Archive for the ‘Media issues’ Category
“Well, he would, wouldn’t he?”
Similarities While giving evidence at the trial of Stephen Ward, charged with living off the immoral earnings of Keeler and Rice-Davies, the latter made a famous riposte. When the prosecuting counsel pointed out that Lord Astor denied an affair or having even met her, former model and showgirl Mandy Rice-Davies (right) replied, “Well, he would, […]
A polite request from Plunderbund: ‘Please unblock our ads’
As we’ve discussed, a lot of web browsers (people not software) — including me — have installed ad-blocking software. In my case, I was driven to it by feverishly animated Air NZ ads on the NZ Herald website and whirling dervish property spruiker ads on PropertyTalk. So, look what I spotted following a search result […]
Negative credibility sux, eh @whaleoil? eh @dpfdpf?
We’ve discussed before Dan Gilmor’s concept of ‘Negative Credibility‘ — the idea that sometimes information can have an appearance of LESS VERACITY because of its source. Gilmor pointed to Andrew Breitbart’s exposé of the Weiner/underpants/twitter ‘scandal’ (triggered by Rep. Weiner accidentally tweeting a photo as a public reply when he meant to send a DM, […]
Chris Trotter on the Urewera Four. Wow!
I’ve held off making any comment about the Crown decision, announced this week, not to retrry the ‘Urewera Four’ on charges of ‘belonging to an organised criminal group’ after their original trial jury failed to reach a verdict on those charges. This, despite my own (default?) views of police powers, disclosed here before. But wow! […]
Simon Lusk in the headlines again!
Well, well. Just a few weeks after my mild curiosity-fueled questions about Simon Lusk (see ‘So, who is Simon Lusk?‘) he’s in the news. Again. TV3 News reports in ‘Secret minutes reveal split in National’s ranks‘: Leaked minutes of a National Party board meeting in March show major concerns over a party member who is […]
‘That politician got amnesia again’
I finally got around to listening to this, following the NZ Herald carrying it yesterday. It’s catchy! Listen here [Audio clip: view full post to listen] (or 3.5MB mp3 file for non-flash browsers). – P
Teapot tape saga sputters out with withdrawal of ‘costs’ action against cameraman
For the record: Teapot costs bid dropped By Cherie Howie Herald on Sunday May 6, 2012 The Attorney-General has ditched plans to demand nearly $14,000 in court costs from freelance photographer Bradley Ambrose over the long-running “teapot tape” saga. Ambrose was embroiled in controversy and faced criminal investigation after he taped a conversation between Prime […]
Mike Hosking: ‘a note of some clarification’ re SkyCity
On Radio NZ’s Mediawatch today I heard clips of broadcaster Mike Hosking’s statement of ‘clarification‘ about his work with SkyCity casinos broadcast on NewstalkZB earlier this week. Hosking was responding to commentary and news reports like this and this that he’s received tens of thousands of dollars of cash and benefits from the Casino and […]
‘No compromise’ extremism damages a political system
I mentioned Tea Party pin up boy Rep. Allen West’s Joe McCarthy-esque very specific but fact-free assertion that “78 to 81” Democrats in Congress are “members of the Communist Party” recently as an example of political actors telling bare-faced lies with such regularity that it’s almost become unremarkable now (see An obituary for Facts). The […]
Colbert on Fox’s Steve Doocy: ‘Journalism plus’
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Laws for sale, UK style
There’s lobbying and then there’s this corrupt garbage. Jeremy Hunt and the Murdochs: how minister oiled wheels of BSkyB bid A haul of email, text and phone call records appear to show how minister aided News Corp takeover Blistering stuff from The Guardian — my hat’s off to Nick Davies and David Leigh. Is it too […]
Young ACTOIDS are revolting.
(‘Civil war’ or simple Generation Gap?) (1) Is ACT entering a Winter of Discontent? (2) Does anyone care? (Zero percent, remember.) Joan of Arc oops, Cactus Kate seems to think so … apparently exasperated that John Banks isn’t adhering to the ‘principles’ of the ACT Party. (Well, we sort of agree about that, then. But […]
ACT: ‘Zero backing. Zilch, nil, nothing at all.’
John Armstrong attended the ACT Party conference over the weekend, with “80 or so party members present” … introducing his wrap up piece in the NZ Herald this morning like this: Act kicked off its annual conference on Saturday having just been kicked in the teeth. Delegates woke up to the news that the previous […]
An obituary for Facts
Read and enjoy: Rex Huppke’s Facts, 360 B.C. – A.D. 2012 – an obituary. To the shock of most sentient beings, Facts died Wednesday, April 18, after a long battle for relevancy with the 24-hour news cycle, blogs and the Internet. Though few expected Facts to pull out of its years-long downward spiral, the official […]
