Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Sunday's Perfect Storm

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  • dc_red,

    Well said, RB. KFC and "lavish" shouldn't be used in the same story.

    Was the HoS just throwing a big chunk o' meat to the hungry talkback hordes?

    Oil Patch, Alberta • Since Nov 2006 • 706 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Withers,

    Having worked in a prison and seen these people first hand daily, the media's efforts to cover criminal justice matters stands out as typically sensational and playing on public misconceptions about the system, the people in it and the efficacy of locking people up with several hundred other crims. Portraying this sad, sad boy as somehow a 'winner' who is now creaming it with his new shoes, stereo and Playstation in South Auckland is pathetic. Just one more reason I've taken up blogging and reading blogs. When a blogger is dishonest, you read another blog. When the newspaper with a monopoly in your town is dishonest....you have no alternative. Reality is damaged if not broken.

    Auckland • Since Mar 2008 • 312 posts Report Reply

  • Stephen Judd,

    Rita McCroskery is being exploited.

    There is no reason to ask her what she thinks - it's not as though she has special expertise, or even anything new to say - other than to expose her pain yet again for the pleasure of the reader, and enable the reader to experience the thrill of vicarious condemnation once more.

    Likewise, if there is any hope of turning Kuariki into a reformed citizen, is relentlessly pursuing him going to help or hurt that reformation?

    This is a perfect example of why "tabloid" is a derogatory term.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report Reply

  • cindy baxter,

    Steve Abel's blog on The Wire sums up my views on prisons:

    "imprisoning people is terrible, it doesn’t work and is one of the starkest indictments of our societies failure to own our problems and make amends."

    Releasing Kuariki can only be a good thing.

    auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 102 posts Report Reply

  • Rebecca Williams,

    thanks for this post russell - i read that story and felt sad, offended and disgusted. how the media are treating this boy also raises the question - when does punishment end?

    Portraying this sad, sad boy as somehow a 'winner' who is now creaming it with his new shoes, stereo and Playstation in South Auckland is pathetic

    i couldn't agree more. absolutely pathetic.

    Auckland • Since Mar 2007 • 120 posts Report Reply

  • Lyndon Hood,

    Also, and I've probably said this here before, I'm pretty sure Kurariki would have been paroled a noticably earlier if he weren't so notorious. So in effect he served more time in prison because he was so young.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1115 posts Report Reply

  • Gareth Ward,

    The HoS has become so predictable that when I saw that header plastered over the front I instantly thought "bet he's just got a new pair of shoes and is paroled to a middle-class uncle's house". Against my better judgement I read the main story and it wasn't even THAT lavish.

    I'd given up on it a while ago, that was my first attempt at re-reading it and was tossed aside as soon as I got halfway through that article.

    Appalling, appalling creation of story- and yet these guys won Best Something-or-Other at the Qantas awards didn't they?

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

  • Rogan Polkinghorne,

    Great post Russell, I missed the newspapers yesterday but did see a piece on the news last night which appears to have lifted (almost word for word) the article you mention...yet another depressing example of MSM scraping the bottom of whatever it is they scrape to come up with this kind of reporting...

    A-town • Since Nov 2006 • 105 posts Report Reply

  • Robyn Gallagher,

    It is an absolute outrage that Bailey Kurariki is having pizza and KFC delivered to his house!

    He should be eating meals made from organic, locally sourced, in-season produce.

    ;)

    Since Nov 2006 • 1946 posts Report Reply

  • dubmugga,

    Also, and I've probably said this here before, I'm pretty sure Kurariki would have been paroled a noticably earlier if he weren't so notorious. So in effect he served more time in prison because he was so young.

    The fact that he was a brat with no regard for authority while in youth justice care wouldn't have helped his cause either.

    I did a couple of workshop in kingslea while he was there and his attitude was 'what could you possibly do to me now to punish me ?'

    He was pretty on to it as i remember and used to getting his own way. Hope fully he can leverage that into a legit career and role model others.

    I bet he'd make a great public speaker given the right handlers...heh

    the back of your mind • Since Nov 2006 • 257 posts Report Reply

  • Che Tibby,

    He should be eating meals made from organic, locally sourced, in-season produce.

    now that is cruel and unusual punishment.

    especially round august/september when the only thing in season is freaking potatoes and kumara...

    so. much. stodge.

    the back of an envelope • Since Nov 2006 • 2042 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Williams,

    An excellent post Russell but if, as you say, all the key decision makers know the story is a misrepresentation, surely they've got some responsibility to edit it accordingly? Even if Ms Croskery's quotes were to be included - she has every right to her outrage and grief - this story should not have appeared as it did. I guess dispairing at the lack of journalistic standards is only as credible and lamenting the loss of milk in bottles but at least I'll enjoy myself next time a reporter tells me that blogs don't do real news.

    Sydney • Since Nov 2006 • 2273 posts Report Reply

  • dubmugga,

    Tapu Misa: Ex-prisoners need space to learn how to be free

    I don't know Bailey Kurariki, but it's possible to understand if not excuse the path leading him to that fatal alleyway in 2001. He was 12. He's spent most of his teenage years locked up.

