Posts by Alfie
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Hard News: The CRL and the nature of change, in reply to Paul Campbell,
Well said Paul. The Hospital Board fiasco is just another example of this region being badly treated by central government. Having our hospital meals prepared by Compass in Auckland and trucked South was another doozy which cost many local jobs for a negligible saving.
Add to that other poor government decisions which have impacted on Dunedin’s economy, like the closure of Hillside Workshops with the loss of 90 jobs because (govt owned) Kiwirail decided to buy cheap rolling stock from China rather than supporting local industry. Sure there was a saving on paper, until they discovered the brand new Chinese wagons all had faulty brakes so they came to Hillside to be repaired anyway. Stupid.
Then there’s the dumb decision to move Agresearch scientists from Invermay to Lincoln. The Invermay unit has a world-beating reputation in genetics and genomics, they work closely with Otago Uni and Otago and Southland farmers were strongly opposed to the move. But Joyce continued anyway, so Invermay has already lost several senior staff, morale is at an all time low because nobody wants to move to Lincoln when there’s an accomodation shortage in Canterbury.
The government’s paper savings often turn out to be false economy when you factor in the cost to the country of hundreds more people on benefits. Dunedin people aren’t asking for more than their share of the pie… just a fair suck of the sav, guv.
I’m sorry if you see this as ‘whining’ Bart, but the catchcry of "What’s good for Auckland is good for the country" rings a little hollow when you live outside the Auckland bubble.
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This is getting weird. Apparently Police have been visiting anti-TPP activists at their homes, asking about future protest plans. I wonder how many protesters are likely to fess up about that semtex packed drone hidden in the garden shed.
Hey... I remember a time when NZ was still a democracy.
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Hard News: The CRL and the nature of change, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
I see Phil Kitchin has resigned from Paula Bennett’s office
I’m guessing it would be hard for any journo of integrity to spin some of the lies which come out of Paula Benefit’s office. Like the one about those useless state house tenants turning down homes because "the birds were too noisy" or "they didn’t like the colour of the front door”.
Her department couldn’t provide sources for either of those statements, presumably because they were mere inventions.
Hopefully we’ll see Phil Kitchin popping up in an investigative role soon.
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Hard News: The CRL and the nature of change, in reply to Russell Brown,
...from Fran O’Sullivan who has her biases...
You are a master of understatement Russell.
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Stuff is running a story on TVNZ "ruing the day" they got rid of Paul Henry. It makes no mention of his short-lived attempt to conquer Aussie breakfast tele which ended in disaster.
If you're wondering which TVNZ exec is being quoted, lamenting the loss of a pathetic 15,000 or so viewers in the mornings, don't bother.
The quote comes from the egotistical front man himself.
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TRP at the Standard has penned a satirical piece called
Stay Classy: TV3’s NewshrubTV3 have announced they are getting out of the news business and getting into cross platform media hotdesking across the continuum of diminishing eyeballs. Welcome to TV3 Newshrub, the place where no news is good news!
Worth a read.
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TV3 is ditching more experienced journos. Jeff Hampton and Phil Corkery are both 'leaving' the company next week. I've worked with both men and they're excellent newshounds.
Phil has been the ChCh bureau chief for years. He ran a tight little newsroom, coached new journos and generally held the place together. He's one of the better broadcasters I've had the privilege of working alongside.
But I suppose in TV3's eyes trainee journos straight out of broadcasting school cost a lot less, and they'll be hoping that the audience is dumbed down enough not to notice that 3News is becoming fluffier and more entertainment-based by the day.
The rot continues.
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Hard News: Dirty Politics, in reply to nzlemming,
We interupt this thread to bring you breaking news...
The main point I take is that you really don’t want Hide as a supporter.
Or any of his friends or associates it seems. The Mountain Scene has a weird little story about Hendo seeking a restraining order against Grahame Thorne, ex AllBlack and MP. The judge told both parties that they were acting like "13-year-old schoolgirls" and Thorne was eventually forced to handwrite the following message.
I, Grahame Thorne, hereby unreservedly apologise to David Henderson for creating the email address prick.henderson @vodafone.com and for sending emails from that address and for any distress caused.
'If in doubt, sue someone' seems to be a hallmark for Hendo. Lord knows what caused that stoush, but neither party comes out looking particularly mature.
Sorry for the deviation. Now back to our scheduled programme.
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Last year Kim Hill had an excellent interview with Piv Bernth, head of drama for Danish TV. Denmark's population is around 5.6m, not a lot bigger than our own. Households there pay a broadcasting fee of around $400 a year and receive eight commercial-free TV channels and the same number of ad-free radio stations.
Bernth mentioned that Danes have "a lot of programmes analysing the news". If nothing else, that points out that it's not TV audiences around the world who are becoming dumber and demanding entertainment in place of news. Rather that's a local phenomenon driven by our two major TV broadcasters, with the tacit support of those in power who prefer to avoid any difficult questions.
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Hard News: A cog in the Mediaworks machine, in reply to bob daktari,
one we applaud cause JC and the other we mock cause Weldon
Yes and no. RNZ deserves our praise because it's still a credible news organisation and this country's only remaining public broadcaster. Mediaworks on the other hand appear to be shredding their news reputation faster than a magic bullet. Matt Nippert reckons the integrated NewsHub presents difficulties for Oaktree.
From a strategic standpoint today's announcement represents an all-or-nothing play by Weldon and his vulture fund shareholder.
Oaktree Capital are not in the business of being long-term broadcasters. The firm instead operates by acquiring distressed businesses in order to quickly engineer a turnaround and on-selling them for a profit. This entire process is completed in a typically short term.
Combining successful radio assets with a lame-duck TV station makes the whole package much less marketable.