Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Media3: Whistleblower Season

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  • TracyMac,

    So I wonder how many axe-grinders in the guise of whistleblowers will be running off to Cameron Whaleoil now that he has been appointed editor of "Truth".

    Canberra, West Island • Since Nov 2006 • 701 posts Report

  • Islander, in reply to TracyMac,

    "Truth" - in it's earlier incarnations, was the only truly sleazy newsorgan in ANZ.
    I am sure Whaleoil is going to do its traditions proud....

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report

  • Geoff Lealand,

    Truth: an oxymoron, with a moron in charge,

    Good you have James H on board. I am involved with him and Grant Hannis on the NZ leg of the World Study of Journalists,

    Screen & Media Studies, U… • Since Oct 2007 • 2562 posts Report

  • Ross Mason,

    I wonder how many BBCers Saville had by the short and curlies that meant nothing would be done about him?? Just sayin.

    Upper Hutt • Since Jun 2007 • 1590 posts Report

  • Paul Williams, in reply to Geoff Lealand,

    Truth: an oxymoron, with a moron in charge,

    ROLFnui!

    Sydney • Since Nov 2006 • 2273 posts Report

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Ross Mason,

    I wonder how many BBCers Saville had by the short and curlies that meant nothing would be done about him?? Just sayin.

    It was more subtle, and more pervasive, than that. He was a lot of people's meal ticket, for sure. But it's actually quite shocking the way the culture just let it go. So many people knew, but Britain's much-vaunted tabloids never went for him while he was alive.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    The Have I Got News For You discussion of Savile is worth watching:

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Hebe, in reply to TracyMac,

    Cameron Whaleoil now that he has been appointed editor of “Truth”.

    An inspired choice for the editorship of the esteemed organ; they deserve each other. It could lead to some entertaining and vile scraps in print.

    Truth once was the best-paid and laziest gig in New Zealand journalism. It used to pay “dirt money” – a weekly margin – to its journos for the “odium and contempt” of working on the foul rag. Wonder if Slater qualifies.

    Christchurch • Since May 2011 • 2899 posts Report

  • BenWilson,

    If I was a vice girl I'd be getting worried about loose lips Slater running my main advertising source. Is this for real?

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report

  • Tony Siu,

    Unfortunately, yes that is correct. Ben

    Auckland • Since Mar 2008 • 82 posts Report

  • Biobbs,

    Truth: an oxymoron, with a moron in charge,

    Give a new meaning to the phrase "I promise to tell the Truth "

    The River Mouth, Denmark • Since Jan 2011 • 114 posts Report

  • Caleb D'Anvers,

    Back when I used to work the evening shift in the Newspaper Room in the Auckland Central Library, the Truth was much sought after by the Library's scarier customers. They'd always approach the desk and ask juicily ambiguous questions like, "do you have the Truth?", "where can I find the Truth?", "just give me the Truth," etc. Good times.

    London SE16 • Since Mar 2008 • 482 posts Report

  • DexterX,

    that there may be serious problems with some public-sector processes.

    There are serious problems that stem from the public sector not having regard to the objects of the governing legislation - the failure to read or wilful ignorance of instructions, and when it all turns to shit rather than consult the manual a spin doctor and cover up are employed.

    It is accepted as the new "normal".

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1224 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia, in reply to Russell Brown,

    It was more subtle, and more pervasive, than that. He was a lot of people’s meal ticket, for sure. But it’s actually quite shocking the way the culture just let it go.

    Um, yeah – Andrew O’Hagan has a truly disturbing LRB essay about the culture of the BBC. I don’t like the way he rather carelessly lumps together as “perverts” gay men like Kenneth Williams – who may have been a shrieking queen but was publicly closeted for a reason – and sexual predators like Lionel Gamlin who liked their trade rough, inexpensive and very young. But it is worth taking the time to read.

    I wonder how many BBCers Saville had by the short and curlies that meant nothing would be done about him?? Just sayin.

    As Russell said, it’s more subtle, and more pervasive than that. It’s not as if you you had to be in a gym-slip (or a dolly young schoolboy) to be on the receiving end of sexual harassment and abuse back in the day. O’Hagan observes in passing:

    One presenter told me of being ‘grabbed’ in Broadcasting House by Malcolm Muggeridge, who spent most of his time in the 1960s railing against the permissive society, ‘pot and pills’. The Muggeridge grope wasn’t welcomed but it didn’t seem totally irregular to the person on the receiving end. She could name at least one other person, a politician, who thought it was OK to put his hand up the skirts of young women at the BBC. It wasn’t irregular. What was irregular was the idea of talking about it, even now.

    I think it speaks eloquently that in a seven thousand word essay, O'Hagan has (by my count) precisely two direct quotes from interviews with named sources. And some of these people are talking about events decades back, involving people long dead - and therefore incapable of being libeled. But...

    The BBC isn’t the Catholic Church, but it has its own ideals and traditions, which cause people to pause before naming the unwise acts that have been performed on its premises. Perhaps more than any church, the BBC continues to be a powerhouse of virtue, of intelligence and tolerance, but it is now suffering a kind of ecclesiastical terror at its own fallibility. One has to look further into the institution to see another, more obscure tradition, the one that leads to Savile and his liberty-taking. There was always an element of it waiting to be picked up. Many people I spoke to wished to make that clear, but – feeling the Chorus watching from above – they asked for anonymity.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report

  • Kumara Republic, in reply to Hebe,

    An inspired choice for the editorship of the esteemed organ; they deserve each other. It could lead to some entertaining and vile scraps in print.

