Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: The First Draft

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  • Craig Ranapia,

    Since then, the New Zealand Herald has pushed the boundaries of good taste on two front pages

    Um, yes… I certain got some stick on Twitter and here for describing Friday’s effort (half the front page, above the fold, occupied by a photo of five month old Baxtor Gowland) as “kiddie death porn”. But, hell… “taste” is a notoriously slippery concept, granted, but what kind of mind doesn't look at a giant photo of a dead baby and think "too much"?

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Emma Hart,

    that Christchurch hospital had been evacuated

    This wasn't so much baseless as confused. Some wards WERE evacuated. The emergency department was still functioning.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report Reply

  • Katita,

    I wonder if (like me) the photo of Baxtor Gowland actually put people off buying the paper and/or viewing the story online? I want information not voyeurism. And although my heart goes out to his family, seeing that front page just made me feel queasy.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 67 posts Report Reply

  • Stephen Judd,

    On another forum I frequent, I learned from an Aussie newsagent that the Herald Sun had the photo of the Manning children and their Dad on the front page, and that many of his customers refused to buy it because they found it so insensitive.

    I have a lot of sympathy for journos on the ground in live media who are in a terrible emotional state and not necessarily able to use their best judgement, not so much for production people in the control room who demand that they live in the edge, even less for editors of print and online media who have more opportunities for considered decisions about what should and shouldn't be shown.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report Reply

  • Jean Hughes,

    And the story about Shane Tomlin and his family in |Stuff today worries me.
    His photo was everywhere but the family didn't know until they were advised by others. They didn't know his injuries. They still seem to be in shock. I get quite upset seeing interviews with people obviously still in shock. How will they feel when they are more aware of what was going on? Do/will they want to be reminded by interviews, text and photos of what happened to them and theirs and to relive the moment for ever and a day.

    Mangere • Since Nov 2006 • 89 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Meanwhile, I just read a Kiwiblog earthquake thread for the first time since Tuesday. Really should not have.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Kate Hannah,

    It's such a fraught area - the collision of history and memory and memorialisation and the public sphere exploding the private sphere - I've interviewed a lot of people in my time as a historian. Given my areas of research interest (the Shoah, the Armenian Genocide) I've read a lot of other people's transcripts or accessed interview databases. It's a difficult balance, even when speaking of the distant past, (or of oral tradition), to ensure that the person who is being interviewed retains control. There are things they may wish to forget, to gloss over, to rewrite their part in. As an interviewer, you are aware of this - but the text of the interview belongs to the person who speaks it. When journalism and history collide, as now, perhaps some of those historian's ethics need to join with journalism's?

    Auckland • Since Mar 2010 • 107 posts Report Reply

  • recordari, in reply to Russell Brown,

    Meanwhile, I just read a Kiwiblog earthquake thread for the first time since Tuesday. Really should not have.

    I'll take your word for it then, and continue to resist.

    AUCKLAND • Since Dec 2009 • 2607 posts Report Reply

  • SteveH,

    In a hurry, I didn't think hard enough before linking to a heart-rending story posted to a blog, that I can see now was a hoax.

    Russell, have got info that shows it to be a hoax? There have been a couple of further mentions on the blog but definitive either way. The story seems to be generally accepted there though.
    Edit: Actually there are a few disbelieving posts with serious points.

    Since Sep 2009 • 444 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia, in reply to Stephen Judd,

    Stephen:

    That's a fair point, and one I haven't always made as scrupulously as I should have. Nobody at 46 Albert Street, Auckland on Thursday night gets the kind of pass I'd extend to (for example) The Press staffers who were struggling to go to press when their newsroom had almost literally fallen down around them (and one of their colleagues had been killed and three others seriously injured), and were battered by the trauma of being in the middle of utter chaos.

    The newspaper trade, by nature, is one of endless rolling deadlines that breaking news doesn't respect. I just can't believe that front page went to press without being signed off on by Tim Murphy or a very senior deputy. PTSD doesn;t cut it.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to SteveH,

    Russell, have got info that shows it to be a hoax? There have been a couple of further mentions on the blog but definitive either way. The story seems to be generally accepted there though.

    As Gio pointed out to me, the times don’t fit: why wasn’t a teenager at school rather than out walking with her friends, why were her parents and both brothers at home? Why was there no specific reference to place? Wouldn’t the bereaved girl have been with friends or family, rather than in a place for “lost people”?

    It tends to suggest something written outside New Zealand.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Che Tibby, in reply to Russell Brown,

    the tone was wrong too (IMHO). a teenager with that many deceased immediate family wouldn't be writing for a Pulitzer.

    the back of an envelope • Since Nov 2006 • 2042 posts Report Reply

  • Glenn Pearce,

    It is the job of photographers, camera operators and reporters to bear witness

    So you don't think that the actual act of taking the photo or filming can actually be invasive or offensive in itself ? There's no point at which they should down tools out of respect ?

    I think Vicki Anderson said she felt physically sick at the sight of people taking photos and decided not to herself.

