Posts by Craig Ranapia
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Hard News: Tired and emotional, for reals, in reply to Russell Brown,
I find American newspapers fairly pompous, but their best magazines are just … the best magazines. Granted, there is the odd disappointing issue of VF.
Sure, and just between us while I love the New Yorker's long-form pieces on principle the magazine's mandarin house style can tip over into self-parody. I'm trying to remember who said, in the latter days of Wallace Shawn's tenure as editor, that the magazine's notorious fact-checkers could query every clause of a piece and still miss the point.
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Hard News: Tired and emotional, for reals, in reply to Russell Brown,
Fair enough. I still think it was completely out of order for Tim to go and hype it on the basis of one of his own writers being “put in his place”. That’s just shitty, as is Fran attacking Bryce Edwards on the Herald site.
And at the risk of trolling, if Edwards was such a far-left hacky “parasite” blogger who won’t left the facts get in the way of a sick burn on real journalists (or something) doesn’t that reflect on the editorial judgement in hiring him in the first place? Or is that a “robust debate” too far, Mr. Drinnan?
But Edwards wasn’t even in a PR job.
No, he wasn’t Russell. My point is that Mr. Armstrong shouldn’t use Bryce’s CV as an offensive weapon when two can play that game – and to nobody’s credit.
The amusing thing, of course, is that Trevor Mallard was (groan) last year attacking him for allegedly being in bed with the forces of the right.
OTOH, it puts Bryce in pretty impressive company. If you listened to the wrong people, Mark Prebble was the meat in a Helen Clark-Richard Prebble sandwich. Which doesn’t bear much thinking about – at least not while sober. And at the height of the pledge card issue, Hooten and Haare would go on National Radio and argue that somehow the Auditor-General was both colluding with National to bring down the Government and plotting to protect it.
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and made an issue of Edwards having briefly worked for the Aliiance in Parliament more than a decade ago,
Not only a cheap shot, but one that can come back on a boomerang. You don’t need a crystal ball to predict the reaction if anyone accused Armstrong of being a soft touch for his former colleague (now Prime Ministerial spin-doctor-in-chief) Kevin Taylor. He'd be heinously offended by the accusation, and rightly so.
ETA: Before anyone points this out, yes… I’ve long expressed my strongly held opinion that the revolving door between newsrooms and political/corporate PR needs a padlock put on it sooner rather than later. (It would also be fair to say it’s one of many subjects Russell, Damian and I agree to disagree on.) My point is that this is not the glass house where JA really wants to be throwing a stone wrapped in Edwards’ c.v. around in. IMO and YMMV, of course.
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Hard News: Tired and emotional, for reals, in reply to Russell Brown,
Take the damn compliment, man! Because, on Twitter, it was refreshing seeing 'old media' hands say "Hey, we didn't report it because he didn't say it - and here's the audio" instead of "fuck you, hater parasite". And you did make the effort to correct and take full ownership of the error -- which I wish more media folks, both old and new, would do more often.
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Hard News: Tired and emotional, for reals, in reply to Russell Brown,
I was thinking about that. I’d struggle with that itinerary, and I do consider myself reasonably fit.
OTOH, Warren Berryman used to leave hacks half his age twitching and weeping into their over-loud Berocca. But I guess you can't win -- send your spring chickens instead of the battle-hardened old broilers you get bitched for not taking things like APEC or the Pacific Forum (or the downright brutal next eight weeks on the US hustings) at all seriously.
If there's one thing new and old media have in common it's this: Anyone who thinks they're ever going to satisfy everyone is setting themselves up for heartbreak.
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Hard News: Yes, there is a Media3, in reply to Kumara Republic,
Or the 45%+ of Americans too disillusioned and cynical to vote.
Sorry for riding a hobby horse again, but before we Middle Earthicans get too smug it might be worth asking how many of us would go stand in line after work on a Tuesday in winter to vote. Hell, 52.5% of electors couldn't be arsed putting a postal ballot in the mail at the last round of local body elections - but I bet every one of them will bitch their arses off when the rates go up or the storm drain outside their house backs up every damn time there's reasonably heavy rain. .
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You're far too modest to say so, Russell, but for an evil bitching blogger you did a pretty good job of promptly retracting and correcting a post that, in part, was highly critical of MSM non-coverage of the PM's brain-fart that wasn't at the Pacific Islands Forum stand up with Hillary Clinton.
Yes, John Armstrong, bloggers fuck up and not every criticism that comes from the internet is fair or even accurate. Some bloggers also really suck at admitting when they've got things wrong, others do it well. Sort of like newspaper political columnists, ay?
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Hard News: Yes, there is a Media3, in reply to Kumara Republic,
Word's autosuggest feature keeps urging me to change "Republican" to "replicant". Granted, they both seem to be artificial lifeforms deficient in empathy but it's still creepy.
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Hard News: Yes, there is a Media3, in reply to Russell Brown,
Quite. Now they’re claiming they’ll make it add up by “closing tax loopholes”, but are refusing to say what loopholes they’ll close.
Which, again, makes Romney's character and judgement the issue -- and to be cold-blooded about it, that's a battle he's not winning with his own base. Playing the horse race, the number of unforced errors on Romney's part make Sarah Palin look like a disciplined, moderate policy wonk. FFS, I'd have held a gun to his head until he handed me every damn tax return he'd filed in his life. The result couldn't have been any worse than what happened.
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Hard News: Yes, there is a Media3, in reply to WH,
It's easy to forget how acrimonious everything was back in 1996.
But at least then the GOP selected a presidential candidate who conducted himself with some dignity and good judgement, and ran a campaign staffed with functional adults. Whatever else you say about Bob Dole, he wouldn't have blundered into a fuck-up fiesta like this.
The Atlantic's James Fallowes is lethal here.
When [Romney] first heard about the violence and protests last night, he rushed to condemn the administration before anyone knew fully what was going on. After he had had a few hours to think, he dug himself in far deeper with a graceless press conference whose dominant theme was partisan criticism of the administration.
In short, when faced with a 3 a.m. test, he reacted immediately, rather than having the instinct to wait. And after he waited, he mistook this as a moment for partisanship rather than for at least the appearance of statesmanlike national unity. The irony, of course, is that resisting the partisan impulse today would have been the greatest possible boost to his horse-race prospects two months from now.
Think of this temperament and these instincts in a command role, and with stakes much higher than they were today.
If the US election really was all "about the economy, stupid", it should be Romney's to lose. But he keeps insisting on making the narrative about his character, his judgement and his principles. Which wouldn't be so bad, if he didn't fuck up so horribly on what's supposed to be a strong point for Republicans.
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