Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Only what we would expect a child to do

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  • Steven Price,

    If the courts want to suppress names, I think it would work better if they suppressed all identifying information

    The standard suppression order does include a ban on any details likely to identify the defendant. This would be the bit that often gets flouted.

    As a friend of mine pointed out, the use of the word "disorder" without the "-ly conduct" part conveys a very different meaning.

    As I note over on MediaLawJournal, disorderly behaviour charges seem to be used as a troubling catch-all for people who police think are getting stroppy. Convictions for low-level nebulous offences such as disorderly and offensive behaviour have gone up from about 2000 a year in 1990 to more than 10,000 since 2008.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 29 posts Report

  • Graeme Edgeler, in reply to Steven Price,

    The standard suppression order does include a ban on any details likely to identify the defendant.

    I think what was being suggested was also a ban on saying that the person was famous, or a celebrity, etc.

    Wellington, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 3215 posts Report

  • Sacha, in reply to Steven Price,

    The standard suppression order does include a ban on any details likely to identify the defendant. This would be the bit that often gets flouted.

    Including by smartarses like whaleblubber who thumbed his nose at this latest suppression as if he’d never been pinged so publicly for the same offense. Speaking of childish.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Jackie Clark,

    I thought the most hilarious part of Devlin's statement was the line, disputing that they had been having a public argument....

    "In fact, we weren't actually talking to each other."

    I hear you, brother.

    Mt Eden, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 3136 posts Report

  • mark taslov,

    I’m realistic about the Herald’s need to keep up circulation and page views, and I know that “celebrity” coverage is part of any such effort in our day and age. But I would still hope that a paper fond of making grand claims for the role of the press could restrain itself from pimping out its front page like this. And, more so, that it would have the decency to own its own actions thereafter, rather than point furiously in any direction but home. It is, after all, only what we would expect a child to do.

    A loosely sleaved batch of wood product and ink blots personified in the modern human's mind to the extent that it is perceived to have needs and fondness, expected to exercise the disciplines of self- restraint and decency, whilst pimping, furiously, as a child. It almost obscures the fact that it's an inanimate object, produced by a random assortment of the population, attempting accord to thoroughly abstracted guidelines, with the ostensibly singular purpose solely being to generate income.

    Persuasive writing Russell.

    Te Ika-a-Māui • Since Mar 2008 • 2281 posts Report

  • Simon Dallow,

    It's normally my policy not to engage personally with news items, but in this case... an exception.

    My experience matches that of John Campbell - I never spoke with any media to deny rumours the "celebrity" was me (fwiw, I'm just a newsreader). Iirc, the SS-T asserted it was neither of us in it's follow-up story on Jan 2.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2011 • 1 posts Report

  • Sacha,

    My thanks to Simon and John for joining the conversation. Really quite disturbing that any newspaper could think it's OK to fabricate details like that.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Jackie Clark,

    It’s just such a load of old bollocks that this was even news. Seriously. A man gets a bit pissed off at his wife, he acted like a bit of a dick and sat on the bonnet of his car. 1) why was he arrested and not simply cautioned to stop acting like a dick and 2) why would the Herald think it was news. And 3) why would they whip it all up into such a bloody big deal, so that everyone invariably wondered, in that salacious way that humans have, whose “celeb” marriage was on the rocks. Whoever instigated this bloody mess should just resign now. It wasn’t news, it never needed to be, and meanwhile peoples’ reputations could have been damaged. Christ.

    Mt Eden, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 3136 posts Report

  • nzlemming, in reply to Steven Price,

    Convictions for low-level nebulous offences such as disorderly and offensive behaviour have gone up from about 2000 a year in 1990 to more than 10,000 since 2008.

    I'm curious as to why the judges haven't taken the police to task for wasting the courts' time.

    Waikanae • Since Nov 2006 • 2937 posts Report

  • mark taslov,

    I’m curious as to why the judges haven’t taken the police to task for wasting the courts’ time.

    They're APN News & Media Limited shareholders.

    Te Ika-a-Māui • Since Mar 2008 • 2281 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Given Simon Dallow and John Campbell's comments, here's a question:

    Has The Herald learned nothing from the grovelling apology the Herald on Sunday had to give Sharon Shipton? (Not least the tacit admission quotes attributed to her were false.)

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

  • Ian Dalziel,

    it seems other newsmedia can't get the facts right either...
    ...just watched TV3 news as they blathered on about Oscar possibles, ending with "... and of course Danny Boyle's Inception!"
    FFS

    have to say I did enjoy The King's Speech this arvo

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report

  • Jacqui Dunn,

    But people - it's still January and holiday time so of course, any news (rubbish, flimsy or fiction) is good for holiday time papers!

