference in stories back in the Boag Shipley days, so this stuff cannot have been unknown to labour party ministers, yet they happily appointed TVNZ bosses whose strategies were always going to shift the newsroom further away from objectivity into rightist neo-liberal points of view.

    Some may remember Wilkinson & Pickett's study of growing inequality in neoliberal economies, "The Spirit Level". It was published early in the first term of the KeyCorp regime and should have served as a wake up call for Kiwis as to the dangers of the direction we were moving. That didn't happen. Long before the book was available here much less studied, there was a concerted push by media to discredit it. TVNZ's Q&A was one of the prime movers in the usual fallacious tabloid style put down of its complex well researched & well documented findings. It was sunk without trace before it came into view, hardly the actions of a disinterested media.

    I don't think it is going to be close enough but I have a real fear that if the final numbers in this election are so close that a Green/Labour coalition can get up with NZ First and/or Maori party on the cross benches, we may see a repetition of what happened in Qld back in the 80's with Joh Bjelke Peterson.

    Some of the 'chooks' (the media -Joh used to call his daily press conferences "feeding the chooks") had enough, the people of Qld certainly had to the point where he couldn't get a majority even with his various gerrymanders. Election night everyone goes to bed quietly confident Joh has gone. They wake up to learn that 3 or 4 Labour party members had crossed the floor. They claimed the Labour Party had become "too commie" for them. It eventually transpired the traitors had been bribed & blackmailed. IIRC one ended up as Minister for Bagmen or something similar. Jo copped a few more terms after that.

    Since Sep 2007 • 96 posts Report Reply

  • Ana Simkiss, in reply to Allan Moyle,

    I do not recommend you take anything about that site at face value. The author has a huge, huge grudge against the legal system in NZ. A bit more googling might fill you in.

    Freemans Bay • Since Nov 2006 • 141 posts Report Reply

  • Richard Wain,

    A list of all the things Cameron Slater has deleted from the Whaleoil blog since August 18th

    I gather they’re all still available on the Wayback Machine.

    A quick squizz suggests not...

    Since Nov 2006 • 155 posts Report Reply

  • SteveH, in reply to Richard Wain,

    ” I gather they’re all still available on the Wayback Machine.”

    A quick squizz suggests not…

    The couple that I checked were there.

    ETA: I've now checked about a dozen and the only one that wasn't found was the very last one from August 2014.

    Since Sep 2009 • 444 posts Report Reply

  • SteveH, in reply to James George,

    I appreciate that most of the population round here are likely to judge me far too cynical to be considered, but I have to say most of what surfaced through Hager & Whaledump has been pretty much as I thought was happening.

    Quite a bit was suspected, seeing hard evidence is something else though. And I wasn't aware that Slater was being paid to post other people's work under his name, or the extent of special treatment he was getting in terms of OIAs.

    Since Sep 2009 • 444 posts Report Reply

  • Rich Lock, in reply to Emma Hart,

    I disagree – there is a very real public interest here. Outing people who hold these vile opinions about half the human race may go some way to showing how unacceptable these opinions are, and perhaps provide a heads-up to the women who have to interact with them IRL.

    I have to say I agree, Judi. I think it’s really important for women who may have to interact with Williams in future to know that he holds these views, for their own personal safety.

    Wasn't this a factor in Mr Tiso's advertiser's boycott? IIRC a good proportion of the brand and advertising managers were female, and weren't particularly impressed with having the brands they represented assoiated with misogynists.

    So yeah, it's public interest for 50% of the pupulation by default, before you even start arguing opinion and legal nicities.

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

  • mpledger, in reply to Russell Brown,

    RB said:
    A list of all the things Cameron Slater has deleted from the Whaleoil blog since August 18th

    I gather they’re all still available on the Wayback Machine.
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    The first one on the list is in google's cache.
    http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:EfDRV3YcuxIJ:www.whaleoil.co.nz/2006/04/dumbass-judge-puts-away-catholic-kiddy-fiddler/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=nz&client=firefox-a

    And the national library has been harvesting the whale oil blog every three months (roughly) since 2008 and cactus kate every six months (roughy) since 2008
    http://ndhadeliver.natlib.govt.nz/content-aggregator/getIEs?system=ilsdb&id=1260618
    http://ndhadeliver.natlib.govt.nz/content-aggregator/getIEs?system=ilsdb&id=1305677

    Since Oct 2012 • 97 posts Report Reply

  • Richard Wain, in reply to SteveH,

    None of the ones I’ve checked are there…perhaps they're on the National Archives though, cheers mpledger

