Media ethics
« Previous Entries Next Entries »BSA finds TV screwed up coverage of Electoral Finance Bill
Friday, February 22nd, 2008I brought these complaints, together with the Coalition for Open Government. The BSA has found TV3’s and TVNZ’s coverage of the Electoral Finance Bill, when it was first revealed to the public, contained significant inaccuracies. These complaints related only to this early coverage, though I think we could have complained about other coverage, too. COG thought […]
Medaling with justice?
Friday, February 22nd, 2008No doubt you’ve heard that John Campbell interviewed a guy he said was one of the War museum medal thieves. He said TV3 had made only one promise: not to reveal his identity. (Except for the other promise, which was not to ask him about the reward money, though Campbell reported that the man said he […]
Press Council ducks interesting issue
Sunday, February 10th, 2008If you talk to a journalist on the basis that what you say is “not for publication” and the journalist publishes your remarks anyway, has the journalist behaved unethically? I think most people would think so. In the past, the Press Council has leaned this way, too: … if the conditions under which the [source] agreed […]
Tribute to John Burrows
Thursday, February 7th, 2008The University of Canterbury’s law school held a conference in honour of John Burrows last weekend. It was called “Law, Liberty and Legislation” and covered the broad sweep of issues that Professor Burrows has expertise in – from statute and contract law to media law (he’s written the leading texts in all three). On the […]
A prediction about the Electoral Finance Act
Monday, January 14th, 2008I don’t want to say too much about the Electoral Finance Act. Some of you will know that I have been the spokesperson for the Coalition for Open Government, which generally supported the new law, arguing that it’s much better than the system we used to have, serves important democratic ends, and is much less […]
What is this “Google” of which you speak?
Wednesday, January 9th, 2008The Listener’s cover story this week is headed: “Strike the best sites on the internet”. Boy, does it deliver. Apparently, there’s this thing called “Google” that allows you to search trillions of websites. And there are other “search engines”, too. The story even mentions one. And that’s not all. Who knew that the Guardian and the New York Times had websites – that you […]
Scott Watson battle in media
Sunday, January 6th, 2008Keith Hunter thinks he’s not guilty, and has produced a documentary and book about it. North & South and the Herald on Sunday are weighing in on Watson’s side. Meanwhile, the Listener is weighing in for the prosecution, with a cover story featuring interviews with prosecutor Paul Davison QC and Deputy Police Commissioner Rob Pope. Despite the spate […]
DomPost editor says a bunch of interesting stuff
Wednesday, December 12th, 2007DomPost editor Tim Pankhurst gave a very interesting keynote address at the Jeanz conference called “The Power of Print”. Here are some highlights: The relevance of print The DomPost’s coverage of Louise Nicholas, Donna Awatere Huata, the Capital and Coast Health issues and the “Terrorism files” shows that print has “undiminished power” – in the […]
Media criticism from an Ombudsman
Thursday, December 6th, 2007Some damning quotes about the performance of the media from Ombudsman Mel Smith’s report into the justice sector: The criminal justice system is complex and difficult. Unfortunately the rhetoric that we hear in the media and elsewhere almost daily tends to convey an impression that there is some simple answer to crime and criminal justice. That […]
Press Council review: it’s a bit weird
Thursday, November 29th, 2007The good As I said earlier, I agree whole-heartedly with almost all of the recommendations made by the reviewers of the Press Council, Sir Ian Barker and Prof Lewis Evans. Yes, scrap the requirement for complainants to sign away their rights to go to court: as the reviewers say, it’s of very doubtful legality. Hell […]
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