Posts Tagged ‘telling the truth’
Negative campaigning
There’s a fantastic article about negative campaigning in this month’s New York magazine… Frank Rich: Nuke ’Em Why negative advertisements are powerful, essential, and sometimes (see “Daisy”) even artistic. It includes this distinction, which touches on some of the discussion we’ve had here earlier about political activists like Cameron Slater purporting to be ‘media’ when […]
I’d double-check if they told me what day it was
More on the negative credibility of bloggers ‘seeding’ controversy in the mainstream media … Following my brief mention of bloggers who make sh*t up (Negative credibility sux, eh @whaleoil? eh @dpfdpf?) I was interested last night to read NZ First leader Winston Peters’ speech notes for a Wintec media lunch yesterday where he pinged the […]
Deliberately cryptic
What about a blogger’s? — What defines the public interest? … It’s an important principle that can be used to defend journalistic activities that go beyond what is normally considered acceptable behaviour – such as the use of subterfuge – to obtain a story, where complex moral and legal arguments are at stake. However, it […]
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, […]
‘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
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 […]
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 […]
Fabrications, lies, errors – and ‘dramatic licence’
A huge embarrassment for ‘This American Life’ … RETRACTING “MR. DAISEY AND THE APPLE FACTORY” 16 March 2012 Ira [Glass, Executive Producer and Host of This American Life] writes: I have difficult news. We’ve learned that Mike Daisey’s story about Apple in China – which we broadcast in January – contained significant fabrications. We’re retracting […]
Why I’m leaving …
Here’s a sensational way to resign from your job … which became an instant internet meme. Followed (very quickly) by a wonderful spoof… There’s no saying how much Greg Smith’s resignation-in-the-round was influenced by the very serious ‘Why I left Google’ blog post by James Whittaker … who’s gone to work for Microsoft (!) Wow. […]
Garner: “@whaleoil lies again.” Surprise me.
Cameron Slater, of course, will be delighting in any consternation and outrage (read: attention) his agitprop provokes. Mission accomplished. As I have noted before, blogger Cameron Slater has ‘truthfulness and accuracy’ issues in my view. (Balance, obviously, one has learned not to expect from a partisan attack poodle like him.) Here’s TV3 Political editor Duncan […]
Allegations without credibility
I heard New Zealand Cricket Players’ Association boss Heath Mills describe the allegations of (un-named) Kiwi cricketers being involved in match-fixing as not credible “whatsoever”. “These are unsubstantiated claims from people of ill repute — known criminals…” Reminds me of some bloggers. -P
Politicians will say ANYTHING
Spotted this tonight … The sight of Mitt Romney trying to out-Conservative the religious right’s darling Rick Santorum is breathtaking. Poll-driven fruitcakes. It’s like that here in NZ (and everywhere I guess) when people throw up clichés and then pillory and demonize their ‘opponents’ — rather than argue or debate issues with them. Here’s a clip […]
Do your opinions invalidate your reporting? – continued
I can see both sides of this conflict, which is rarely spelt out so plainly. Honolulu mayoral candidate tries to get Civil Beat reporter thrown off campaign by Andrew Beaujon Published Feb. 17, 2012 11:38 am Poynter Institute Former Hawaii Gov. Ben Cayetano is running for mayor in Honolulu. And he does not like what […]
Rupert Murdoch on politicians … and truth
Wow. So ‘truth‘? That’s what News International and News Corporation are aiming for? *cough* Fox News *cough* – P
