Archive for the ‘Writing/Publishing’ Category
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, […]
A departing editor’s kamikaze attack on his crappy publisher
I’d never heard of Valley City, nor the happy sounding Horizon Publications, but heroic Lee Morris, outgoing editor of the Valley City Times-Record, somehow managed to slip this parting shot into the paper, detailing his very reasonble and well-written account of changes he sees as very negative (ahem) at the Valley City Times-Record. Morris had […]
A cynical definition of ‘journalistic balance’
This double-headed response to my musings reminded me of a conversation I had with Richard Long, then The Dominion’s Parliamentary bureau chief, later the paper’s editor, and even later Spin Doctor for two under-achieving National Party Opposition leaders, Bill English and Don Brash. Richard, a Press Gallery veteran if ever there was one (20 years? […]
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 […]
Right wing vixen Louise Mensch front-footing it
We’ve discussed before my preferred policy of tackling criticism head-on, and also, as a policy, publishing all threats I receive. Yesterday British MP Louise Mensch, a protagonist in the ‘hackgate’ scandal admitted she exaggerated Piers Morgan’s ‘admissions/boasting’ of phone hacking in his Daily Mirror days, and publicly apologised. (Although in typical politician fashion, still tries […]
What a twit!
Remember the name: Jon Snow Channel 4 news anchor (ahem). Snow swallowed a lie from a ‘parody’ account at Twitter about Piers Morgan supposedly suspended by CNN and passed it on to his network credulously… as if it were true, without checking its veracity and without attributing it to source. Ross Neumann spills the beans […]
A trolling we will go … anonymously
Touching on one of our perennial themes here, criticism, anonymity and unpleasantness on the interwebs …in ‘How the internet created an age of rage’ The Observer‘s Tim Adams delivers a worthwhile treatise on how commenters are able to hide behind a cloak of anonymity, making the blog and chatroom have into forums for hatred and […]
The escape of exnzpat, Part 7
The Apothecary “Come Exnzpat, come.” But it wasn’t Lilith’s voice I heard. Nor was it Becky’s. Something or someone else was calling me… “Did you say something?” Becky asked. “No, it wasn’t me. But I did hear someone calling my name… did you hear something too?” “Yes. But… but I also heard someone crying…” I […]
Murdoch Phone hacking – a visceral jolt
Wow, read this piece after my own heart: Rupert Murdoch Meets His Ahab by Jack Shafer in Slate. Brilliant. First words: If Rupert Murdoch could be slain by a mere scandal, he would have been embalmed and entombed long ago. The genocidal tyrant has successfully swept away every scandal—major and minor—he has ever faced because of […]
George Orwell nails journalism? … Maybe.
I had cause to think about public discourse, propaganda and Public Relations recently … Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed: everything else is public relations. — George Orwell Is the English press honest or dishonest? At normal times it is deeply dishonest. All the papers that matter live off their advertisements, […]
The road not taken — copyright is a complicated playground
Sometimes we’re caught by the law of unintended consequences … and sometimes we’re saved by it. Righthaven is a law firm widely portrayed as copyright trolls trying to shake down bloggers and commenters for reproducing news stories published by Stephens Media. According to David Kravets in WIRED 20 June, ‘copyright litigation factory’ Righthaven has sued […]
Richard Nixon’s dirty dirty tricks alive and well in 2011
I’m still reading Nixonland by Rick Perlstein, initially prompted by the mention of Fox News’s Roger Ailes‘s early work as a Nixon operative. Ailes is credited with teaching Nixon how to succeed in the world of television — by bending reality, faking news events and running highly staged ‘impromptu’ candidate meetings with ‘off the cuff’ […]
