Posts by Sacha
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OnPoint: H4x0rs and You, in reply to William Ray,
I expect every journalist and editor has to make choices about talking with quoted and well-informed parties before publishing.
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OnPoint: H4x0rs and You, in reply to William Ray,
when that reporter didn't have the opportunity to speak to someone
Do you have a link about the reporter "not having an opportunity"?
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OnPoint: H4x0rs and You, in reply to BenWilson,
justifying handwriting after the printing press was invented
I'm talking earlier, when writing became something a wider group could do - nothing to do with technology. Was a narrow profession before that.
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OnPoint: H4x0rs and You, in reply to Lew Stoddart,
The problem with this case was that it got framed as 'politics' rather than 'tech', so they put a political journalist on it who, through no real fault of her own, doesn't grok the technical and cultural aspects necessary to put it in context. This was a failure of editorial discretion as much as it is of journalism -- bearing in mind that the editor who made the editorial calls also likely doesn't have a fucking clue about these tech aspects. I think this is disappointing but inevitable -- one thing I liked about Keith's initial story was that it was rigorously apolitical, and the government was only criticised by virtue of the fact that it's the government.
Yes, and the political 'immune system' kicked in mighty fast. Bennett's office has answered an OIA request in record time for the charming Cameron Slater which shows at least some of the internal email trail and carefully redacts names which I'd guess are probably from the PM's office or similar.
I reckon traditional media seem more comfortable with crime and politics than with science, tech or policy fields. I guess broader than 'he said, she said' takes more to cover, and there aren't agencies like the courts and police providing ongoing and sanctioned judgement about what matters.
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OnPoint: H4x0rs and You, in reply to BenWilson,
Everyone can be a journalist now, it's an equal opportunity employer, just so long as it doesn't matter that you can't make a living out of it.
The location and nature of value is shifting, just like it did when scribes were no longer the only ones who could write. Journos have some great skills - and legal protections and privileged access. But yes, the business hasn't quite kept pace with the shifts.
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OnPoint: H4x0rs and You, in reply to FletcherB,
But if every story is "wrong", "wrong-ish" or "misguided" according to the people who have "more knowledge than average" on any given topic... then you have to question what it is our media is doing for us?
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I have no doubt that the reporters are trying their best... but theres just too much information on too many topics for them to research and present several stories a day with any level of accuracy ... (in my opinion :)The volume and breadth of knowledge most of us are expected to engage with every day has increased hugely, and that won't stop. Even if it's sports or celeb gossip for entertainment, there's so much more of it.
Media traditionally performed a research and filtering function that can now be shared across more of us. However, viable quality systems and business models haven't settled yet and cost pressures have gutted the quality measures that were relied on such as senior staff and time to craft and check a story.
Wikipedia was an early example of a different approach and there are many more now. Bernard Hickey's local journalism.org.nz initiative should be most interesting when it kicks off next month.
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Hard News: Music: It's Choice, in reply to Russell Brown,
Jesus.
I really don't want what they're having, though I admires the skill.
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OnPoint: H4x0rs and You, in reply to Lucy Bailey,
I'm trying to get someone to report properly on the Protected Disclosures Act 2000 (aka the Whistleblower's Act) in relation to this story.
Nice post, thanks. Sure seems an angle worthy of a journo's attention..
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OnPoint: H4x0rs and You, in reply to George Darroch,
zing
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I like how blogging and other forms of online engagement allow input from various parties and refinement of a story.