Makes me so happy to see good journalism in NZ!

It'll be just like the bat signal shining over Gotham's night sky.

A big turd picture, posted on PAS.

I'll be looking out for it..!!

A big turd picture, posted on PAS.

A fact-checking web site would be a massive drain: as an alternative, what about a Bullshitometer for key (!) politicians, agencies and... journalists?

We could have a ballot to pick 8 important mouths or…

It would be perfectly possible to develop a model that calculates the optimum usage of generating capacity to minimise CO2 emissions and/or energy cost while maintaining reliable supply.

Wash your mouth out yo :)
Back in the ol' skool NZED days they also used to account for wear and tear…

It would be perfectly possible to develop a model that calculates the optimum usage of generating capacity to minimise CO2 emissions and/or energy cost while…

I'll have one of those.

Great reporting Keith.

It was stressed but not blackout stressed, more around the potential to have to call up reserves so meaning there would be no further margin for error.

Summer is a low load so the preferred maintenance time. Contact signalled its maintencne of stratford a year or so ago and…

The dailies' coverage of electricity issues seems to veer unevenly between "blackout threat looms!" and "why do power companies keep raising prices?"

Similar, but not identical to the media's treatment of the property market. Someone's going to have a brain bleed if a photogenically pathetic family doesn't (literally) get thrown…

Well, now they're haltingly reading out transcripts of John Key interviews with all them um/ah/er conversational noises left in.

I'm gleefully guilty of that. From an article I wrote in 2006:

__“It points to imperfections in earlier planning. Mmm.” Energy Minister David Parker nods approvingly at his own summation of…

Yep, absolutely. But then the question's just reset as to why the opportunity cost on that margin…

Generally I'd agree but it has been interesting how quiet they have been this year compared to 2005.

Generally I'd agree but it has been interesting how quiet they have been this year compared to 2005.

Whirinaki switching on is purely price driven. $200 at the Whirinaki node for 4 hours or the cost of fuel, whichever is higher. The exception being a signifcant emergency shortfall in generation.

It is not designed to only run 1 in 60. That is the security standard for the…

If we accept that there will be random fluctuations in the quantity supplied, and that the price mechanism should be used to manage that

I think one of the problems is that our major electricity users don't accept that. They want a market, but only if its a one-way bet.…

...not a persuasive or endearing form of argument

Well, now they're haltingly reading out transcripts of John Key interviews with all them um/ah/er conversational noises left in.

It's the kind of thing that puts you off voting.

First, this was not the system in its normal state. It was in a stressed state.

Huntley was running far below capacity because the river temperature was too high, and therefore it couldn't be used for cooling (this was the biggest factor). New Plymouth (was it NP? The…

even a 250% mark up wasn't worth it to the generator

...but is it enough to make construction of new power plants economic? i suppose you'd need a PhD in economics to work that one out

You were right to call Brownlee on his exaggeration of the risk of blackout. Perhaps he couldn't have been expected to resist the temptation of jumping on the media bandwagon about the "crisis", given some of the more excitable rags.

Nonetheless, there was a shortage of…

It begs the question: Is debating actual facts completely pointless when, according to our learned spin-doctors, it's all about the frequency of keywords?

Each fact represents a new and useful opportunity to reinforce the meme. Each factoid a dangerous trap that may associate the meme with untruthfulness.

Keith — if you refrained from retorting with "no, buddy, you're the one who needs to sharpen up and not talk crap when you get caught out", you're a better man than me.

Hardly. I knew that quote was going to be pure comedy gold when I printed it alongside…

Craig you are reading too much into the story. The PR man was laughing at the system.

Meh... I have the uncomfortable sense that who he's actually laughing at is the rest of us. Sorry, am I the only person who was even slightly disquieted when two of the most…

It's a meme. Once you've been exposed, it's hard not to recognise the behaviour its referring to when you see it.

Of course. We all do it. My point was more that it doesn't look so much like actual Ninth Floor spin as the spin doctors knowing a good thing…

Subsequently someone tried to, in a but-I-didn't-say-it-was-about-anyone-specific way, read out the dictionary definition of 'slippery'. Which was ruled to still be an implication, and out of order,

Cue complaints about the dictionary being ruled out of order.