    Since Nov 2006 • 155 posts Report Reply

  • SteveH, in reply to Richard Wain,

    None of the ones I’ve checked are there…perhaps they’re on the National Archives though, cheers mpledger

    Ok, you made me check them all. 52 are there. These four are not:
    2009/08/message-to-john-key-endorse-the-cactus-plan/
    2009/09/cactus-on-fire/
    2011/01/cactus-should-send-a-bill/
    2014/08/uppity-tech-geek-gets-smashing/

    Since Sep 2009 • 444 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Barnes,

    Way back machine. Some are there but while l was looking l realised that l wouldn't be interested in going there even if they were readily available. In fact l wish he would delete the whole revolting festering sore that it is and never post again but that's just me being intolerant l suppose.

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report Reply

  • nzlemming, in reply to Sacha,

    that’s not a tech problem

    PEBKAC

    Waikanae • Since Nov 2006 • 2937 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to nzlemming,

    something like that, yes

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Rich Lock, in reply to Steve Barnes,

    In fact l wish he would delete the whole revolting festering sore that it is

    Not before some highly deserving cats have been house-trained by having their noses thoroughly shoved into it.

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

  • nzlemming, in reply to Russell Brown,

    I gather they’re all still available on the Wayback Machine.

    Not everything, but most. When Odgers memory-holed her site, there was nothing left in Wayback because she had a robots.txt that forbade crawling.

    Waikanae • Since Nov 2006 • 2937 posts Report Reply

  • dcnbwz,

    Man there's some revolting stuff in there.

    uk • Since Sep 2009 • 24 posts Report Reply

  • nzlemming,

    At least Wayback doesn't keep the comments.

    Waikanae • Since Nov 2006 • 2937 posts Report Reply

  • Walter Nicholls, in reply to Russell Brown,

    A list of all the things Cameron Slater has deleted from the Whaleoil blog since August 18th

    Oh my - I feel dirty just reading the subject lines. Anyone on this forum that has recommended against visiting this website has given good advice. No wayback machine for me. (or others on this thread I notice). I kind of hope though that someone with a stronger stomach is busy collating them for posterity...

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Jul 2008 • 42 posts Report Reply

  • SteveH, in reply to Walter Nicholls,

    No wayback machine for me.

    I have to admit that I couldn't bring myself to actually read those posts, I just checked they were there.

    Since Sep 2009 • 444 posts Report Reply

  • Kumara Republic, in reply to Steve Barnes,

    Rawshark has said that he had already handed them over before the court order was made. Too late for Slater.... Slater than you think...

    "You can kill a man, but you can't kill an idea." - Medgar Evers

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report Reply

  • nzlemming, in reply to mpledger,

    And the national library has been harvesting the whale oil blog every three months (roughly) since 2008 and cactus kate every six months (roughy) since 2008

    I love you. ;-)

    Waikanae • Since Nov 2006 • 2937 posts Report Reply

  • nzlemming, in reply to James Hart,

    Looks pretty obvious that the order for removal probably came from Odgers, looking at the list of links.

    Having browsed through (and taken PDFs, for shits and giggles), I think it may be more symptomatic of the falling out between them than an order for distruction. Most of the posts are favourable to Odgers, in a Slateresque fashion.

    Waikanae • Since Nov 2006 • 2937 posts Report Reply

  • SteveH, in reply to nzlemming,

    Most of the posts are favourable to Odgers, in a Slateresque fashion.

    Yep. Which makes me think it's probably her trying to distance herself from Whale Oil rather than the other way around.

    Since Sep 2009 • 444 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to SteveH,

    Most of the posts are favourable to Odgers, in a Slateresque fashion.

    Yep. Which makes me think it’s probably her trying to distance herself from Whale Oil rather than the other way around.

    My sense is that she's taken more heat professionally than the others -- extending to losing her job. That being in Hong Kong, not squeaky-clean New Zealand.

    The email that did in Collins is also said to to have been her doing. God knows with these people, really.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • nzlemming, in reply to Russell Brown,

    My sense is that she’s taken more heat professionally than the others – extending to losing her job. That being in Hong Kong, not squeaky-clean New Zealand.

    Presackly, Bungle. I suspect their bustup is the real deal - he's screwed her career and so she knifed his pet pollie so he's ripped down all her posters. Can't wait to see what the next escalation is.

    Waikanae • Since Nov 2006 • 2937 posts Report Reply

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