Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: The Press, Privacy and The Paps

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  • giovanni tiso,

    That Key-makes-girls-swoon story is the logical conclusion of the Herald's ongoing handjob. I bloody hope that's where it ends, anyway.

    It's a brilliant article, though, really, would make a North Korean journalist proud. I think I might frame it.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report

  • Sofie Bribiesca,

    That Key-makes-girls-swoon story is the logical conclusion of the Herald's ongoing handjob. I bloody hope that's where it ends, anyway.

    Well after the sexy wee thing declared it himself in Parliament last week, then TV ran with it, I suspect he/ Key truly believes the hype. Righto.

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report

  • Alien Lizard (anag),

    The Key City Rollers hit town...
    Obviously these swooning schoolgirls are not getting breakfast before they go to school -
    perhaps Tolley could get private schools some extra funding to feed them as well...

    The Arrrgh Complex • Since Jan 2010 • 158 posts Report

  • Sofie Bribiesca,

    When the story becomes more about the journalists placing themselves in the story than the story

    Why am I thinking of a Fox here? Oh that's right...
    kinda Fox network Tv stuff all. However, speculation is all that will be needed to string this along, until it will be dragged up again and rehashed with one extra sentence.
    I suspect this sort of journalism is what undermines and numbs a society, to addresss issues that could be of benefit to it as a whole.

    "Man up and grow a pair"

    The one time I read " man up" on this here PAS was from an inmate addressing Tony Veitch, that, was when I thought it appropriate, but to suggest anyone could do this is sometimes more subjective than objective. JMO

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report

  • Kyle Matthews,

    She was no more a victim than any kid who decides to go for a burn up and wipes out. Really.

    I too found Deborah's comment... unwise I guess. It's like punishing someone for being imperfect and making bad decisions.

    Diana wasn't driving the car, so to some extent at least she wasn't the architect of her own demise - the driver and the photographers chasing on the bikes were also involved.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report

  • BenWilson,

    That Key-makes-girls-swoon story is the logical conclusion of the Herald's ongoing handjob. I bloody hope that's where it ends, anyway.

    No chance. This is the foreplay. I'm still waiting for the fashion section to do a ten-page photoshoot of him, complete with pinups, and a centerfold.

    It's probably based in fact. Most likely some of the girls did feel tired and thirsty from standing and waiting for Key, and then singing for him. In a choice between seeing Key, or sitting down and having a glass of water, it's really a close call for me too.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report

  • BenWilson,

    but to suggest anyone could do this is sometimes more subjective than objective

    Indeed, if I was to man up and grow a pair I'd be twice the man I already am. Easier said than done.

    I guess, technically, women are the ones who are typically growing a pair, any time they have a boy child. And the world ends up one man up too!

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report

  • chris,

    ha!

    a North Korean journalist proud.

    For sure, those guys can only dream of a readership who actually gives a fuck about what they write.

    Mawkland • Since Jan 2010 • 1302 posts Report

  • Sam F,

    It's doubly hilarious how the print story then points you to "Key meets the girls" on Page A6 - where a large publicity shot from the school visit is attached to a different story, this time about raising the driving age. Because both stories involve young people, I suppose, and that photo had to go in the paper somewhere...

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1611 posts Report

  • Sofie Bribiesca,

    He's quick, like a fox :)) Hello Ben.

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report

  • James W,

    Craig said:

    In the end, if people get off on sceptic tank schadenfreude could they at least spare themselves -- and everyone else -- the hypocritical chuntering about the public interest?

    Yes. I don't really see the point of debating this like it's some complex moral quandary in the modern age of 24-hour news cycles and celebrity culture. It's about money - the public want to read gossip about celebrities, and the media is happy to serve it up. "It's what they want." All this guff about "public interest" and "if they want the good they need to accept the bad" is just smokescreen so the media can feel better about themselves. Nothing will change unless the public stops consuming it.

    Since Jul 2008 • 136 posts Report

  • Sofie Bribiesca,

    and that photo had to go in the paper somewhere...

    ...which will become stock standard go to for sexy stories aboot the PM. Although, that Italian guy Bruscolini dude...

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report

  • James W,

    It's doubly hilarious how the print story then points you to "Key meets the girls" on Page A6 - where a large publicity shot from the school visit is attached to a different story, this time about raising the driving age. Because both stories involve young people, I suppose, and that photo had to go in the paper somewhere...

    Be thankful a police officer cried or they would've used that photo on the front page.

    Since Jul 2008 • 136 posts Report

  • BenWilson,

    Nothing will change unless the public stops consuming it.

    And the other media. And it's really hard not to be hypocritical. Personally I haven't read anything about Mau or this murdering kid's private lives because I don't think it's news, and I do actually respect their privacy. It's not really my business. But that just makes me ignorant. Did anyone else do the same?

    But I have an attitude to celebrity which is that it's good manners to treat them like everyone else, unless they make it known that they want to be treated differently. So if I chance to be sitting next to one in a cafe, I'm not going to intrude in any way at all, not even with so much as a look (any more than I'd look at the other people in the cafe anyway). This has happened dozens of times. The hardest part about it is that you don't expect to see celebrities, so you tend to double take, because you recognize them, and they could be some old acquaintance.

