Journalists I like
Wednesday, May 4th, 2011I’m conscious of the fact that I often bag on journalists and media organisations. So I’ve decided to throw out the occasional bouquet too, in the interests of balance. First up: take a bow Margo White. Her recent Listener story on the Maungatautari Ecological Island reminded me what a terrific journalist she is: thorough, smart, […]
Information sharing recommendations
Wednesday, May 4th, 2011New Zealand’s laws setting out what information government agencies are able to share with each other is a bit chaotic. In the Brown case, the judge noted with alarm that the Department of Corrections had cited the Privacy Act for its refusal to share information about a recently released convicted pedophile with Police in the locality he’d […]
Is the BSA becoming more conservative?
Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011Broadcasters claim that our new crop of BSA members are more conservative than the last lot. They point to the decisions upholding good taste and decency complaints against Hung, Home and Away and the documentary about Aramoana. Are they right? In short: I don’t really think so. I had a quick squizz through the last […]
BadJournalism
Monday, May 2nd, 2011Meant to write about this last week. How is it that the Sunday Star-Times can believe that a rehashed UK book on criminal justice (Badlands, NZ: A land fit for criminals) is important enough to be front-page news, but that the claims it makes are not important enough to seek out some New Zealand experts […]
Why I bang on about protesters’ rights
Sunday, May 1st, 2011Because I don’t want our country to be a place where this happens. Three street theatre performers, including a professor of anthropology, were preparing to protest against the monarchy with a mock guillotine in Soho Square on Friday. Last Thursday, Police sent three police cars and two police vans to arrest them outside the professor’s […]
Media suppressing judge’s name?!
Thursday, April 28th, 2011An old mate of mine, former Fair Go editor Chris Mitson, wonders why the media aren’t naming the judge who gave Malcolm Chaston bail. After all, Chaston had 71 previous convictions and during his previous stretch in prison, a prison guard had warned of his ambitions to become a serial killer. Police reportedly opposed bail. Chaston […]
Book Review: Media Law in New Zealand
Thursday, April 28th, 2011Media Law in New Zealand John Burrows and Ursula Cheer LexisNexis New Zealand, 6ed, 2010 Reading the latest edition of this terrific text, it’s hard not to be struck by the breathtaking rate of change of New Zealand’s media law. The five years since the last edition have seen the Fairfax contempt prosecution and a […]
How on earth did Hotchin get name suppression?
Thursday, April 21st, 2011So this is what I’ve been wondering. Mark Hotchin, in 2003 a high flying businessman, director of New Zealand’s biggest private finance company, gets duped in a ponzi scam. He loses more than $200,000 of his own money. At the time, and since, there were thousands of investors who might have been interested in this […]
You win some, you lose some
Thursday, April 21st, 2011TVNZ has won its High Court appeal over the Broadcasting Standards Authority’s decision to find that a scene in Hung breached the good taste and decency standard. TV3 lost its appeal over the BSA’s breach finding in relation to Home & Away. Analysis soon.
PLEASE RETURN SOONEST
Wednesday, April 20th, 2011RNZ is reporting that John Key used an Air Force helicopter to attend social events. It says John Key can’t respond because he’s overseas. If only someone could create a magical device that would allow us to talk across long distances…
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