The salary of these people should be much more closely tied to the…

Was there allmost a 'chuck you down the stairs moment' in Brownlees comments?

"..With all due respect – we can terminate this interview if you want – but you've got to sharpen up a bit here.."

It was a cute moment, really. I was thinking 'right – I have authoritative,…

The Standard uses it at every opportunity now, and there's clearly a conscious effort to do so. No Right Turn and others have used it recently too.

It's a meme. Once you've been exposed, it's hard not to recognise the behaviour its referring to when you see it. I use…

Perhaps that's just the free market I love coming back to bite me in the arse, but I don't have to like it. :)

well, there's something in that.
are TVNZ7 aiming to become something like BBC news? i think the BBC is funded by the UK government. as is…

but I just couldn't take seriously this crisis of conscience from someone who bolted from the newsroom

Craig you are reading too much into the story. The PR man was laughing at the system. The issue is a free market that allows Murdoch et al to print rubbish or their…

These people are trying to put a bit of gloss on a very big turd

or is mr Brownlee trying to smear a bit of brown stuff all over some fairly unalarming information?

We seem unable to receive the unedited truth from mainstream media.

Waiter, a finger bowl for Mr. Pilate. I once had a similar conversation at a party with a PR flack, and (my big bad) I just couldn't resist laughing in his face. Sorry, but I just couldn't take seriously…

... and who decided to put those grisly ultra-close up macro pictures of sainsbury's face on the side of auckland buses? argh!

The thought processes of TVNZ's publicity department, like the peace of God Surpasseth human understanding. But all Sainsbury does is make me break into the chorus of 'I…

on a positive note, i caught a bit of TVNZ7 news at 8pm last night, it wasn't too bad. Definitely more in-depth that the tv one infotainment

oh thank god. bring on freeview and TV7 news at my house (we're getting there).

true. and they're probably one of the more impartial/reliable news sources in NZ...

And I do want to be fair-minded here: In a much more modest way, I know what it's like to have a deadline that won't move by one second, not matter how much you rant and swear,…

Mark: I found them interesting, but would suggest that Radio NZ needs to clean up it's own act more than a little.

true. and they're probably one of the more impartial/reliable news sources in NZ...

I assume you heard the articles on National Radio on Monday, about PR manipulation of media

Mark: I found them interesting, but would suggest that Radio NZ needs to clean up it's own act more than a little.

Was there allmost a 'chuck you down the stairs moment' in Brownlees comments?

"..With all due respect – we can terminate this interview if you want – but you've got to sharpen up a bit here.."

Scary

Steve:

What I find scary is that kind of bullshit. Hey, I could…

What Nicky said at the conference really resonated with me actually, in that it's actually really hard to fight that kind of linguistic snowball effect. And the 'slippery…

on a positive note, i caught a bit of TVNZ7 news at 8pm last night, it wasn't too bad. Definitely more in-depth that the tv one infotainment

I haven't managed to catch it yet, but I've heard good things from people. They don't have much in the way of resources,…

"..With all due respect – we can terminate this interview if you want – but you've got to sharpen up a bit here.."

Scary

on a positive note, i caught a bit of TVNZ7 news at 8pm last night, it wasn't too bad. Definitely more in-depth that the tv one infotainment

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiFyTA1K0Pg

The Standard uses it at every opportunity now, and there's clearly a conscious effort to do so.…

This was a few months back, at the beginning of "Phase I" of my conspiracy for numeracy.

The Numerista?

Subsequently someone tried to, in a but-I-didn't-say-it-was-about-anyone-specific way, read out the dictionary definition of 'slippery'. Which was ruled to still be an implication, and out of order,

Cue complaints about the dictionary being ruled out of order.

*sigh* One of the first things I learned in high school debate club…

Subsequently someone tried to, in a but-I-didn't-say-it-was-about-anyone-specific way, read out the dictionary…