Hard News by Russell Brown

Oh, if you're wondering where that pic comes from, it's John Oliver's 20-minute epic epic from last week about the state of journalism. The two journalists in our house were just lying on the floor moaning by the end of it ...

Old man question...
... what's a RAM DANCEHALL?

A shiny gem from in the comments on John Oliver’s video:
"Funny, isn't it, that our world needs Clark Kent a lot more than Superman."

Old man question...
... what's a RAM DANCEHALL?

It's a reggae colloquialism for a crowded and popular venue :-)

aah!
Reggae Accessed Memories...
I'll be part of the vaster raster colloquium!
Reespek!

Well gotta say - freshly empowered with my LLB - and about to embark on a new career - I have had some interest from employers BECAUSE I have worked as a journo so I'm maybe more hardened to the world (I can interview clients that's for sure) and I could bang on about being 'mature' but you get my drift.... maybe journos in this country anyway can't be journos forever and need career#2??? If for no other reason than because the cents per word rate for a feature back in 1998 when I started freelancing was 45-50 cents and today 19 years later it's - hallooooo the same..... I think even flipping burgers has had a pay rise....so what message is that sending folks???

so what message is that sending folks???

...Talk is cheap?
;- )

Wouldn't it be nice if the conference agreed that the single biggest media problem, and by extension that of the world, has been the childish attachment to relativism - thus a journo's job is not to find and report truth, but to report "sides" and give them equal weight? This stupidity is neatly encapsulated by Patrick Gower who states he is an entertainer in a pantograph interview.

Well it certainly means that "journalism" (crickey - whatever that is these days) is not valued like other professions. So it's not the talk it is the content - look at how much 'free' content you get in a paper these days - in the Herald from the Rant and Rave column to the soapbox opinion pieces to the stories driven by All Blacks on Twitter...

I love the news…
‘Pining’ for the old days…

Been checkin’ out the news, Until my eyeballs fail to see…
‘Frank’ news coverage…

This stupidity is neatly encapsulated by Patrick Gower who states he is an entertainer in a pantograph interview.

Entertainer? I guess that's mostly true.

Now that's entertainment - Who needs books?

Patrick Gower who states he is an entertainer in a pantograph interview

must be different to this one, then, where he denies everything he does.