Posts by Russell Brown
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It just seems to me that you and David Farrar are perpetually balancing each other out with your bagging of National and Farrar's criticism of Labour in equal measure, often for doing the same thing. I guess it works for you both?
You're still missing my point, which is more about the unmolested ease with which the spin makes the news columns.
I don't really resent National doing so (you'll note I called the release "canny") and it's part of holding the government to account.
But every media organisation ran the "spin doctor" line whole, and only Ruth Laugesen even attempted to do some reporting around it (discovering in the process that many of the "spin doctors" probably weren't).
In a sense, you and I funded the writing of the stories.
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But anyone who uses the word 'gay' in my house better be referring to a homosexual, otherwise they're going to be asked to step outside.
Would it be all right if they were referring to a happy person?
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I think you're having an Alanis Morissette moment here Russell. No, it is not ironic that an opposition party has used Parliamentary communication resources to put out a release criticising the government. That's their job.
Yup. Just like it's the job of someone who works for MSD to keep up copy on one of its websites. But only one of them was the subject of the story, or demonised therein as a "spin doctor" in a line parroted by everyone who reported it.
Indeed, the former is much more like spin than the latter. I think there's an irony in there.
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Or am I the only person who feels even slightly disturbed when the Chief Ombudsman feels it necessary to put his name to a document titled Access to information – not a courtesy but a right {PDF format}, or threaten to name and shame Ministers and departments who are routinely flouting the statutory deadline to respond to OIA requests?
We reported on the OIA several times when I was with Mediawatch. Two issues invariably emerged: foot-dragging and obstruction from certain public agencies, and the extreme politicisation of the process, which sees the majority of OIA requests made by Opposition MPs and their staff, to be presented in a hostile and selective fashion (Labour did the same thing in Opposition).
When the OIA was passed under Muldoon, it was envisaged that the majority of requests would be made by members of the public, but they're actually usually made in a highly political context -- which in turn has the effect of making public agencies risk-averse and obstructive. And, of course, requires them to marshall resources behind official communications in response ...
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Larry, the point was the way that (a) such releases make news columns almost verbatim, angles intact; (b) the way news organisations report such a story while avoiding the grim fact of the hollowing out of news-gathering resources, (c) the fact that the majority of the people counted in the story cannot reasonably be regarded as "spin doctors".
I guess it's your right to find it "pathetic", but I thought it was relevant.
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And I only mucked up one piece of HTML...
You did beautifully. Welcome aboard.
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triple post..shit...someone fix please? This site seems particularly buggy right now?
Pages are slow to load for some reason. I'll ask the guys.
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On a non-offensive t-shirt tip, I did like this one on a chap in the lounge:
I AM PROUD TO BE THE OLDEST PERSON AT THIS EVENT
Also, for the hell of it, yet another punter clip during 'Pacifier':
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If they're really Labour funded then I think a demand for money back might be in order.
Quite. It seems fairly clear to me what happened, but the mob is convinced that it's evidence of sweeping corruption.
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They promised me insights into the human condition and all I get is dyslexia.
I was joking. I alone have the godly power to re-edit my posts ...
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