Media Biz 09 – either sinister or incompetent, but with an opportunity
A few weeks ago, Gordon Campbell wrote an excellent fisk of the Media Biz 09 conference advertising bumpf. This morning on Mediawatch (from 06:30) Colin Peacock covered the issue in characteristic...
View ArticleMontage
As a dedicated media geek, I wake up each morning to New Zealand’s broadcast news of record – the masterful Geoff Robinson, the muscular Sean Plunket, and the metronomically-consistent Nicola Wright on...
View ArticleWeldon: not very reassuring
Perhaps sadly, the highlight of my week is sometimes Mediawatch on Radio NZ National, due largely to interviews by Colin Peacock such as this one about Media Biz 09 (on which I blogged here), and the...
View ArticleSmacked down
Sean Plunket delivered a stinging, if metaphorical, spank to Larry Baldock today on Morning Report (audio). Plunket challenged Baldock to demonstrate one case (just one) in which a parent was convicted...
View ArticleCredulous about copyright
This morning’s Insight documentary on NatRad is an example of what happens when journalists who know almost nothing about a given topic are tasked with putting together an in-depth, large-scale piece...
View ArticleNormalising diversity
May I echo the inimitable Queen of Thorns, and say how great it is that Māori Language Week is being so well observed. Labour MPs on Red Alert are posting in te reo; Nickelodeon has done Spongebob...
View ArticleResentful reactionary ethnocentric cultural protectionism
Buy Robyn Kippenberger an atlas, and a history of New Zealand. The chief executive of the RNZSPCA was on The Panel (audio; starts at about 06:15) this afternoon talking about the killing and eating of...
View ArticleIncoherence about national education standards
There’s incoherence in the government’s rollout of the new national educational standards regime which goes beyond the unreasonable use of statistics I noted yesterday, and it’s illustrated most...
View ArticleWhat not to say
NZ Herald website’s lead story: Telecom spokesman Mark Watts says this morning’s 111 emergency calls system failure “shouldn’t have happened” and is “a bad look” after the company’s recent repeated XT...
View ArticleCannabis bust news coverage bingo
Here’s a fun game. Watch tonight’s TV news (either channel) and count the following tropes. Update: I did this — both channels, since they were conveniently on at separate times, and was pleasantly...
View ArticlePublic airwaves talkback
Normally Radio NZ National’s The Panel is a pretty sound — if somewhat fluffy — current affairs show, in which the panelists are ideologically fairly diverse (though not occupationally diverse; mostly...
View ArticleQuote of the day from Banksie
Well, I don’t happen to take much legal advice from lawyers. Regarding leaky homes, a problem caused by deregulation under the government of which John Banks was a part. Listen to the whole interview...
View ArticleFrom the Department of Random Ideas
How about Shane Taurima for Sean Plunket’s replacement on Morning Report? A radically different style from Plunket, but he does have good interviewing chops, very extensive experience and strong...
View ArticlePerformance art
Listening to Tao Wells’ stone-cold crazy performance on Radio New Zealand’s The Panel this afternoon (audio, starts at about 19:30) it’s pretty clear that the whole thing is simply a continuation of...
View ArticleRevealed preference
Former National leader Don Brash addressed the ACT party conference at the weekend, which was half “catching Australia” boilerplate and half a warming-over of the infamous “nationhood” speech given at...
View ArticleCapital punishment
Do yourselves a favour and listen to this morning’s debate between Chris Trotter and Deborah Coddington on Morning Report. This is (or ought to be) the agenda for this year’s election, and this is (or...
View ArticleMaster-race baiting
[Updated 10 July 2011 to account for Don Brash's statements in response to John Ansell, and Ansell's resignation from ACT.] Many have remarked on the appropriateness of the website of the ACT Party...
View ArticleServitor Imperialism.
Although the golden age of imperialism is long past, the early 21st century has seen a resurgence or perhaps a new form of imperialism in the guise of US-led expeditionary wars to “bring democracy” to...
View ArticleWhining John.
Late last year a friend of mine who works in the media said to me that the press had turned on John Key over the Teapot Tape affair. Key’s attempt to have the photographer prosecuted, following on his...
View ArticleDismissing Skullduggery.
The latest Snowden leaks reveal that the British signals intelligence outfit GCHQ held a top secret conference in 2012 where it briefed its Five Eyes partners on an array of cyber “dirty tricks” that...
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