Posts by Craig Ranapia
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
Hard News: Softly, softly, in reply to Russell Brown,
It’s easy to forget that these were the people who risked their lives to encourage their Parliament to send Yanukovych packing in February. Depicting the whole thing as a neo-Nazi putsch, as Pilger seems to, is just weird.
It’s not just weird, it’s sad and more than a little pathetic. Am I the only person who remembers when Pilger used to pour scorn on this kind of “don’t let context, nuance or tiresome facts get in the way of my condescending ideological axe-grinding in the comfort of a study in London or Washington”? Well, at least he did back in the day when it was right-wing pundits dismissing those uppity brown leftists as Communist stooges.
And because it really does need saying, it might be easier to get a handle on exactly what the fuck Putin is up to if he hadn't done such a good job of gutting anything resembling a free press in Russia.
-
But Africans consistently admire the elements of US soft power: its culture rather than its weapons.
And not just Africans and Americans. If you attended anything with a British author at the Auckland Writers Festival over the weekend, there’s fairly good odds it happened with a considerable assist from the British Council. The Goethe-Institut and Alliance Francaise have also been exercising the soft power of cultural diplomacy in New Zealand for an awfully long time.
It not only works better than political willy-waving, but it's sure as hell a lot more fun.
-
Hard News: What rules are these?, in reply to llew40,
Am also troubled – for different reasons – by media coverage of Stephanie Key and her art.
Yeah, there was a worthwhile story there about cultural misappropriation (and a very interesting context that sits in within New Zealand art history), but instead there was leering concern trolling about the Prime Minister's "raunchy" daughter and her "soft porn". As I said on Twitter yesterday, I personally find passive-aggressive slut-shaming and referring to Stephanie Key as "John Key's daughter" as opposed to an adult woman with her own identity and accountability for her work offensive too.
-
Hard News: What rules are these?, in reply to Dylan Reeve,
Well ultimately the media interest is in the public interest. As annoying as the cry of “we’re only giving people what they want” can be it is ultimately true.
I get that it’s easier and cheaper to fill a page with the tosh of Runting and his ilk, or a lightly fluffed press release, than a well-written and fully-reported arts/culture feature. But that’s a choice, and one I think it’s just a little glib and self-serving to blame on some nebulous entity called “the audience”.
Also, I’d wager the reason the SST isn’t going after shots of Judith Collins has precisely nothing to do with her “illness” and everything to do with being shit scared of her and her (governing) party.
I'm going to err on the side of generosity and assume that even the Sunday Star Times dimly apprehends that hounding anyone on stress leave from their job reeks of the septic tank.
-
Hard News: What rules are these?, in reply to bob daktari,
Lorde interests the media because they can make much money off her (and all the other celebs) – be it photos, tweets, mentions and the like- as opposed to talking about her art which is of little interest because there’s no money for the media in that angle
You may well be right -- though I'd note there are plenty of exceptions that may (or may not) prove the rule. "Making a living" and "not being a egregious bunghole" are only mutually exclusive states if you want them to be.
-
Hard News: What rules are these?, in reply to Russell Brown,
Lorde is papped constantly when she’s on the job – followed from the hotel to the venue by fleets of photographers. She doesn’t complain about that. But being followed when she’s just trying to live? It’s different.
And sorry, but where’s the public interest let alone news value in (gasp!) Actress X. goes out for coffee or picks her children up from school in sweatpants and a t-shirt rather than a high end couture gown? I'd probably make a bit of an effort if I got an invite to the Grammys, but that doesn't come with an open invite to be stalked.
-
Hard News: What rules are these?, in reply to Simon Grigg,
Fuck - seriously? I'd give substantially more credit to a) her own determination, b) Adam Holt, c) Bandcamp, d) net buzz.
And just to go really out there - perhaps Lorde interests the media because she comes over as an unaffected human being with a refreshingly low bullshit tolerance rather than a merchandizing-bot reading today's PR script?
-
And that’s the rub for Lorde, or Bingle or others who complain about the media’s constant gaze. While there’s little question the 24/7 demands of the internet have raised the stakes, the fact remains that celebrities are famous because of the media – not despite it.
These would be the same media outlets whose proprietors and editors would scream blue fucking murder (and rightly so) if Lorde hired her own pack of pap-smear stalkers to follow them and their families around. And isn’t it funny how media billionaire James Packer & Nine Network CEO David Gyngell didn’t just shrug their shoulder and say “well, it just goes with the territory of being a high profile media type” when their public fisticuffs went viral. I guess sauce for the celebrity goose most certainly isn’t sauce for the rich prick ganders.
-
My own sons have a various times, made rapid and lasting gains in their interactions with the world.
Oath. I think of Jimmy as a very dear friend, and I hope a contributing factor is (in no small part due to you and places like this) I don't see him as a "problem" that needs "fixing." (I know it's a bad analogy, but I find living with manic-depression a lot easier surrounded by people who don't treat me as just one twitch away from becoming a serial killer.)
-
Funny how this has all been left to Peter Dunne to front as well – he is after all only the associate Health Minister, I don’t recall the actual Minister saying much about it at all, compartmentalise the damage and public perception –
Ian: Really hate to get in the way of a good conspiracy theory, but why the hell wouldn't Dunne be fronting a bill that was introduced in his name? Sorry to tell you this, but Tony Ryall doesn't need to step in and do damage control because I very much doubt there's any damage to be controlled.