Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Where nature may win

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  • Danyl Mclauchlan,

    I've been happy with the RNZ coverage. And mostly with newspapers coverage as well. Scoop has been useful. I can't comment on TV because I don't watch it, but there are a lot of outlets that from where I'm sitting seem to be doing their job quite well in what are difficult circumstances for journalists and editors too.

    Yeah, I feel exactly the same way. There's a certain class of person who complains about the media irrespective of the actual quality of the reporting because they have nothing else to say. I've found the Pike River coverage pretty good, given the fact that it's a national tragedy in which nothing much happens and each story requires a fair amount of scientific and technical jargon. The various graphs the web sites put up are particularly helpful.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 927 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Yeah, I feel exactly the same way. There's a certain class of person who complains about the media irrespective of the actual quality of the reporting because they have nothing else to say.

    Second explosion confirmed. Let's see who holds their shit now. And could the media (yes, I'm using the collective noun) please show they've got some human DNA and back the fuck off the families? All the way, people -- show your class not your arse.

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

  • Sacha,

    Twitter folk say there was a second explosion this afternoon, no survivors expected, families left briefing session distraught. Another big challenge for media.

    snap

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    Reuters reports Police confirming all 29 now regarded as dead.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    :(

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    On the day of the explosion
    Shadows pointed towards the pithead:
    In the sun the slagheap slept.

    Down the lane came men in pitboots
    Coughing oath-edged talk and pipe-smoke,
    Shouldering off the freshened silence.

    One chased after rabbits; lost them;
    Came back with a nest of lark’s eggs;
    Showed them; lodged them in the grasses.

    So they passed in beards and moleskins,
    Fathers, brothers, nicknames, laughter,
    Through the tall gates standing open.

    At noon, there came a tremor; cows
    Stopped chewing for a second; sun,
    Scarfed as in a heat-haze, dimmed.

    The dead go on before us, they
    Are sitting in God’s house in comfort,
    We shall see them face to face —

    Plain as lettering in the chapels
    It was said, and for a second
    Wives saw men of the explosion

    larger than in life they managed —
    Gold as on a coin, or walking
    Somehow from the sun towards them,

    One showing the eggs unbroken.

    The Explosion, Philip Larkin

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

  • James Francis, in reply to Craig Ranapia,

    Thank you, Craig. Beautifully but sadly put.

    St John's, Newfoundland • Since Nov 2006 • 121 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    Mayor Kokshoorn tells reporters that crew are entering the mine now to recover bodies.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia, in reply to James Francis,

    Thank Mr. Larkin -- if there's a heaven for poets, I'm sure he's grumbling about the neighbours and the awful cost of gin.

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

  • recordari,

    Ditto for Larkin, and Craig for posting. Apart from that, I'm planning to listen to some silence, rather than more media unravelling.

    AUCKLAND • Since Dec 2009 • 2607 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    They're all poking cameras at grieving people, but I have to say TV3 seem to be getting the tone more right compared with TV1 from what I've seen over the last half hour.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia, in reply to Sacha,

    And Mary Wilson is demanding Kate Wilkinson basically pre-empt the inevitable inquiry and accuse the company of lax safety standard. FFS, I know plenty of PASers like her "rottie on P" manner a lot more than I do, but this wasn't the time or the place. Think I'm going to turn the radio off, and stay away from the TV for a while.

    ETA: Anyway, I've got a radio piece to write from scratch for tomorrow morning. The planned serve to the media's disaster pornographers is still pertinent but, all things considered, in poor taste. Place and time - and this week's PAR is neither.

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

  • Sacha, in reply to Sacha,

    Whittall says they're *not* entering the mine yet. Interesting to realise that even with the minimal amount I've seen of both him and Knowles, I trust the manager over the copper. Both had a hard job to do.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Stephen Judd,

    Scum.

    Pushy journalists in town to cover the Pike River Mine disaster have tried posing as Air New Zealand victims support workers, just to get a foot in the door of the homes of distressed families.

    I hope those fuckers get tarred and feathered and run out of town.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report Reply

  • recordari,

    Ok, so I turned it on and watched Whittal, and thought 'wow, no way I could keep it together making that statement. What a guy', and then the cameras in faces started again, and the grieving father was forced to speculate, arguably with more right to do so than most, and I had to turn it off.
    I got the impression Mike McRoberts might have turned it off too, if he'd had a switch, as he managed an appropriate degree of reverence and respect, during the small bit that I saw.

    And Stephen, bloody hell!!
    ETA

    The Greymouth Star is aware of one incident in which a journalist left a microphone attached to someone they had already interviewed, to gather more sensitive information.

    Fired. Surely?

    AUCKLAND • Since Dec 2009 • 2607 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia, in reply to recordari,

    Like Russell, I'm hoping there's one or two people at Three News who won't sleep well tonight.

    Fired. Surely?

    That should be a slam dunk upheld complaint to the Press Council/BSA, while the hack concerned is not only fired but blacklisted from any media outlet with any pretentions towards respectibility. What. The. Fuckity-Fuck. doesn't even begin to articulate what an epic #ethicalfail that allegation is, if true.

    ETA: Could Mary Wilson please shut the fuck up? Nobody is buying into the blame-game narrative she's trying to set up, and she's now moving beyond tiresome and irritating into offensive twatcockery.

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

  • Sacha, in reply to Stephen Judd,

    Some schools report having had journalists loitering around the school gates attempting to interview children.

    Scum alright. Pretty risky with so many angry grieving locals you'd think.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    I'd like to know how many of these reports are factual to be honest.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia, in reply to giovanni tiso,

    Honestly, I hope none of them -- they're that vile. But knowing the kind of pressure that goes on to get sin-sational scoop in situations like this, I expect to be very disappointed indeed.

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

  • giovanni tiso,

    All the reports seem rather vague and the situation at the moment is a potential incubator for urban legends of this kind, is all.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Neil Morrison, in reply to giovanni tiso,

    yes, the rumour about the rescue team going in immediately after the second explosion could have caused lots of trouble.

    Questions need to be asked but witch hunts need to be avoided. I hope some people reasess their negative opinion of the police.

    Since Nov 2006 • 932 posts Report Reply

  • Matthew Poole, in reply to Neil Morrison,

    I hope some people reasess their negative opinion of the police.

    I wouldn't count on it. See Sacha's comment above about trusting Witthall more than Knowles.

    Auckland • Since Mar 2007 • 4097 posts Report Reply

  • Gareth Ward,

    Craig that is extraordinary, and would like to share it through the banality of social media if I may...
    (Edit, naturally I mean Larkin's poem)

    Auckland, NZ • Since Mar 2007 • 1727 posts Report Reply

  • Petra, in reply to Gareth Ward,

    I have already reposted it. I love poetry, and only the poets can find such poignant verse in the tears of terrible tragedy. Thanks Craig for posting it here.

    What a terrible day, in a horrible year. My heart goes out to the people of Pike River Mines, their friends and colleagues and families everywhere.

    Great sorrows cannot speak...

    Rotorua • Since Mar 2007 • 317 posts Report Reply

  • Jackie Clark,

    Sad. Sad, sad, sad, sad. All so unnecessary, all so tragic. All so sad.

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

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