Yellow Peril: Asian Angst: is it time to send some payback?
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Bravo.
By way of background, I may have called Ms Coddington "the most bizarre woman in Auckland" 11 years ago, but I'm damned if I can find it, either online or on my hard drive.
I did however, find my mention of the 1997 Metro column in which she claimed that the police picked on "white" kids and ignored the dark-skinned villains who pursued them. I used the words "horrible" and "crass" in that instance.
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And to be equally fair, the phrase 'Coddingtonwallop' does show up several times in a search of PA - but unless Russell's multiple personalities spend way too much time on-line, I can't find a single example where Mr. Brown called her any such thing. Just for Ms. Coddington's benefit,I've locked horns with Russell over the years - and ended up as a contributor to PA Radio (which makes me co-conspirator, I guess) - but can't fault Russell for sending out his sock puppets to destroy anyone's reputation.
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merc,
As far as I know RB has never used the term 'Coddingtonwallop', and I read and have read and listened to RB very carefully over many years, because he deserves that. Indeed RB, you are always very professional in that regard.
Thanks Tze et al, this is a very significant watershed, IMHO. -
Congrats on the ruling.
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Heh heh. That's nice work.
Coddington's column in the Hos is an entertaining exercise in doublethink and raises some fascinating questions about her character and mental state.
I don't know what to think of her rant against journalists who have technically broken the embargo on the story by discussing it, given that in the same column she is explicitly breaking the embargo on the story by publishing it's findings. Weird.
I'm also intruiged by this passage:
Even the complainants should be peeved by this pathetic decision. If I'd been judged by my peers - senior, investigative journalists - I could respect their conclusions, however "damning". Instead, I was found guilty by three lawyers, a retired diplomat, a teacher, a writer for Department of Trade and Enterprise, the editor of a rival publication and just one journalist I respect - John Gardner of the Herald. But even he should have excused himself, since two of the complainants were Herald reporters.
So, just to sum up, she want's to be judged by her peers - being in Coddington's imagination 'senior investigative journalists' but apparently they can't work for APN 'since two of the complainants were Herald reporters' and neither should they be from 'rival publications' which rather conventiently precludes virtually every print journalist in the country from passing judgement on Coddington.
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Incidentally, I'd be curious to learn the identity of the people on the press council. In her column about the 'Hollow Men' Coddington described Steven Price - who assisted Nicky Hager with the book - as a 'a Wellington blogger with a law degree'. Since Price is actually an Adjunct Lecturer at Victoria Law School and a Fellow in Law and Journalism I'm sceptical of Coddingtons rather dismissive description of the councils members.
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The more I think about it, here's what really disappoints me about Coddington's response. I don't think anyone -- least of all Tze Ming -- is interested in some bland 'politically correct' media culture of ethnic boosterism, or where we don't have sometimes uncomfortable (even outright rancid) public debate.
But let's be honest for a moment: Doesn't every hack and blogger have - or should have - their own Hall of Shame, where they've gone out to prove a thesis and (to be polite) not been as scrupulous with the veritas as they should be? I've certainly expended a lot of bile about statistical illiteracy and innumeracy in the media.
People fuck up, and there's no reason why journalists should be any different. But what really disturbs me is that there seems to be a media culture where (to paraphrase Elton John) sorry is the hardest word...
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Danyl:
I don't know if it's current but according to the NZPC's own website the current membership is:
NEW ZEALAND PRESS COUNCIL OFFICERS
Barry Paterson CNZM, OBE, QC Independent Chairman, Retired High Court Judge, Auckland
Mary Major SecretaryRepresenting the public:
Ruth Buddicom Barrister, Christchurch
Denis McLean Retired diplomat, Wellington
Lynn Scott Director, Whangarei Heads
Aroha Puata Lawyer and mother, Upper Hutt
Keith Lees Teacher, ChristchurchRepresenting the Newspaper Publishers Association (NPA)
Clive Lind Editorial Development, FairfaxNZ, Wellington
John Gardner New Zealand Herald Assitant-Editor, AucklandRepresenting Magazine Publishers
Terry Snow Editor, The Shed Magazine, AucklandRepresenting the NZ Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (Media Division)
Alan Samson Lecturer, Massey University School of Journalism
Penny Harding Journalist, WellingtonTo be honest, I don't know whether I'd really give the EMPU, Massey School of Journalism or anyone employed by the Fairfax Grope or__The Herald__ much weight as ethical arbiters, but that's a whole other issue. :)
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From the decision:
Press Council members considering this complaint were Barry Paterson (Chairman), Aroha Beck, Ruth Buddicom, Kate Coughlan, John Gardner, Penny Harding, Keith Lees, Denis McLean, and Lynn Scott.
So neither Alan Samson (who's a particularly accomplished reporter, especially on science topics) or Terry Snow, a former Listener editor, were involved in this particular decision.
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merc,
Debs is taking hits ... from all sides
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Presumably the 'retired diplomat' is Denis McLean, our former ambassador to Washington. Obviously a lightweight unqualified to pass judgement on his betters . . .
