Hard News: Better, faster ... prettier
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Probably the labour rather than the wine thats pickled?
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And what does this mean? Something has been missed out surely?
“It's just wonderful how people embrace the magazine. There is this whole community of brilliant people who all read it and often communicate through talking about the magazine … it's why we will always have a reporter based in the South Island.”
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I see the latest Listener trumpets its rise in readership, by 19,000 in the last year to 297,000 each week - fastest growth in current affairs category, according to Neilsen survey.
Sad to see RB go from it - horrified at -26% pay from start of tenure till end. You'd think with good growth figures, the pay rates would follow suit??
BTW, did anyone else see John Key on Moon TV last night - quite bizarre! Indulgent smile (I'm not really a speedo cop!) and missed the great opportunity to say something truly witty. Lange would have been in like Flynn.
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I think I like this observation best:
Finlay Macdonald confesses: “I was talking to a friend the other night about the ultimate Listener cover. We decided it would be 'Do House Prices Make You Look Fat?' We would have to put something about NCEA in the by-line too - just to be safe.”
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'Do House Prices Make You Look Fat?'
Get the South Island Team onto it right away!
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That Critic article was fascinating - thanks for the link, guys.
Though I do usually scan the books section to see if Jolisa has anything in it.
Thanks, Deborah! I do the same, looking for my favourites. I should have one in the week after next, I hope (a delayed review of Emily Perkins' new novel), and then Kapka Kassabova's memoir a few weeks after that.
Interestingly, the long book reviews now seem to be about 20% shorter than they used to be. I don't know if readers have noticed the change, but I miss those extra words (and not, or not just, because I was paid for some of them!). I guess the page size or ad space changed?
Meanwhile, I wonder what happened to Chris Knox's DVD reviews?
And yes, bravo to Matt and Fiona for their artful TV and film reviews in 50 words or less. I think even non-TV-watching readers get their best value out of those pages, on a laugh-per-word basis :-)
BTW, it's an indication of what's happened to freelance pay rates that my fee in 1993 was about the same as my fee at the beginning of 2008.
Russell, ouch. Good on you for keeping the fee steady, at least!
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Good on you for keeping the fee steady, at least!
I mean in raw dollar-and-cents terms, at least.
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And yes, bravo to Matt and Fiona for their artful TV and film reviews in 50 words or less.
Oh yes - I only mentioned Matt because I noticed only in the last few weeks he's been doing it I've long enjoyed Fiona's turns of phrase too.
</fairdues>
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Sad to see RB go from it - horrified at -26% pay from start of tenure till end. You'd think with good growth figures, the pay rates would follow suit??
Well, to be clear I did demand and get a $50 pw increase in about March. But that still left me $50 short of what I was earning before the present editor arrived. Long story, glad I don't have to bother with it any more.
But the deeper story, as I said, is what's happened to freelance pay rates in general in the last 15 years, while largely foreign print media owners have pocketed the returns. It's bad.
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“It's just wonderful how people embrace the magazine. There is this whole community of brilliant people who all read it and often communicate through talking about the magazine … it's why we will always have a reporter based in the South Island.”
I'm afraid this is what she said, word for word. I must say, she was lovely to talk to, until you realise the frequency she uses marketing-speak as a crux. I think what she was trying to get accross was the fact the South Island is very committed to the Listener and they so have to keep loyal to it.
Thanks for the kind words, all. It's always nice when something gets greater readership than the Critic crowd, and I spent more time on this than any other piece than my epic one of John Key. And I was bloody paid for that (okay, minimum wage in the esteemed role of "features reporter" but still, it all counts right.)
I would like to thank editor Dave Large for being so patient with me about it, it was basically written in whatever spare time I had between duties at the Canterbury journalism school and/or writing stories for community newspapers about club rugby and irrigation
(CPW is a goldmine of ridiculous stuff, I'm telling you, those guys are pirates. If litigation weren't so torturous to read, people would be on their back more than they are now. But I digress).
If David Large doesn't win at the ASPAs this year, it'll be a disgrace, but regardless, I'll make sure to drink enough for him not to like I did last time. Good times.
I would say more about the Listener, and how I held back a bit in that piece for the greater good of "balance." But that's for another time.And well done to Russell Brown for so many wonderful, artful and savvy columns over the years. Have you got any other gigs lined up at the moment?
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Well, to be clear I did demand and get a $50 pw increase
Uh, that's per week, not per word, right?
But the deeper story, as I said, is what's happened to freelance pay rates in general in the last 15 years, while largely foreign print media owners have pocketed the returns.
Someone should write that story (hello, Critic?). The word rates are appalling, and they're falling. It's not a lot better in the US, my other freelance playground, unless you luck into the glossy magazines (hello, Oprah?).
