Posts Tagged ‘journalism’
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 […]
Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post
Yeah? No kidding. “Inside Look: Bristol Palin’s Reality Show Is Not Very Real” And yet the page title says “Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post”. Crikey. Tragic. – P
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 […]
Like Piers Morgan, your past associations linger
Former editors of the News of the World. Personally I see Morgan’s June 2009 comments on the BBC’s Desert Island Discs as well short of a smoking gun, as does Jeff Bercovici: ‘That Piers Morgan Smoking Gun? Not So Smoky’. Read Morgan’s ‘admissions’ yourself and see what you think. Kirty Young BBC: What about this […]
The measure of character
Reuters columnist David Cay Johnston on his howler: COLUMN-How I misread News Corp’s taxes: David Cay Johnston Readers, I apologize. The premise of my debut column for Reuters, on News Corp’s taxes, was wrong, 100 percent dead wrong. Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp did not get a $4.8 billion tax refund for the past four years, […]
The attribution argy-bargy. Recidivist HuffPo ruffles feathers.
A teacher of mine used to say: ‘The only person who knows how far is ‘too far’ is the person who goes too far.’ With respect, NO, sometimes it’s blindingly obvious for others to see. Such as The Huffington Post’s relentless ‘aggregation’ — ‘Driving traffic, Darling’, says Arianna Huffington justifying the activities of the largely […]
A little bit of understanding of Asperger
Congratulations to journalist Janet McIntyre, giving us an insight into life for someone with Asperger syndrome via her ‘A tale of two light bulbs‘ documentary. I hope some more understanding of these people will result from such public/media exposure. (Is that too much to hope?) We discuss Asperger here on ThePaepae.com from time to time […]
In praise of Cameron Slater (yeah, I’m surprised too)
If you’d suggested to me a year ago that I would be writing an article in praise of ‘WhaleOil’ blogger Cameron Slater I would have laughed at you. Hard. Yet, here I am doing just that. Let me explain. We’ve discussed these issues before: responding to criticism or negative feedback about one’s actions or statements, […]
Smoke gets in your eyes, Carrick?
Tonight TV3 broadcast an Inside New Zealand documentary: Dying for a Smoke, highlighting some of the health issues and the political debate around suggested moves to increase controls on the sale of tobacco products — and even suggestions to eliminate tobacco products from the country by 2020 … which strikes me as a pipe dream, […]
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, […]
Jon Stewart on Fox News – Is this Crossfire Part 2?
This year’s version of Jon Stewart’s intelligent, robust examination of clichéd, reactive, shallow, artificially partisan media and, to a certain extent, a dollop of intellectual humiliation for its players (Think Crossfire’s Tucker Carlson in particular) occurred on Sunday. Heralded with headlines like “Jon Stewart Eviscerates Fox News On Fox News“, “Stewart in the Lion’s Den” […]
An ‘abiding distrust’ for anonymous speech
Here’s a really good article from Dan Gillmor defending the use of pseudonyms and anonymity on the web — even in the light of Tom MacMaster’s Amina ‘Gay Girl in Damascus’ hoax… Sounding real is not the same as being real. The fake Amina’s blog was especially well done, with details that sounded authentic even to native […]
Harsh criticism? Or Fair?
Spotted this from Glenn Greenwald re TV personality Chris Matthews … Now, as I replied, some might see such a strident comment about a fellow ‘peer in the industry’ as ill-motivated unprofessional. Not me. I think someone paying attention to the ‘industry’ (like, in this case Greenwald) is obliged to highlight what you see as […]
