Posts by Russell Brown
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Hard News: The perils of political confidence, in reply to Paul Williams,
I don’t agree. I suspect the tactic was (a) get their assent or not = story (b) claim to have a right to publish = story (c) publish or not = story. Repeat = story.
And I suspect we'll have to wait till next Sunday to find out the ending.
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Hard News: The perils of political confidence, in reply to Danyl Mclauchlan,
Every press secretary knows that the public despises the media, even more so than politicians (especially a popular one like Key). So a protracted fight with a media outlet is a gift from heaven.
Radio NZ's Epsom vox pops this morning didn't seem to bear out this theory.
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Stuff has an update, with the Greens calling for National to release the transcript -- which, presumably, National doesn't actually have.
And John Key said more this morning:
Key said he would not give permission for the tape to be released because "once you start News of the World tactics from a tabloid like the Herald on Sunday, you just encourage them to do it to everyone else".
"Once you start with me, then it just goes to other well known New Zealanders.
"The British public saw what that was like and in the end it's very distasteful."
If this develops into an actual feud with the HoS and its publisher, that's not exactly ideal for National, but they don't seem to be trying to avoid such an outcome. Quite the reverse.
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Hard News: Some things just don't let…, in reply to Alex Ross,
And yet: I'm writing about the "big band" version of "Nothing's Going to Happen," which is indeed a Flying Nun song (from That's the Short & Long of It). So, either way, there you are. Thanks for reading, and apologies again for all I left out.
Aha! That's a correct and delightfully nerdy comeback.
Thanks for swinging by, Alex. And I'm not sure if you realised it, but Simon was both manager of the Suburban Reptiles and co-owner of the label on which the 3 Songs EP containing the original 'Nothing's Gonna Happen' appeared.
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Hard News: The perils of political confidence, in reply to Danyl Mclauchlan,
No. But that’s not how the HoS editor is describing it – the tape is ‘breathtaking’, ‘a game-changer’, that he’s decided not to publish for reasons which are still rather vague.
To be fair, it was Milne who used the word "breathtaking", and in a particular context:
But it's the sheer range of comments in Key and Banks' discussion that is breathtaking - and the pair's assessment of the prospects of National, Act and NZ First.
Deciding your story isn't quite compelling enough to risk a massive shitfight and potential prosecution isn't the same thing as there being no story. There evidently is a political story in it.
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Hard News: The perils of political confidence, in reply to Craig Ranapia,
5) “The sense of political fixing in the Epsom deal has been hugely amplified by the incident.” You may wish to expand that a tad, Russell.
I don't think it's outrageous to say that the Epsom deal is perceived as a political jack-up, and that this incident fosters the immersion that the parties involved have something to hide, even if they don't.
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Hard News: The perils of political confidence, in reply to Danyl Mclauchlan,
I didn't think much of Johns' interview this morning. Either the tape is a 'game-changer', in which case he should have the balls to publish it, or it isn't, in which case he should just admit that it isn't in the public interest.
It's not hard to see how the contents of the tape could fall between the poles of evident public interest and unremarkable private chat and still be a significant political story.
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Speaker: The Public Broadcasting Imperative, in reply to Kumara Republic,
Meanwhile, Stedman gets to man the soapbox on the Granny. And our old friend John Drinnan digs deeper into SKY TV’s ‘connections’ (say it out loud like the Godfather).
I think it's disappointing that Drinnan couldn't be bothered actually dragging his ass to the Spada conference.
Stedman's speech galvanised an event that might otherwise have been a bit humdrum. There was a real buzz by the end of the conference -- lots of talk which will hopefully lead to the renewed action and advocacy he called for in the speech.
The last session on the programme yesterday was our hour-long Media7 special in the TVNZ atrium, which was a real challenge to pull together but seemed to impress people. I interviewed Jonathan Coleman, which went about as you'd expect it to go.
There are also excepts from Stedman's speech and an interview conducted shortly after he spoke on Thursday.
It screens at 9.05pm next Thursday.
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Hard News: Some things just don't let…, in reply to Jackie Clark,
I would argue that there is dancing and then there is ...........dancing.
I am expert at both sorts, and I endorse The Bats.
And really, if you think The Bats are dreary, you have not heard The Bats :-)
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Hard News: Some things just don't let…, in reply to peter mclennan,
#blatantselfpromotion
Onya.