    Would it become even more like The Sun or the late-unlamented NOTW? As they used to say in Russia, "v Pravde net izvestiy, v Izvestiyakh net pravdy." ("In the Truth there is no news, and in the News there is no truth.")

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report

  • Ian Dalziel, in reply to Kumara Republic,

    You say to martyr, I say to motto...

    As they used to say in Russia, “v Pravde net izvestiy,
    v Izvestiyakh net pravdy.”

    Meanwhile in that renowned centre of Latin learning,
    Chchch, The Press's credo is "Nihil utile quod non honestum"
    ( "Nothing is useful that is not honest.") - Aim High!



    Saville row...
    (Well there's another brand ruined... Suits you, sir...)
    Thinking about the predatory entertainment industry, there may be a few in the radio deejay and music promotion sector in NZ, who will be hoping that this current (and belated) surge in interest in outing historic bad behaviour (from last century) doesn't gain any legs here...

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report

  • Bruce Thorpe,

    To get back to the motives of whistleblowers, that should never be the issue.Rejected love, nimbyism and unappreciated staffers are often the source of very valid inside information.
    It always seems unreasonable to me that a critic is expected themselves to be above criticism, and to only be valid if supplied from those with impeccable motives and record.

    Hokianga • Since May 2007 • 52 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia, in reply to Bruce Thorpe,

    It always seems unreasonable to me that a critic is expected themselves to be above criticism, and to only be valid if supplied from those with impeccable motives and record.

    Bruce: That’s not what Jane Clifton or Russell are saying. The most famous whistleblower in history is Mark Felt (A.K.A. ‘Deep Throat’) – who felt he should have been appointed director of the FBI after J. Edgar Hoover’s death, and was not pleased at all when he was passed over for the position. Twice.

    Does that invalidate Woodward and Bernstein’s reporting on the Watergate scandal? Of course not, but I’m pretty confident that that was a non-trivial consideration for Woodward when he sought independent corroboration of every bit of information that came from Deep Throat.

    It's not sinister to be highly sensitive to the idea that sources don't always come forth out of some disinterested interest in Truth, Justice and the Public Good. That's Journalism 101, and it shouldn't go on hold just because someone calls themselves a 'whistleblower'. Especially when, if you do run a story based entirely on anonymous sources, you're asking me to take a pretty fucking big leap of faith. Because you've denied me ANY means of assessing that source's credibility.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report

  • BenWilson,

    It could make an interesting story if Slater libels the main subject in the Truth, gangs, and forgets to attribute the story to their longest running source, unnamed vice-girls who were formally P-slaves. The outcome could even make the MSM.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report

  • Ian Dalziel, in reply to BenWilson,

    Slater - he's no winsome roofer...

    The outcome could even make the MSM.

    Que?
    Oh no!
    You mean MSM doesn't mean
    Mostly SadoMasochism ?!
    ; - )

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report

  • Matthew Poole, in reply to Kumara Republic,

    As they used to say in Russia, "v Pravde net izvestiy, v Izvestiyakh net pravdy." ("In the Truth there is no news, and in the News there is no truth.")

    Which was, as I understood it, reference to the chief mouthpiece of the Party being Pravda while the primary media outlet of the prolles - surviving only by being unworthy of being wrapped around good, honest fish and chips - was Ivestiy.

    Auckland • Since Mar 2007 • 4097 posts Report

  • Ian Dalziel, in reply to Matthew Poole,

    street talking eds...
    Samizdat ever was...
    welcome to the new state of Blogistan...

    ...a key form of dissident activity across the Soviet bloc in which individuals reproduced censored publications by hand and passed the documents from reader to reader. This grassroots practice to evade officially imposed censorship was fraught with danger as harsh punishments were meted out to people caught possessing or copying censored materials.

    Vladimir Bukovsky defined it as follows:
    "I myself create it,
    edit it,
    censor it,
    publish it,
    distribute it, and ...
    get imprisoned for it."

    Shame those tobacco company
    "I created it..." ads don't go quite so far...

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report

  • Matthew Poole, in reply to Matthew Poole,

    while the primary media outlet of the prolles – surviving only by being unworthy of being wrapped around good, honest fish and chips – was Ivestiy.

    Ah, and it seems that my recollection was faulty since Ivestia was also a government paper. Making the Russian joke even more bleak.

    Auckland • Since Mar 2007 • 4097 posts Report

  • TracyMac,

    A friend of mine works for Australian Customs, and by far their greatest information source for wrong-doing is disgruntled ex-partners or ex business associates.

    Canberra, West Island • Since Nov 2006 • 701 posts Report

  • Matthew Poole, in reply to TracyMac,

    Likewise the IRD, based on what one of my lecturers (who also consults to IRD) said. If you're fiddling your taxes, you'd best keep sweet with everyone who knows.

    Auckland • Since Mar 2007 • 4097 posts Report

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