Hard News: The Wall and the Paper
297 Responses
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I just got a personal reply from the editor. Apparently there will be some right of reply published on Sunday. (The column still heads the editor's picks on the website though.)
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enough already!...
I second Danyl's suggestion upthread and call for a boycott of Fairfax and Mediaworks
and anyone who advertises with them.
Write letters to those advertisers and tell them that sadly you won't be buying their products
as long as they continue to fund the enablers of Laws' soapboxes... ie: Fairfax (Sunday Star Times especially) and Mediaworks (Radio live, TV3, etc)...in fact I no longer want to watch any TV3 or engage with any mediaworks outlets - having just given up watching the travesty they are making of their coverage of the memorial event in Chch ...
Why, during the video of the damage to Chch were we subjected to shots of Mike McRoberts and John Campbell ad-libbing incredibly mawkishly and uncomfortably? When all any of us at home (here in Chch) wanted to see were the images from our shattered city - their painful voiceover could then have been tolerated - this cult of the personality presenters just added insult to injury! - perhaps Campbell Live could play it in its entirety for those still watching the channel... -
Just cancelled my SST sub.
SST subs guy: "Can I ask why you're cancelling?"
Me: "Why do you think?"
SST SG: silence
Me: "Okay, Michael Laws"I got that "fair enough" feeling from the other end.
Now (sorry Ian) we''ll have to rely on the Saturday DomPost - I need something for those non-news tasks that newspapers are so good for. And there's the Property section. And David Burton.
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philipmatthews, in reply to
…in fact I no longer want to watch any TV3 or engage with any mediaworks outlets – having just given up watching the travesty they are making of their coverage of the memorial event in Chch …
I'm not watching it. I feel that while the majority of us are still unable to comprehend or experience the damage done to the CBD, and while there are still buildings we know and maybe love that will be demolished, it is far too soon to be memorialising the event. Surely six months would be more appropriate? I'm not cynical about the political will behind it but if I was, I would say that the Pike River Memorial worked so well for Key and the Mayor of Greymouth that Key and the Mayor of Chch wanted a sequel.
Thousands of people are there but yet everyone I know in Chch feels it's too soon. I feel like I'm still in the immediate aftermath, within a day after that has lasted almost a month. As though the event has only just happened.
As for boycotts, I would urge you not to boycott all Fairfax products! Speaking personally, and not as a Fairfax employee, I cancelled my (partly discounted) SST subscription about three weeks ago, when I realised that the only things I really enjoyed each Sunday were the columns by Finlay and Braunias, both dropped. Grant Smithies alone was not worth it to me, nor were Barney McDonald's film reviews (I think Barney's gone too). I discovered I can get a sub to the London Review of Books for exactly the same price as my partly-discounted SST sub. So one sub replaces another.
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Sacha, in reply to
Which is why Rex's complaint, even if it doesn't succeed, is important. I'm all for boycotting, but I'd also like to the legal issues to be explored.
But there are already established grounds (and channels) for complaint without testing a new one which might take some time to work through.
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Sacha, in reply to
As for boycotts, I would urge you not to boycott all Fairfax products!
If you're going to boycott, try the main advertisers - I suspect that's more lucrative to the publishers than subscriptions or listeners/eyeballs.
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Kumara Republic, in reply to
Just as the public has the right to contact companies that advertise in Kemeys' newspaper and tell them they'll boycott their products so long as they advertise in a medium in which Laws is published - which is, I think, the next logical step to take.
And the next logical step after that, well, the Southern Poverty Law Centre has the answer.
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Paul Williams, in reply to
But there are already established grounds (and channels) for complaint without testing a new one which might take some time to work through.
You mean the Press Council? Sure enough, but they've got no standing to consider criminal matters. Perhaps that is a bridge too far however.
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Sofie Bribiesca, in reply to
Not without the paper meeting their obligations as a responsible publisher. There is no license to say whatever you like about groups of people without facing consequences.
True Bro', absolutely agree which was my point of complaining every time he writes. I don't read the guy. I think he is vile, anytime I have seen him so I ignore him but at least complaints to the Editor is tarnishing his reputation too and that might be effective enough to move him now that RB did bring it to his attention. He is now johnny on the spot with this.
