Posts by Rob Stowell
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I've been thinking about Damian's comment on how differently 'the media' looks from inside vs outside. (It's not a strict binary, of course; media workers are consumers too, and consumers may well have some inside experience).
My own television experience is dated, and as a camera op I wasn't subject to the same pressures journalists face. But 'inside' was often exciting, very clique-y, boredom and pressure came in fairly intense bursts- and subject to an easily mockable sense that what we were doing was important. (We treated it as important; other people did too- 'important' people taking time out of high-powered jobs and lives to talk to us. It was easy to fall into the trap of believing in 'the mission' - which was often just to get something done well enough to meet the endless cycle of deadlines.)
I can easily appreciate how the 'camera stampede' at Lorde's airport arrival happened. 'Media pack' situations are always competitive, even when you really like the folks from the other station. One person starts running- and no-one wants to miss out. You know if someone else has a good shot you didn't get, it's noted. The results are very public. In such cases, normally gentle, friendly people run and jostle. (Along with the competitive cynical types - yeah, there are some in the media :)).
It can be amusing- one operator points a camera at someone quite random, and everyone else jumps up to do the same; an operator takes their camera round the back of the building, perhaps looking for shade or a place to take a leak- and a straggle of others follow, just in case, you know, maybe they're onto something.
From the inside, all this makes perfect sense, however ambivalent one personally feels about it. But from the outside, I'm sure it can feel like a ravening pack descending to devour whatever is offered- and snap at the scraps and the heels of even a dignified departure.
(I don't have any insightful solutions to this state of affairs- except maybe 'de-mystifying' the media world can help.) -
Oops
Big fingera small phpne :) -
Thanks Geoff. That's fascinating.
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Thanks, Damian – great post, great ‘call to action.’
TV’s reputation for chewing people up and spitting them out on the pavement is well-deserved. Which makes those who do stay true to ideals special.
Been watching ‘Borgen’, and have ever seen anything quite as brilliantly show how politics can corrode idealism, with daily routine, nasty shocks and little twists.
Staying true to our better selves is a biggie. Too easy to forget when life is consumed by deadlines and competitors. -
Hard News: All John's Friends, in reply to Chris Waugh,
That's a great read :)
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Hard News: All John's Friends, in reply to Chris Waugh,
We still have a fairly progressive tax system.
Yeah but nah.
Not by historical standards in NZ. 15-33% isn't a great range, and GST is flat-to-regressive.
And not by international standards (no estate tax and no CGT means the wealth of many of us wealthy bastards tax doesn't even touch). -
Hard News: Crashing the party before it starts, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
Why Dotcom really wants to play politics anyway, eludes me….
Grudge.
Along with a bit of strategy around the pending extradition to face serious jail-time in the USA ... -
Hard News: Climate, money and risk, in reply to Euan Mason,
if dairy farmers had to purchase credits for all their emissions then at some 600-700 kg milk solids/tonne CO2-e they could do so even at $20/credit with a negligible effect on their gross margins.
For sure. Might even push the miserable price up a little. It’s been quite a while since it was $20. Currently about $3 I think.
The ETS – a useless scheme that’s shown how shallow NZ’s commitment to Kyoto really is. (And how committed our policy-makers are to ‘market’ solutions to everything, even when the market is a wholly artificial mechanism like this one.) -
Fine fat Northland sea slug.
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And it's a little embarrassing to admit but I've chosen to watch a few. Well targetted or just clever ads.