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I'd love to know why Steve Braunias was sacked - some of my fondest memories of the Listener are of his column.
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The current freelance rates sound crazy, and pretty ominous for up-and-coming types like myself.
Then again the sheer rate of foreign ownership and how they've outsourced important roles like subediting is pretty interesting, in a horrible way. Is there any truth to the rumour that the NZ Herald has "outsourced" some of its subeditoring duties to India? Even if it's not, I wouldn't put it past them...
It's certainly worth writing an article about, ironically, it's something you'd have to do as a freelancer too. On low pay.
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As for the Listener, I will say that I still really enjoy the writing of Witchel, Fioana Rae, Clifton, Nippert and Fisher (along with Chris Slane's cartoons)- it would just be nice, if the magazine had more, well, guts at times. And actually tackled things head on, particularly in regards to politics and social issues, but also even in the arts section, too, as these are/were the magazine's bread and butter. Sometimes, it's very difficult to tell who the magazine's intended audience actually is, which was the crux of the Critic piece.
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Then again the sheer rate of foreign ownership and how they've outsourced important roles like subediting is pretty interesting, in a horrible way. Is there any truth to the rumour that the NZ Herald has "outsourced" some of its subeditoring duties to India? Even if it's not, I wouldn't put it past them...
APN made a decision to centralise most sub-editing for the Herald and for its other newspapers and publications with a company called Pagemasters, operating in Auckland and Australia. In most cases that meant redundancies (the Woman's Weekly, where the editor put her foot down, was a notable exception). The idea was that it would be brilliant and efficient. The idea was stupid.
Sub-editors are often a print publication's institutional memory. They know how to spell the unusual names, and the particular quirks of individual writers. Great subs are the soul of the publication. Outsourcing that duty to a sausage factory loses you so much.
Ironically, it hasn't been more efficient at all. It's been the reverse. The faceless (and probably junior, and overworked) subs at Pagemasters actually introduce mistakes to copy, which always has to be checked on return. They generally can't write headlines, standfirsts or captions either. It's basically a mess.
And it's a relief to now be able to say so.
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For the first time followed your link to Media 7. Discussion on health reporting. Excellent -- thank you.
BUT !! Would you please have a word with the psycho who designed the animated, distracting background behind the members taking part. Turn off the flashing lights. Please.
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The idea was that it would be brilliant and efficient. The idea was stupid.
Sub-editors are often a print publication's institutional memory. They know how to spell the unusual names...
I had this happen just today. An article quoting me in yesterday's Herald had my name spelt correctly. An article in today's referring to the fact I'd spoken to the Herald for yesterday's paper, didn't. Subbing by someone who actually read the Herald might have picked it up.
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That's not just a Kiwi thing. Don't forget Rudolph Giuliani, the most mispelled name in politics. I quickly lost count of the number of sub-editors that ought to have lost their jobs over that one over the course of his nominating campaign.
(Wouldn't it be grand if he ran for mayor of Feilding?)
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Enjoyed Media 7 last night and loved your succinct comment to Wayne Brown on closing.Always wanted to know if he was just about the money.:-)
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Diana Wichtel. Brian Easton. Sudoku. Only three to go...
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In this time of the print media's concern about their readership slipping away to the internets it seems they've hit upon a winning strategy.
Offer less substance, less analysis, less local news, and outsource the perception of accuracy and due diligence in their reporting for the sake of short term cost-cutting.
Brilliance.
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Much as this household has had frequent cause to complain about the ideological drift of the publication, its morbid interest in our personal health (do they know something we don't?) and Joanne Black's rallying cries for the disenfranchised elites, ultimately we still need to know what's happening, and what's on the telly. If the Dom Post were half decent maybe we would start buying that and cancel our Listener subscription, but I can't see that happening any time soon.
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I'd love to know why Steve Braunias was sacked - some of my fondest memories of the Listener are of his column.
Indeed. The despair induced by picking up the Sunday Star Times on returning to NZ this summer was only alleviated by his sharp wit.
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Apologies to those who have already seen this, but:
Booker Prize-Winner Keri Hulme in Cancelling Listener Subscription Shockah!
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Well, I, for one, still look forward to getting my Listener in the letterbox of a Saturday lunchtime. I was devastated that Braunias left, gutted that Black was even associated with the thing at all, and very disappointed that Finlay left. Still, and all. I like the book reviews and Diana Witchel. I enjoy the articles, mostly. And I look forward to Graham Brazier's poetry reviews, mostly because I can talk to him about them and it stops him from reading me his own poetry...(just kidding!). It has got less satisfying, I agree, but I just can't bring myself to buy the TV Guide.
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