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Russell Brown, in reply to
As for boycotts, I would urge you not to boycott all Fairfax products!
Well, quite. I'm impressed with both your editor and the work you and others do for The Press.
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As for boycotts, I would urge you not to boycott all Fairfax products!
Death to Fairfax! And death to the quisling traitor Phillip Matthews!
Actually no, I was thinking of contacting the major ad spenders in the SST and sending them a polite letter summarising Laws' various outrages and regretfully advising them that they were enabling him and that as a result I would no longer use their products.
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I don't like boycotts. Democracy for people with the biggest wallets doesn't impress me much. And I'd much rather boycott the actual product than the advertisers. Let them know I don't buy their paper and why.
Out of interest: is there anywhere in Wellington where one can get the Christchurch Press or the Otago Daily Times?
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Sacha, in reply to
And I'd much rather boycott the actual product than the advertisers. Let them know I don't buy their paper and why.
That would be fine if you were seeking a conversation rather than a result - but their business model suggests peeling off a major advertiser is going to get their attention more than losing one subscriber or audience member will.
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Democracy for people with the biggest wallets doesn’t impress me much.
what does that even mean in this context?
boycott
withdraw from commercial or social relations with (a country, organization, or person) as a punishment or protest.
• refuse to buy or handle (goods) as a punishment or protest.
• refuse to cooperate with or participate in (a policy or event). -
I’ve finally figured it out. Lhaws is on the Pipe.
It's easy to see why people could assume the bile that passes for copy published in his (sometimes incoherent) column is the product of methamphetamine psychosis, but have a look at this description, you'll see his personality is literally a text book case of an abrasive psychopath .
This struck me as a remarkably accurate description of the hostile, weird, offensive and ultimately pathetic personality of Michael Laws.
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st ephen, in reply to
Out of interest, why would you want to buy the ODT in Wellington when you can already read Doug Wright's fabulous shipping news column online? Fifty-five years of interesting visitors...
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Dal Boy's back!!!!!
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Even if Laws does get the shift (don't hold your breath), he'll most likely win some award in a few months for best Op-Ed. It's happened before.
Hello Ian.
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Islander, in reply to
Dunno whether you want appreciative noises or not, Ian D - but good to read you again...
There's quite a lot of online stuff from the ODT - but nothing quite compares with reading the paper - I share a copy with my mother (i.e she gets to read it first -annd do Simon Shuker's codecracker - and then she bundles up a fortnight's worth and posts them to me. Annd I get to carve out the interesting articles, and spend a happy couple of hours catching up with well-written well-subbed opinions (tho' they do run Chris Trotter) and local items. We share payment = win/win!
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Islander, in reply to
I suspect Lhaws would fit a number of profiles for disordered/dysfunctional personality types - lacking the compassion & insight of lovely others here, I just find him a thoroughly nasty human.
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Welcome back once again, Ian.
Regarding the Prolefeed, sorry, TV awards... if you want a vision of Henry & Lhaws' idea of humour, imagine a clown shoe stamping on a human face - forever.
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Sacha, in reply to
he'll most likely win some award in a few months for best Op-Ed. It's happened before.
Quick, someone write him a letter he can read out as an acceptance speech. Doubt it would be half as funny, but.
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giovanni tiso, in reply to
but their business model suggests peeling off a major advertiser is going to get their attention more than losing one subscriber or audience member will.
I'm aware of that. I just don't like it as a way of bringing about results. It gives a bigger voice to people who are wealthier - and who enjoy more rights already. I prefer to vigorously pursue the view that Laws shouldn't be allowed to do what he does on account of press standards. If he gets sacked because his brand is tarnished to the advertisers I'm not sure it counts as a victory at all.
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Russell Brown, in reply to
Dal Boy’s back!!!!!
Cool, huh?
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Jackie Clark, in reply to
I have always maintained you were some sort of social engineer, now I know it to be true. Or if you don't like the term 'social engineer", the term "the glue that holds people together" might please you better.
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