    FWIW, the repeated use of those images of Shane Tomlin makes me very uneasy.

    Auckland • Since Feb 2007 • 504 posts Report Reply

  • Geoff Lealand,

    Just received notice of this new book, which might have something useful to say:

    Melbourne University Publishing is proud to announce the release of Media Ethics and Disasters: Lessons from the Black Saturday Bushfires by Dr. Denis Muller.

    Media Ethics and Disasters gives journalists the chance to reflect on the ethical issues that arose during coverage of the Black Saturday bushfires. Please see the attached media release for further information about this title.

    To purchase a copy of Media Ethics and Disasters, please visit the MUP e-store: http://web.mup.unimelb.edu.au/e-store/

    Screen & Media Studies, U… • Since Oct 2007 • 2562 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso, in reply to Glenn Pearce,

    I think Vicki Anderson said she felt physically sick at the sight of people taking photos and decided not to herself.

    She did, but then you could argue that writing is also a potentially indelicate act. To follow from what Kate was saying: Anderson was interviewing herself at that moment, but also drawing a picture of the city at a time of intense grief and vulnerability, and that is also fraught. Arguably a photographer is just using a different tool. It's the job of the editor then to select.

    And on this last point yes, we are all enormously grateful to Twitter, and to @dyedredlaura's pictures, but we depended entirely on her own filters there, and they could have failed us.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to giovanni tiso,

    She did, but then you could argue that writing is also a potentially indelicate act.

    And it was indelicate parts of her own account that made it so powerful.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Che Tibby,

    also: the people behind eq.org.nz.

    we'll need a list of these people ASAP, and send them big big loves. i've seen at least one tweet with people being helped by this (a diabetic getting insulin).

    i saw @gnat talking about the idea on tuesday, but didn't make the connection.

    the back of an envelope • Since Nov 2006 • 2042 posts Report Reply

  • BenWilson,

    Meanwhile, I just read a Kiwiblog earthquake thread for the first time since Tuesday. Really should not have.

    I went there on Thursday, mainly out of curiosity about what this catastrophe would do to their group dynamic, would it be similar to PAS? The first thread degenerated rapidly into a flame war, but they seemed to get it out of their systems, and had got with the program of actually using the blog for something useful by the second day. I noticed that most people had the same position on gouging that Keith does, too, despite the high neo-liberal quotient. I think the same dynamic eventually happened, that disaster penetrates even wingnut minds and solidarity began, with as close as they would ever get to conciliatory remarks between the contributors. Redbaiter contributed mightily by being nowhere to be seen.

    I don't know how it went after that, though, I don't feel any emotional connection to anyone that writes there by preference, and no new information was forthcoming. They don't seem particularly connected on Twitter or Facebook. Does rather confirm my opinion that the site is dominated by socially isolated angry men.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report Reply

  • SteveH, in reply to Russell Brown,

    It tends to suggest something written outside New Zealand.

    Good points.

    Since Sep 2009 • 444 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to BenWilson,

    I don’t know how it went after that, though

    I clicked through to the post about the two looters who stole the generators. Unpleasant immediately.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia, in reply to Russell Brown,

    I clicked through to the post about the two looters who stole the generators. Unpleasant immediately.

    Oh, let me guess -- murderous atavism that would make a Neanderthal blush for shame?

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Matthew Poole, in reply to Russell Brown,

    I clicked through to the post about the two looters who stole the generators. Unpleasant immediately.

    Darker shades of Collins, one assumes.

    On this topic, since I don't think it can be repeated in enough places, definitely suggest that people make official contact with Collins' office seeking clarification on her remarks about "with a cell-mate". This foul utterance must not be left to pass unremarked and unchecked.

    Auckland • Since Mar 2007 • 4097 posts Report Reply

  • recordari, in reply to Russell Brown,

    It tends to suggest something written outside New Zealand.

    AP seems to think it was genuine, and had some email communication with her. Elaborate hoax, if so. We are talking about the same thing, aren't we?

    AUCKLAND • Since Dec 2009 • 2607 posts Report Reply

  • Mark Rickerby,

    I remember the first waves of cheerleading about Twitter and the way it would ‘revolutionize’ news. I recall rolling my eyes, and imagining the inevitability of Chinese whispers and epic misinformation memes. Sure, this does happen, but Twitter has consistently turned out to be more reliable in these situations than I ever would have imagined.

    The immediacy is amazing too. I’m convinced that the information I was seeing on Twitter was more accurate and up-to-date than the news networks could keep up with.

    Perhaps it’s a statistical thing. If one person says something, it’s like hmm, ok... if a few more people are saying the same thing, an ambient sense of awareness builds fairly quickly.

    Auckland • Since Dec 2010 • 6 posts Report Reply

  • SteveH, in reply to recordari,

    AP seems to think it was genuine, and had some email communication with her. Elaborate hoax, if so. We are talking about the same thing, aren’t we?

    Yes, that's the one.

    Since Sep 2009 • 444 posts Report Reply

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