Posts by Chris Waugh
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Hard News: Strange days for journalism, in reply to chris,
Good points both. However, there are plenty of foreign journalists in China (although no longer any from Al Jazeera English), so visas aren't impossible, just dependent on the goodwill of various governmental types (the fate of Al J English being an example of how to exhaust that goodwill and what happens when that goodwill is gone). And although I understand NZ's media, being rather small, may not have the resources to station anybody here permanently (and run all the risks having journos in China entails), but it would be nice to see some evidence of effort on their part to report stories that could have potentially huge ramifications for NZ's future.
Foreign media could verbatim repeat official local press releases, but…
Better than nothing, and too much of what we've got right now is nothing. The rest is simple repeats of the usual wire reports or whatever other deals they have with other media, so no looking at stories from the various angles specific to NZ (like what is Judith Collins up to in Beijing right now? Is AP really going to notice her visit?). Well, there has been the occasional travel article, but the best of them is no better than a well-written blog post, so they don't really add all that much to the non-existent conversation.
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Hard News: Strange days for journalism, in reply to Stephen S,
Then there’s the very real added problem of producers/editors towing the populist line and telling their journalists the public wants gaga, one direction or whatever other crap over business, finance or other subjects with meat.
Thanks for that comment. I happen to be in the middle of another rant about NZ's mainstream media not noticing government ministers travelling to China. I hope you don't mind, but I quoted that in the rant that will be appearing on my much-neglected blog sometime today. So this and your comment on the lack of resources have me worried.
Winston Peters is back, there was all that fuss and bother about Shanghai Pengxin trying to buy a few farms, there's been a long stream of cabinet ministers and mayors and others coming to China, many, like Tim Groser, specifically to boost trade and openly stating that Chinese investment is welcome in NZ, and our media bosses can't find the money to send journalists along with all these governmental types (unless it's John Key), and besides, the punters are only interested in the antics of pop stars? And this leaves me wondering just how many other important stories are not being covered as well as the public needs if they're going to make informed choices at, for example, elections - everybody else, chime in with your obssessions so we can get a list of what the media should be doing.
And if that is true, then I hope the internet does turn out to be the death of Old Media.
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Hard News: If wishing made it so ..., in reply to Lilith __,
Christchurch has had one of these systems for years
Beijing too, good for buses, subway, many taxis and even some shops. But I think a realtime GPS bus locater would just serve as yet another reminder of the atrocious traffic here.
So why's Auckland so slow about these things?
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Capture: Two Tales of a City, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
…before this sort of thing becomes more common…
I wish I could say I'm surprised. I can say I'm disgusted. Are we really so divorced from nature that we feel we can outlaw nature?
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This popped up in my Baidu news alert for 新西兰 (xīnxīlán=New Zealand) email today. Text is all Chinese, but the pictures are enough. Scroll down and you'll see Maori/English/New Zealandish place names and where to click through for more.
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Capture: Two Tales of a City, in reply to Islander,
I have urged the remaining 2 to suggest that research into the plants would be a good idea
Absolutely.
One thing I really like about Traditional Chinese Medicine is that for quite some time now - a few decades so far as I can tell - it's been in a process of scientificisation. I mean that for some time scientists have been researching the various herbs and other bits and pieces trying to figure out what makes it work - because TCM clearly works, just more slowly than "Western" medicine. And if one goes to a TCM hospital in China one sees an awful lot of "Western", scientific equipment. And if one talks to a student of TCM, one hears that they learn all the science as well.
I reckon all traditional medicines should be given the same treatment.
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Hard News: Moving from frustration to disgust, in reply to linger,
Excellent. I must save a copy and show it to my students next semester.
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Capture: Two Tales of a City, in reply to Islander,
A pity this is not appreciated now
As Gudrun, Nora and Hebe have demonstrated, not all of us have lost that sense of the magic power of words. And my daughter loves books and loves Daddy reading her stories, so there's some hope for the future.
But I, too, do wonder just how much we have lost, be it through our fascination with technology or our demand for hard evidence.
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Hard News: Moving from frustration to disgust, in reply to Kumara Republic,
Is pressure-cooker education really the way forward?
Not at all. Pressure-cooker education is precisely why we intend to move back to NZ by the time our wee one needs a primary school. I really don't like the state my students arrive at university in - [gross generalisation alert] intelligent, creative, with lots of potential, but desperately lacking in maturity, many basic life skills, and any real understanding of the world around them. The system here really does not serve them very well.
To be fair to the system, though, [gross generalisation alert], the extreme neuroticism of modern Chinese parents really does not help matters.
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Hard News: Moving from frustration to disgust, in reply to Jackie Clark,
One of the things people don’t seem to understand about teaching is this: you use all of your physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual energy, every day. It’s bloody exhausting. And that’s just the bit of teaching that’s the most obvious.
Oh, can I +that a gazillion?
And thanks, Yamis, for your comment, too.