Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Anatomy of a Shambles

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  • Russell Brown,

    That's just stupid. The biggest disappointment is what's being said here? Not the risk to the sustainability of the industry? I hope IrishBill's not advising anyone involved in this.

    I'm getting used to it. It's not "what are the merits of the case?", it's "whose tribe are you with?".

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • BenWilson,

    Pretty annoying.

    I'd have found it so.

    A little dramatic.

    Not as dramatic as the consequences of Whipp's actions, though.

    Probably quite distressing.

    Only if you've got something to hide. Also, quite silly. Anyone with half a brain knows if a crowd is pursuing you with a camera, get into a car, pause to look at the camera, smile winsomely, and say "no comment". Unless you want to look like a stonewalling hard-arse. I got the impression he was actually liking it, ignoring the scabs...

    Perhaps not as threatening as we were led to believe?

    Objectively, no. Subjectively, I expect any time I heard 1500 foreign people were marching to have a word with me in their own country, about having jeopardized their livelihoods, I'd feel shit scared. If I had, in fact, jeopardized their livelihoods, and my actual opinion was "I don't give a fuck and I refuse to even talk to them".

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report

  • Jonathan King,

    So, watching that video, then, this:

    The Outrageous Fortune star had to be escorted by police away from an inner city Wellington restaurant after being threatened by technical workers

    Robyn Malcolm had to be escorted by police away from an inner city Wellington restaurant last night after being threatened by technical workers worried the Hobbit won't be made in New Zealand.

    Things got ugly as the Outrageous Fortune star left the Matterhorn restaurant after having a meal with CTU boss Helen Kelly.

    She was met with a barrage of abuse from people gathered outside the restaurant.

    The police stepped in and escorted her away.

    Would be false then? Who gave the media this story? And will they now admit it is not actually, you know, true?

    Helen? I believe you frequent these parts ...

    Since Sep 2010 • 185 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    So what's behind Whipp's wall of silence? Maybe he knows he's backed into a corner and trying to defend the indefensible?

    I think the plan must have been to drop the boycott bomb then stonewall -- hence Whipp's unbelievable decision to take a two-week holiday in the middle of the crisis.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • rodgerd,

    I think the plan must have been to drop the boycott bomb

    Yes, and one of the more irritating things in the fallout positioning in all this is the claim that the actors "just wanted a chat". Or that unions need to "reserve the right to strike" (which I certainly agree with).

    AE took industrial action - the boycott - and most of the conversation appears (from what you've managed to pull together) that they didn't even make significant steps in consulting their own members about what they wanted until after the fact.

    (Which, incidentally, is why I'm entirely comfortable describing AE as throwing people under the bus. Back in the heydeys of the unions it was customary for unions in allied trades to consult with one another over industrial action. That sure as hell didn't happen here, did it?)

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 512 posts Report

  • Pat Hackett,

    Whipp's not completely silent:

    http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/hobbit-film-row-turns-ugly-20101021-16w4s.html

    The head of the alliance, Simon Whipp, said the unions had lifted the ban because it had reached a stage where rational discussion was unlikely.

    They also wanted to avoid the production leaving New Zealand and more rifts between crew and actors.

    ''We'd been told threats of violence had been made,'' he said. ''We had no choice but to cancel.''

    Auckland • Since Oct 2010 • 95 posts Report

  • Alan Perrott,

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 438 posts Report

  • Petra,

    http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/hobbit-film-row-turns-ugly-20101021-16w4s.html</quote>

    Do these journalists not fact check? That whole article is just repetition of the same "lynch mob" lie, even though that has been proven - on film - to be blatantly false.

    Jeeez. :-/

    Rotorua • Since Mar 2007 • 317 posts Report

  • Heather W.,

    Helen Kelly likely to be a bit busy now. The unions have some arrangements to make about workers getting a fair share for that event on next year.

    A recent conspiracy theory is that the country is due for some civil unrest - (1951, 1981, 2011?)

    North Shore • Since Nov 2008 • 189 posts Report

  • Jonathan King,

    Herald

    "It would be reassuring if the Council of Trade Unions would confirm now that it will not Hobbit the Rugby World Cup.

    Now that's a milestone ladies and gentlemen: 'Hobbit' is now a verb!

    Call the Dictionary of New Zealand English, folks ...

    Hobbit, v: to bring futile and destructive industrial action at the last minute.

    Since Sep 2010 • 185 posts Report

  • Pat Hackett,

    There is no notice on the MEAA Australian website that the boycott has been lifted.

    Auckland • Since Oct 2010 • 95 posts Report

  • Samuel Scott,

    Stuff have actually pulled their article on the Matterhorn thing and replaced it with this;

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/4261302/Police-clear-path-for-actors

    amazing. I actually read the original and was quite shocked. How did a major newspaper get it so wrong?