    It is said Kurariki is "very unlikely to reoffend". But there are no guarantees. He will need continuing support from people who care - and understanding from everyone else.

    We know what he looks like, even where he's likely to live. But he's served his sentence. We should now leave him alone to try to make something of his life.

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/466/story.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10506516

    the back of your mind • Since Nov 2006 • 257 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Our panel discussion this week focuses on the sexualisation of teenagers in the media, with reference to Miley Cyrus and Zippora Seven. The panel is Pam Corkery, Pebbles Hooper...

    Might be rather more interesting to have Pebb's mum and dad on, and ask these two healthily meaty designers whether they ever could have squeezed themselves into the outfits they send down the runway. If you want to talk about "sexualizing" yoof, the Miley/Inanity Fair non-scandal has nothing on the malnourished tweenies stalking the runways.

    As for the lead: Water is wet, fire is hot, and the Herald on Sunday is written by psychotic chimps using their own faeces. Must be one of those days ending in Y.

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

  • Danyl Mclauchlan,

    Child killers have been de facto celebrities for a long time now and by their nature they tend to have parents who are willing to sell interviews to whatever reporter shows up on their doorstep.

    I'm curious to know what the HoS suggests be done with convicted teenagers on parole - a quiet house in the suburbs sounds ideal.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 927 posts Report Reply

  • Simon Grigg,

    Ha.....Duncan Grieve has posted about the The World Class Wreckin' Cru

    And there I was thinking I was the only one.....

    Just another klong... • Since Nov 2006 • 3284 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Appalling, appalling creation of story- and yet these guys won Best Something-or-Other at the Qantas awards didn't they?

    Best Newspaper. And really, when you look at yesterday's paper, it's pretty lively; much more so than the SST. They've got lots of stories.

    So it's a shame they felt they had to bullshit-up their lead.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Shep Cheyenne,

    "He was not involved in the beating, but, as a 12 year-old, he acted as lookout."

    In my book he shouldn't be convicted of manslaughter & his name/photo should have been suppressed for life.

    Since Oct 2007 • 927 posts Report Reply

  • philipmatthews,

    Three murders and a topless teen on the front page -- yes, the HoS sure is an energetic tabloid, but the idea that it's a better quality read than the weekend editions of any of the daily broadsheets (and yes I work for one of them) is pretty hard to sustain. Newspaper of the Year? Baffling.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2007 • 656 posts Report Reply

  • Tom Semmens,

    I am hardly a prude, but its been one of lifes little mysteries to me how parents who would die in a ditch to protect their daughters from exploitation on facebook or myspace will then suddenly celebrate the prostituting (yes, prostitute - selling yourself in a base way) of their young teenage daughters in a fashion magazine. Why? Because they are in the glamorous business of being models, apparently. Why does that make it OK for your sixteen year old girl to get her kit off? Does the fact that there is no money in their daughter flashing someone online but the "fashion" business might produce big fat cheque have a bearing?

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

  • Kyle Matthews,

    In my book he shouldn't be convicted of manslaughter & his name/photo should have been suppressed for life.

    Typically name suppression is given for the benefit of the victim. Regardless of whatever fascination the media has for this young man, I'd struggle to find a good reason for name suppression for someone who was an accessory to a murder.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • Andrew Paul Wood,

    Personally I think you would have to be a serious pervert to see that Vanity Fair cover of Miley Cyrus as anything other than a harmless cliche. As for Peebles - well for starters the fact they named her after a Flintstones character suggests volumes - her parents have never been known for good taste and sensitivity to parental mores as the "future Porn star" t-shirts demonstrated. But then Barney the Dinosaur (famous for all those kinderwhores in Pavement) has ben rehabilited by SST so the innocence of children in this country is pretty much up for grabs.

    Christchurch • Since Jan 2007 • 175 posts Report Reply

  • Shep Cheyenne,

    Kyle - he was 12 years old. A child in anyones book, & that in mine requires that he is protected.

    I think it is worth drawing a comparison to child soliders.

    Since Oct 2007 • 927 posts Report Reply

  • Nick D'Angelo,

    Russell: Our panel discussion this week focuses on the sexualisation of teenagers in the media, with reference to Miley Cyrus and Zippora Seven. The panel is Pam Corkery, Pebbles Hooper...

    Craig:
    Might be rather more interesting to have Pebb's mum and dad on, and ask these two healthily meaty designers whether they ever could have squeezed themselves into the outfits they send down the runway.

    Andrew:
    As for Pebbles - well for starters the fact they named her after a Flintstones character suggests volumes - her parents have never been known for good taste and sensitivity to parental mores as the "future Porn star" t-shirts demonstrated.

    Interesting. Russell wants a panel discussion on the sexualisation of teenagers in the media, but some PAS readers want to 'bash' the parents of one prospective panelist before the show has even been aired - or even filmed for that matter! Is this now Talkback radio, or what?

    Simon Laan • Since May 2008 • 162 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    Kyle - he was 12 years old. A child in anyones book, & that in mine requires that he is protected.

    I think it is worth drawing a comparison to child soliders.

    Well if he was a child, and I suspect he was, then I'd argue he shouldn't be locked away for... 7 years? Name suppression is pretty secondary to the effect that must have on someone's life.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

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