Posts by Russell Brown
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Hard News: My Food Bag: is it any good?, in reply to Hebe,
That was the policy in the late ’90s because the management believed mentioning dubdubdub adresses gave legimitacy to the opposition. Now it’s pathetic.
It is still regrettably common in the MSM. Our TV show is thus constrained and it drives me nuts. I feel like we're letting down the viewers for no good reason.
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Up Front: Oh, Grow Up, in reply to Ross Mason,
My definition of reaching adulthood was when I suddenly (and seriously) thought about my eventual demise.
Can you believe that these days I get the mortality thing and the "not really a grown-up" thing? Am I weird?
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Congratulations, Damian. I remember you first mentioning this to me as an an idea, and I'm bloody impressed at your focus and commitment in bringing it to fruition.
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Up Front: Oh, Grow Up, in reply to James Butler,
That’s interesting – do you think that some of this might come from having had to confront and analyse his own emotions from a relatively early age?
More likely from innate innocence of the kind of high-school bullshit noted by Emma. We tend to forget the behaviour towards others that apparent grown-ups justify in themselves when they feel insecure or under pressure.
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Up Front: Oh, Grow Up, in reply to David Cormack,
Are we adults? We don’t feel like adults.
Dude. I'm 50. And I still get that all the time.
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With two boys on the spectrum, we find this stuff particularly perplexing. We know they'll develop in different ways, and be "late bloomers", but we really have no idea of where they're supposed to be at. I would say that our younger son, who still has issues with emotional control, in some ways has greater emotional maturity and self-knowledge than some of the "adults" I have had to work for as managers.
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Hard News: Marshall and the Media, in reply to Sacha,
hope you get a subtitle in there #notreallyhim
I talked to Jose about it tonight. We need to note it somehow.
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Hard News: My Food Bag: is it any good?, in reply to Hebe,
There are usually follow-on ads after a freebie. I’m told that the ad rate discounts in newspapers are particularly vicious these days, particularly for late placements that fill up a hole in the ratio.
You hope there are follow-on ads, but maybe not. The key selling point of consumer PR is that it's a cheaper way into media than a conventional ad campaign. It will often be accounted to the client in terms of equivalent advertising hours.
But I reckon the big win in that game is a spot on a 7pm show, and the market has changed enough that I think there are fewer of those consumer-PR gapfillers. Everyone's trying a bit harder, at the moment.
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Hard News: Marshall and the Media, in reply to Marcelo Rodriguez Ferrere,
can I point out that “onetime” drummer possibly indicates that Barker was part of the original Split Enz line up. He actually only drummed in their latest reunion tour in 2008 (although worked with Neil and Tim Finn separately). He was never part of the band during their active years (1972-1984): he was only 18 when they broke up.
Amazingly, the completely FUBARed Today Tonight story had a picture of him playing with Split Enz. Except it was actually longtime drummer Malcolm Green.
So yeah, the rockstar dad angle is the lamest part of the story, albeit the one that all the papers went with.
BTW, I couldn’t squeeze it into the show recording tonight, but Herald on Sunday editor Bryce Johns got back to us to confirm the Marshall byline on their story, which he said was part of “an informal copy-sharing arrangement” with News Ltd. He said their story was different than most of the Aussie ones because it was subjected to their ethical and fact-checking standards.
It wasn’t actually that different, imo.
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Hard News: Marshall and the Media, in reply to Alexis Randell,
but there is a level to which we can sometimes justify some level of dubious behaviour in the furtherance of a greater good.
The Alan Jones story is a good example. There was outrage on the right that he'd signed a form declaring his interest in becoming a Young Liberal, but that was the price of entry. I think a story that showed what Australia's young political class was being treated to justified that sort of undercover action.