    This is especially hard with very minor celebrities because it takes longer to work out who they are. I had an embarrassing moment recently when two very attractive girls sat at a table next to me. I knew that I knew them, but really couldn't work out where from, and would hate to be snobbing someone when it turned out I'd coached them, or fixed their computer or something. Then the penny dropped, they were the first and second placers in NZ's Top Model. Back to breakfast.

    I have much the same attitude to beauty, too. Beautiful people aren't asking to be stared at. Really hard not to sneak a peek, though. Weird looking is the same as well. By the very same token, ugly people aren't actually harmful to the eyes, it's respectful to look at them when it's appropriate to do so. Making these things instinctual is the work of a lifetime.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report

  • Sacha,

    Difference is interesting for all humans, but yes it provokes some damned interesting social dances as you work out where to look. The models would probably be annoyed you didn't stare.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Sofie Bribiesca,

    The models would probably be annoyed you didn't stare.

    I have a tee shirt that indicates otherwise, but only for the image that got printed on the Tee, but it certainly looks like she didn't invite the photo, then again one will never know.
    All humans are interestingly different.

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report

  • Rich Lock,

    Did anyone else do the same?

    Yes, but with Mau, it was because I couldn't give a fat rat's arse about her or whoever shares her bed.

    With the 'murdering kid', I only read the story after Russell linked to it as part of a broader disucssion of some media issues - I saw it was flagged as a big story by the HoS when I was in the dairy on Sunday picking up milk. I suspected based on their past form it would be a beat-up, and having now actually read it, I haven't changed my mind. Seeing it flagged on the front page like that, along with a plug for Ratshit Glaucoma, tends to actively discourage me from picking up the paper.

    One of the perks of my job is/was an automatic free subscription to the NZH. Despite the NZH being free, and it taking substantially more effort on my part to cancel the subsciption than to continue to allow the paper to be delivered each day, I have now cancelled the subscription. There are other ways to exercise my arms each morning than to spend 30 seconds desperately searching for something worth reading. And I can afford soft-ply.

    back in the mother countr… • Since Feb 2007 • 2728 posts Report

  • Cecelia,

    I know it might be the right thing to do to avoid celebrity gossip but the Alison Mau case had much of interest.

    Hell, she works with the bigoted Paul Henry and she has often been quoted in the press expressing love and admiration for Simon Dallow. I remember how she used to refer to him proudly as "my husband".

    It is interesting that she has entered a lesbian relationship - if in fact she has. It is also interesting how Breakfast has toyed with this since ...

    She hasn't done anything to deserve paparazzi. But my argument is that it IS interesting.

    OTOH I was outraged decades ago when The Truth outed Marilyn Waring. They were trying to undermine her but is Alison Mau being undermined?

    Hibiscus Coast • Since Apr 2008 • 559 posts Report

  • Andre Alessi,

    What's interesting about someone being a lesbian?

    Where I come from, that deserves nothing but a yawn and a reach for the remote.

    Devonport, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 864 posts Report

  • Mikaere Curtis,

    Interesting to the public != Public Interest.

    Tamaki Makaurau • Since Nov 2006 • 528 posts Report

  • BenWilson,

    Difference is interesting for all humans, but yes it provokes some damned interesting social dances as you work out where to look. The models would probably be annoyed you didn't stare.

    Could be. But they can always just do something to attract attention, then (other than just being pretty).

    I don't think my attitude is "right". It's a question of style. People are perfectly within their rights to stare at hotties and read all about the private lives of minor celebrities.

    Yes, but with Mau, it was because I couldn't give a fat rat's arse about her or whoever shares her bed.

    I do find it interesting. But not interesting enough to violate my own ethic on the matter, which is that giving attention to such news encourages it.

    I used to get the Herald "free" too, when I delivered them. This was considered a perk, although as a 12-15 y.o, I'd just as soon have had the cover price back. I was meant to sacrifice my one if I accidentally damaged a customer's one, which sometimes happened. On such days I would get bitter recriminations from my parents - I think the manager liked it that way, saved him the hassle of chewing me out for such an outrage.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report

  • Paul Litterick,

    What's interesting about someone being a lesbian?

    Where I come from, that deserves nothing but a yawn and a reach for the remote.

    You come from Lesbia?
    .
    .
    .
    .
    .
    .
    I'll get my coat.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1000 posts Report

  • BenWilson,

    Where I come from, that deserves nothing but a yawn and a reach for the remote.

    Never let a lesbian get hold of your remote, especially when you're yawning?

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report

  • David Hood,

    "Iʻm too sexy for my caucus
    too sexy for my caucus
    so sexy itʻs raucous
    Iʻm a PM you know what I mean
    and I do my little turn in the Herald"

    Dunedin • Since May 2007 • 1445 posts Report

  • philipmatthews,

    This one from Steven Price is very interesting in context: Paul Henry in "same sex couples aren't natural" and "thieving homosexual magpies" shocker.

    http://www.medialawjournal.co.nz/?p=347

    But if Mau is going to take a position in debates like this on TV, rather than just being a "neutral" autocue reader, does that make her outing by a woman's mag closer to the "public interest" than otherwise?

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2007 • 656 posts Report

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