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Well, one would assume Coddington cant spell xenophopia - she certainly can't spell xenophopic, anyway....
Well done, Tze, Charles, Keith et al. Coddington has been well and truely walloped - 'Coddingtonwallop', if you will..
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There is something delicious about seeing a shill shoot themselves in both feet without any assistance and this latest outburst surely firms up which side of the credibility spectrum Ms Codswallop sits on.
I'm very pleased that the ruling is specific and is fair.
Tough it out Debs and let see a comeback off the ropes......... -
So neither Alan Samson (who's a particularly accomplished reporter, especially on science topics) {...} were involved in this particular decision.
But at the risk of shagging a hobby horse, I do hope Samson is taking that expertise into the classroom - drumming the phrase 'correlation does not imply causation' into the next generation of Massey journalism graduates would be a start, and a considerable public service.
Seriously, does anyone else think Coddington and North and South might have been saved considerable damage if, well, the story had been through a significantly more rigorous editorial and fact-checking process? Like, by someone who could have seen the thesis was not supported by the evidence?
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Oh you're all so mean, attacking poor little battler Debs, who has never done anything but try and warn us all against evil.
I look forward to her next book on the rising tide of Asian pedophiles who are here to bludge on our welfare system while importing P and running white slave rings.
Congrats to you all - and a good and fair report from the Press Council I'd say.
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Sentences like this, in the Coddington's response to Grant Hannis:
"Two paragraphs further on, I point out using national apprehension figures from 1996 to 2005 the total offences committed by Asiatics aged 17 to 50 has risen by 53 per cent."
point to some ingrained, racist thinking. "Asiatics" isn't a neutral term.
I was also surprised to see the Herald on Sunday give Coddington a pulpit to rail against not just the Press Council decision, but also against several complainants, before the embargo had expired.
Clearly, Coddington enjoys the full support of ACP and HoS editors for what she writes.
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In the words of the 20th centurys' premier American philosopher "Ha Ha!"
Well done to the complainents -
Seriously, does anyone else think Coddington and North and South might have been saved considerable damage if, well, the story had been through a significantly more rigorous editorial and fact-checking process? Like, by someone who could have seen the thesis was not supported by the evidence?
Absolutely. I think it was Keith who pointed out quite early on that there was a story there: just not the one she wrote and N&S printed.
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Makes me proud to be a reader :-) Congratulations.
I have some sympathy for Coddington's 'Robyn made me do it' defense.
I'm surprised (at your sympathy). A similar defense seems to have been used for other stuff ups she has made in the past. When will she have the courage of her political convictions and take personal responsibility? A simple "I was wrong" would do.
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That being said, I Coddington was not alone in her line of attack when that article was published. I personally heard Stephen Franks floating a few interesting "ideas" about Asian immigration (old good, new bad). Franks was a bit smarter in that he posed his particular whistles as "questions" that the audience should be thinking about.
His (largely Asian) audience were, I think, a little stunned as for the uninitiated that sort of line takes a while to think about and then argue against. A couple us got in some challenges but it was water of a duck's back.
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Wow. It's also interesting to revisit the original article after all this time and gasp at how jaw-droppingly, unashamably racist it actually is. Selected excerpts:
Welcome to New Zealand, the new home of Asian drug runners, illegal suburban brothels, health cheats, student P pushers, business crooks and paua smugglers.
[Asians] also brought murder, extortion, kidnappings, assassinations and disease.
Kiwi kids dropped off at school by mums in battered hatchbacks seethe with resentment as they watch Asian classmates arrive in their very own late-model BMWs, Mercedes or souped-up Subarus.
[Asians] are helping themselves to our hospital care and seafood (WTF?)
And my personal favourite:
. . . not every Asian is a good Asian . . .
And that's all just on the first page.
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Among the limited range of reading matter at my local Chinese takeaway there's an ancient Metro with a shamelessly adulatory cover story (except the cover happens to be missing) by Warwick Roger, touting Coddington as a future ACT leader.
In time it may well be joined by an equally tatty issue of North & South.
That's how these things seem to work. -
It feels particularly good to be Asian today as opposed to steaming (hah!) as I was when I read Asian Angst.
Re Coddington in the HoS: A good friend, journalist David Cohen, tells me we share the privilege of tucking ourselves into bed at nights to read our Press Council decisions.
I'm curious as to how David Cohen feels about Asian Angst. By wilfully mentioning him in the first para, is Coddington trying to imply that he supports her mad racist views?
Nice one, Tze Ming et al. Kapow!
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"Thinking New Zealand" indeed...
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That being said, I Coddington was not alone in her line of attack when that article was published. I personally heard Stephen Franks floating a few interesting "ideas" about Asian immigration (old good, new bad). Franks was a bit smarter in that he posed his particular whistles as "questions" that the audience should be thinking about.
I think Franks is much less guarded when he thinks he won't be quoted. When he confided in Ben Thomas that the gay community was "riddled with pathologies" I expect he thought he'd be saved from himself.
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