Media ethics
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Monday, May 26th, 2008You may know that the government is having a big think about what to do about the patchwork of increasingly moth-eaten laws and regimes that govern broadcasting content. It has produced discussion papers and invited feedback. The submissions are here. More on this soon.
The biggest mystery about the Kahui case…
Sunday, May 25th, 2008… is why so many journalists seem to have no idea of what an acquittal means. I’m getting pretty sick of statements like this one, from today’s Herald on Sunday: …the jury of seven men and five women were unanimous in their view that he was not the killer. No, they weren’t (or if they were, their […]
Chatham House Rule
Tuesday, May 20th, 2008There is only one Chatham House Rule, and this is it: When a meeting, or part thereof, is held under the Chatham House Rule, participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed. Note that it allows quoting, […]
A victory for the Berrymans?
Tuesday, May 6th, 2008You will have heard that Justice Mallon has granted judicial review of the coroner’s ruling in the Berryman’s bridge collapse case. Here are some things you might think you know about the Berryman case from the media coverage: The Berrymans “won” the case The decision said the bridge collapse was “not their fault” The Berrymans […]
A politician’s guide to ducking awkward questions
Thursday, May 1st, 2008This week’s lively Media7 show about the art of interviewing reminded me of a programme I put together for Radio NZ some years back. It’s a spoof instructional cassette for politicians on how to duck questions. All the clips are from real interviews. Here’s the script. HOW TO DUCK AWKWARD QUESTIONS: A GUIDE FOR POLITICIANS […]
NZ Censor Doesn’t Stymie Grand Theft Auto Plot
Monday, April 28th, 2008You could be forgiven for getting the opposite impression from the NZ Herald’s headline: Censor Stymies Grand Theft Auto Plot It rather suggests that our censor has carved out chunks of the latest version of the wildly popular – and wildly violent – video game Grand Theft Auto. Nope. If you read the story carefully, […]
A tragic comment
Thursday, April 24th, 2008Perhaps Objectivist Lindsay Perigo is within his rights to complain about the “media ghouls’” lack of respect for the dignity of the Mangatepopo canyoning victims’ families and friends. But he’s drawing a long bow to blame the invasion of privacy (and the subjects’ willingness to succumb to it) on his all-purpose whipping boy, “statism”: It is testament to […]
To die like a blog
Saturday, April 19th, 2008Poneke is reporting that blogger HotTopic has withdrawn a post criticising the Listener and its editor after receiving a (presumably defamation) threat from the magazine’s lawyers. In its place, there’s a fullsome correction and apology (which looks to have been drafted by said lawyers). In the comments section of the correction and apology, someone has helpfully posted […]
Highlights from Press Council forum
Sunday, March 16th, 2008Top 10 most interesting points from Thursday’s public forum, “The Press and the Right to Know Under Siege”, where the speakers were Law Commissioner John Burrows QC and the chairs of the Australian and NZ Press Councils, Professor Ken McKinnon and Barry Paterson QC: Barry Paterson, a retired High Court judge, “hated TV in the […]
Something to get depressed about
Wednesday, February 27th, 2008The coverage of the story about the effectiveness of anti-depressants. Russell Brown provides some context. Russell also had to clean up the mess 60 Minutes made of the Herceptin story. And who can forget TVNZ’s leap onto the miracle cancer-cure lyprinol bandwagon? I mean, really, can’t we expect the paid journalists to do this work before […]
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