Archive for the ‘Media issues’ Category
Black hat – the (shudder) ethics of spin
We’ve discussed ‘Black hat’ web ‘marketing‘ tactics before, in the context of so-called experts selling punters hyped-up snake oil like the Shaun Stenning-fronted Geekversity and, once that had collapsed, the Twalk and Snipr equally hyped and ill-fated enterprises that the Stenning performing troupe hawked around Asia like a cargo cult until the wheels fell off […]
David Farrar showing WhaleOil how it’s done
Bloggers* David Farrar and Scott Yorke gave a master class in fair and reasonable political discourse and commentary on Jim Mora’s Afternoons show on Radio NZ National yesterday, which I listened to using the Radio NZ iPhone App late last night. In the context of my conversation with Cameron Slater (via our blogs) — where […]
Claims of ‘Integrity’ in the anti-MMP Campaign accompanied by smear tactics
Are smear tactics compatible with claims of ‘integrity’? I don’t think so. Especially if you piously declare you’re ‘above’ smear tactics and won’t use them … before you do. In context of an earlier discussion about allegations of ‘secret funding’ (Tribalism), I found myself again considering the lobby group Vote For Change Campaign, dedicated to […]
The likability of ‘Teflon’ John Key
I’ve only seen John Key when his ‘show face’ has been on, but even then he seemed to me to be what this interviewer, Adam Dudding, calls ‘Teflon’. It’s claimed in Nicky Hager’s book The Hollow Men that Key gave an assurance of support to Bill English for the National Party leadership but switched his vote […]
Tribalism
One of the perennial themes of this blog is an exploration of the ‘reasons’ for prejudice and conflict between different groups. See my 2009 post Q: Where does conflict come from? which records Tajfel’s social psychology experiments … Henri Tajfel is perhaps best known for his minimal groups experiments. In these studies, test subjects were divided arbitrarily […]
Do journalists have a franchise on ‘news’? Nope.
I rate journalist Jack Shafer. He’s smart, he’s bold, he’s plain spoken. He shows you how he reaches his sometimes very tough conclusions. Here he is on CNN with Howard Kurtz discussing the way news, journalism and media criticism has changed and is changing — under pressure from economics, the explosion of internet media, and […]
Misinformation experts
Not a ‘Vast Right Wing Conspiracy’ This in-depth investigation conducted by the Center for American Progress Action Fund reveals not a vast right-wing conspiracy behind the rise of Islamophobia in our nation but rather a small, tightly networked group of misinformation experts guiding an effort that reaches millions of Americans through effective advocates, media partners, […]
How to channel frustration – Anne Hathaway raps on paparazzi
Here’s an example of identifying with your ‘enemy’ … Well worth a watch. Good skills. Who knew? (via The Next Web) Yo I’m a paparazzi I don’t play no yahtzee I go pop pop pop pop pop pop pop! My camera’s up your crotch See I tell the truth from what I see and sell […]
Renting ‘The Mentalist’. For credibility?
ANZ Bank has just started running some TV spots featuring Australian actor Simon Baker in his fabulous Patrick Jane/The Mentalist role. (Tag: “I know what you’re thinking…”) It’s kinda odd, seeing and hearing him spruiking for the bank in character, but oh well. There’s been a small amount of backlash to the ads in Australia […]
Reverse product placement? Or hoax?
If this Associated Press report is true (that’s a big IF. It reeks of a publicity stunt) then: HILARIOUS!! Stigma fallout! (Adidas, get your best PR team on this right away.) Abercrombie & Fitch is offering to pay Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino and his fellow Jersey Shore cast members so they’ll stop wearing the brand on […]
Undone by the paper trail (News International’s latest woes)
There’s always a paper trail — and it can come back to bite you at most inconvenient times, as the Murdochs are finding out. Convicted phone hacker, former New of the World royal correspondent Clive Goodman’s 2007 letter in protest at his sacking by News International following his conviction is a case in point. The letter […]
Setting the news agenda … without news
You’ve probably heard the old saying, ‘If you owe the bank a thousand dollars, you have a problem. But if you owe the bank a million dollars the bank’s got a problem!’ OK, so, scale the numbers up for inflation, but you get the picture. It’s a bit like that with news organisations and the […]
Huffington Post ‘design competition’ backfires
If you want a laugh, take a look at how Huffington Post’s Tom Sawyer-like approach to getting a logo design for its politics pages — for nothing but a credit — went down. For the business accused of Unjust enrichment (even facing a lawsuit by bloggers who felt they were exploited by Huffington) to cast […]
Three golden rules of crisis management
There’s a worthwhile story How the jersey row unravelled a brand in the NZ Herald today about the ‘furore’ engulfing Adidas prompted by over-pricing the All Blacks souvenir/supporters’ jersey to New Zealanders. Dumb actions (like pressuring online retailers to ban sales to NZ @!#**!) and untruthful/implausible statements from Adidas executives only made things worse, as Geoff […]