    Deepest, darkest Avondale… • Since Jul 2010 • 585 posts Report

  • Sacha, in reply to Ian Dalziel,

    Danny Boyle’s Inception

    Tired late-night slip of the tongue, apparently. And a big difference between a mistake and a fabrication.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Kumara Republic, in reply to Craig Ranapia,

    Has The Herald learned nothing from the grovelling apology the Herald on Sunday had to give Sharon Shipton? (Not least the tacit admission quotes attributed to her were false.)

    Precisely. And what's the point of printing apologies and retractions if they're only going to be buried in a sidebar corner?

    No matter how much of a dick Martin Devlin is, the Granny once again concocted a storm in a latte cup. And the innocent parties wouldn't have been tarred with the brush, if the Granny hadn't tried to poke its nose where the sun never shines.

    And further to the anti-PC laddishness of Game of Two Halves, SportsCafe and the Anna Faris incident, it seems loosely related to English soccer hooliganism. The common thread is a desperate need to compensate for the weakening of their self-proclaimed dominance.

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

  • Pdogge,

    and slightly OT do I perceive, it being election year, the Herald moving into it's traditional beefed up anti Labour whacking mode ?

    Tauranga • Since Feb 2008 • 15 posts Report

  • Stephen Judd,

    HERALD DENIES "CELEBRITY" BEATUP

    A big newspaper did it and ran away.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report

  • Stephen Judd,

    Anna Leask's story of January 20 says: "Two other high-profile 46-year-olds, TV stars Simon Dallow and John Campbell, have gone public to say neither of them is the arrested man."

    Whereas on January 2, the Sunday News wrote:

    "Speculation has since been rife as to the man's identity. TVNZ's Simon Dallow and TV3's John Campbell – both born in 1964 and living in Auckland – have been the subject of erroneous online gossip. Neither is the charged man.

    Campbell's TV3 colleague Mike McRoberts is furious, saying the speculation is wrong and is damaging innocent reputations. "

    Which seems far more consistent with what John Campbell and Simon Dallow just told us. I wonder if Leask saw the Fairfax story and took a paraphrase too far.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report

  • Raymond A Francis, in reply to mark taslov,

    They're APN News & Media Limited shareholders.

    It might has seemed funny to say that Mark, a quick quip etc, but not a good idea to defame Judges in a public place.......seriously

    Ever checked the rights of a judge when it comes to contempt

    45' South • Since Nov 2006 • 578 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia, in reply to Pdogge,

    and slightly OT do I perceive, it being election year, the Herald moving into it’s traditional beefed up anti Labour whacking mode ?

    Nah, if anything Goff and Cunliffe should be profoundly grateful that Idiot Savant’s fact-based, intellectually honest fisking of how Labour’s intends to pay for its tax policy is exceedingly unlikely to be repeated in the mainstream media.

    Personally, I’m a little more concerned about the void between Goff’s ears than what he puts on his hair.

    Now, does anyone know if Joan Didion is looking for work? The Election Year of Magical Thinking would be a wonderful read.

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

  • Andrew C, in reply to Jackie Clark,

    It’s just such a load of old bollocks that this was even news. Seriously. A man gets a bit pissed off at his wife, he acted like a bit of a dick and sat on the bonnet of his car.

    I've not followed this story, so can someone tell me if the above is what M Dev said happened, or what the police/courts have said happened.

    Auckland • Since May 2008 • 169 posts Report

  • James W, in reply to Craig Ranapia,

    Has The Herald learned nothing from the grovelling apology the Herald on Sunday had to give Sharon Shipton?

    Why would it? If the only punishment is a small correction on page 3 days, weeks or months later, then why would any newspaper go to the trouble of ensuring their stories are accurate or fair? The Press Council is toothless, relying on a fast-disappearing principle of reputation to maintain its role as arbiter.

    Since Jul 2008 • 136 posts Report

  • Sacha, in reply to Stephen Judd,

    I wonder if Leask saw the Fairfax story and took a paraphrase too far.

    The word "say" does seem to imply active rather than passive involvement. Damned typewriters, eh.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Sacha, in reply to James W,

    The Press Council is toothless, relying on a fast-disappearing principle of reputation to maintain its role as arbiter.

    Same principle as corporate regulation, then. Honour of gentlemen, what.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Ian Dalziel,

    Tired late-night slip of the tongue, apparently.

    One would think that professional journalists who know they have a regular late night spot shouldn't be going for the "tired, late night" excuse - shoddy is what I'm saying - and it just means I can't trust anything they say if they can't be arsed getting the small stuff right...

    hmmm, Exxon Valdez anyone...

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report

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