I haven't introduced myself yet - how rude of me! So here's a brief self-introduction, and this is the only self-indulgent blog I'll do. I promise.
I'm Keith Ng. By day, I'm a politics tutor at Victoria University and News Editor of Salient, and by night, I do pretty much the same thing. We work long hours for shit pay, but we do it for the love, and hey - at least we don't get busted for porn, offensive language, intoxication and gambling where we work. Hell, I even brought a packet of illicitly illegal drugs - nos!! - to work for a story last week. I intend to make whipped cream with it.
This is me, with former Salient Editor Sarah Barnett, celebrating Armed Forces Day (21 May) last year.
Salient is also part of the Aotearoa Student Press Association (ASPA), which has a spot in the Parliamentary Press Gallery with my name on it. This was a bit of a coup, thanks mostly to the stellar rise of my predecessor Matt Nippert and former VUWSA Publications Officer Mark Sainsbury's nostalgia for student media, I think.
And it was good that they did. Because this coincided with the restoration of the ASPA newswire, which goes to 13 student magazines around New Zealand, which gives it (by our rough reckoning) close to 100,000 readers. It was an interesting experiment to squeeze ourselves into the big leagues, and has worked spectacularly well. Now all we have to do is keep it.
I suppose I was expecting the old hands to welcome young upstarts like me with a few jugs and Yoda-like advice. But no such luck - a had a good chat with Tom Scott (over coffee, unfortuantely) and Jonathan Hunt for an article that's been in the works for too long, but right now, I think I'm the Lynne Pillay (who?) of the Press Gallery. Except without the patsy questions. Doh!
At least the politicians have been taking me seriously, which does mean that my access is steadily getting better now. Can't compare with the real insiders or the journos who've lived in Parliament for decades, of course - but unlike them, I am not bound to a party line and I have complete editorial freedom. And unlike the good folks at Dog Biting Men, I've got enough freedom in my day job that I don't need to vent via blog pseudonyms. And that's why you should read this blog.
This blog was originally going to be called Noodlegate. However, Tze Ming Mok had cornered the noodle market, and I ended up with Poll Dancer. Unfortunately, I forgot that student media Goddess Holly Walker, Editor of Critic, had a column called Polldancing last year. For my transgression, I owe her a drink and effusive praise in this blog. I originally offered a pole dance... ah well, her loss. Despite her lapse of judgement in passing up that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, she really is an insightful and dedicated journalist and I wish her and her crew every success in being the second-best student magazine in New Zealand at this year's ASPA awards.
Incidentally, this blog is not really a blog. It's really an online column with links. The goal is to have all the interconnectivity, multimedianess and immediacy that the blog offers, with the focus, purpose and research that goes behind a column. The ASPA photo archive will be used frequently, too, to allow you, dear reader, to see for yourself. Already up are photos from the Hikoi and the National Front march last year, as well as the Destiny Church march and Labour Party conference this year. Email me if you want to use them.
Go on. Tell your friends about this blog. Spam your acquaintances. You know you want to.