Last week was both a bad week and a good week for 22 year-old Ben Uffindell, the founder of the fledgling (eight weeks old!) satirical website The Civilian. It was bad because he was threatened with legal action by Conservative Party leader Colin Craig -- and good because the Streisand effect kicked in rather mightily.
Uffindell and his website got the kind of media coverage that money can't buy -- and Likes on his Facebook page, which seems to drive a good deal of his half a million page impressions a month in web traffic, roughly doubled to more than 8000.
David Fisher had an interview with Uffindell in Saturday's Herald -- and I'm delighted to say that Media3 is bringing the young satirist to Auckland to appear on this week's show. He will be joined on the panel by, er, senior satirist David Slack.
---
Also on this week's programme: Annie Goldson and Jon Stephenson join me to discuss He Toki Huna: New Zealand in Afghanistan, the documentary Annie has made with Kay Ellmers, which screened on Anzac Eve on Maori Television.
A longer version of their film will screen at this year's film festivals, but the TV cut is available for viewing here on the Maori Television website.
It's a tremendous account of why we were in Afghanistan for 10 years, the role of political spin in the domestic presentation of the war, why the work of journalists like Jon Stephenson is so important -- and why we should care. If you're at all interested in these issues, you should see it.
---
And finally, Will Pollard will look at transmedia storytelling -- that is, stories that play out in parallel on the TV screen and the gaming screen -- with particular reference to the new US SyFy channel series/game Defiance. A member of our household helps out Will with some commentary.
---
If you'd like to join us for tomorrow's Media3 recording, we'll need you to present yourself at the first floor of the Villa Dalmacija, 10 New North Road, Auckland, at 5.30pm. I can tell you that the potato salad got pretty nek-level last week.