    I am supposed to be reading a script but I just can't stay off Facebook and PAS. The 'facts' are all changing so fast.

    South Wellington • Since Feb 2008 • 315 posts Report

  • Kyle Matthews,

    No, and the questions were exclusively targeted at Whipp, whose refusal to speak has become completely fucking unacceptable, given his central role in what's happened.

    They were all even bid good night at the end. In the circumstances, I don't find this unacceptable at all.

    I don't know who was holding the camera and asking the questions, but I can understand why he wasn't answering their questions then and at that time.

    Yes the union should be answering questions, I'm just not sure they have to do it to anyone who asks them late at night after they've had dinner. To the media the next morning, yes.

    But yes, no evidence of lynch mob there.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report

  • BenWilson,

    Hobbit, v: to bring futile and destructive industrial action at the last minute.

    It's the Kiwi version of "Bobbitt" then?

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report

  • Alan Perrott,

    umm, once again...no-one ever said there was a lynch mob. she was refering to the mood, and despite what that video shows, it may still have existed. who knows what was happening in the time leading up to then?

    I don't know either way but those details should be easily confirmed if someone called the Wtgn police to see if there was a callout.

    this may not seem a big thing, but lynch mob is an easy line that can and is feeding into a growing anti-union theme. I noted Jackson used it twice last night. that ain't helping the big picture emerge.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 438 posts Report

  • giovanni tiso,

    umm, once again...no-one ever said there was a lynch mob. she was refering to the mood, and despite what that video shows, it may still have existed. who knows what was happening in the time leading up to then?

    I'm with Malcolm, that devolved into harassment pretty quickly. And I agree, it's not actually a video of the group leaving the Matterhorn, is it?

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report

  • linger,

    Hobbit (v):

    Kiwi version of "Bobbitt"

    ... in a portmanteau with hobble, for extra LOSE.

    Tokyo • Since Apr 2007 • 1944 posts Report

  • Samuel Scott,

    it's not actually a video of the group leaving the Matterhorn, is it?

    Umm that is exactly what it is. The first shot is pretty much the doorstep of the horn. You can see Simon step past the point where the Matterhorn security sit.

    South Wellington • Since Feb 2008 • 315 posts Report

  • Andre Alessi,

    What's a burrahobbit, then? Inquiring trolls would like to know.

    Devonport, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 864 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    this may not seem a big thing, but lynch mob is an easy line that can and is feeding into a growing anti-union theme. I noted Jackson used it twice last night. that ain't helping the big picture emerge.

    But he was quoting -- somewhat inaccurately -- Helen Kelly (she said "lynch mob mood"). If she didn't want that line used against her, she damn well shouldn't have said it in the first place.

    I've been staggered by the venom directed at these working people (many of them union members) by the union side. Tom Semmens was here this morning calling them "useful idiots" and Chris Trotter today saw fit to call them "dull-witted" and "troll-like". I mean, really?

    By the same token, someone needs to get a grip on Peter Jackson's scribblings. The "fact sheet" that's been floating around contained an extremely unhelpful personal attack on Ward-Lealand and Hurst.

    But, again, if you don't want your use of the phrase "lynch mob" used against you -- don't bloody say it in the first place.

    And, finally, I don't actually have a problem with the key figure in the boycott being asked the same questions repeatedly on camera when he has refused to answer any questions from the New Zealand news media since he took the action. I'm much more incensed by that than him being followed in the public street.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • rodgerd,

    but lynch mob is an easy line that can and is feeding into a growing anti-union theme. I noted Jackson used it twice last night. that ain't helping the big picture

    I'd find professed concern about the tone of discussion a bit more convincing if equal effort were expressing concern about calling Jackson a "spoiled brat" or the technical workers "useful idiots" and accusations of scabbery being chucked about.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 512 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    Yes the union should be answering questions, I'm just not sure they have to do it to anyone who asks them late at night after they've had dinner. To the media the next morning, yes.

    But he refuses to. The next morning or any other.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    amazing. I actually read the original and was quite shocked. How did a major newspaper get it so wrong?

    Presumably, someone lied to them about what happened.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • giovanni tiso,

    The first shot is pretty much the doorstep of the horn. You can see Simon step past the point where the Matterhorn security sit.

    I see now. I stand corrected.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report

  • Jonathan King,

    amazing. I actually read the original and was quite shocked. How did a major newspaper get it so wrong?

    Presumably, someone lied to them about what happened.

    From Facebook thread with the video:

    Marc Tyron I tried telling that to the reporter who broke the story and he said to me "why would Robyn lie?"

    Since Sep 2010 • 185 posts Report

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