Dom Post: Fail

Written By: - Date published: 1:25 pm, March 13th, 2009 - 31 comments
Categories: Media - Tags: , , ,

The Dominion Post has this column on Fridays called the Diary [offline*]. It’s written by some anonymous staffer and is supposed to be a witty and irreverent take on minor happenings over the last week.

We’re clearly getting under someone’s skin there, because this week they’ve taken a potshot at us over Trevor Mallard commenting on David Farrar’s Kiwiblog but not The Standard. They put this down to our site being ‘suffocatingly dull’.

Coming from the Dom I’d take that as a compliment, but the truth is Trevor’s actually commented here a number of times. Here’s one, two, three, four, five examples from this year alone – one of them even in conversation with the Dom’s blogger of choice, David Farrar.

Now I’m sure it’s hard being part of a dying medium. I feel your pain, anonymous Diarist. But when you can’t even perform the one remaining claim to authority you have fact-checking you’ve got to wonder why you even bother getting out of bed in the morning.

Honestly, what a pack of clowns.

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31 comments on “Dom Post: Fail ”

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  1. gingercrush 1
    13 March 2009 at 1:31 pm

    The Standard is never dull. Except for when you’ve decided to be online late and there isn’t any activity.

    How many politicians have commented here? I know Darien Fenton and Clare Curran have commented.

  2. @ work 2
    13 March 2009 at 1:38 pm

    I guess by suffocatingly dull they mean rational fact based discussion, no way near thier obvious preferance for bat shit mad, ideological fact free rants that kiwiblog is based around, proofs in the pudding I guess though, out of the DomPost and The Standard, whos circulation \ viewership is going up and whos isnt?

    • Draco T Bastard 2.1
      13 March 2009 at 9:39 pm

      Fact is often stranger than fiction but it’s not quite as interesting I suppose…

      If it was then the MSM might actually get around to reporting it.

  3. Lew 3
    13 March 2009 at 1:42 pm

    Now I’m sure it’s hard being part of a dying medium. I feel your pain, anonymous Diarist.

    I feel a Chicane moment coming on. Diearist!

    L

  4. Quoth the Raven 4
    13 March 2009 at 1:43 pm

    We can just ignore print media now, They’re in their death throes.

  5. The Sprout 5
    13 March 2009 at 2:21 pm

    yep, and that’s exactly the kind of sloppy ‘journalism’ that’s helping to make print a dying medium.

  6. Snail 6
    13 March 2009 at 2:23 pm

    The Standard is never dull. Except for when you’ve decided to be online late and there isn’t any activity.

    Yep, that would explain things since the Dom goes to bed around then. Great for any ‘Diary’ deadlines, you might say. And goodon-the-blogger for almost headlining the faux pas

  7. Tigger 7
    13 March 2009 at 2:26 pm

    I suspect they’re mistaking racism, xenophobia, ethnocentrism, homophobia and misogyny for being interesting…

  8. BLiP 8
    13 March 2009 at 2:51 pm

    You didn’t mention that Farrar popped up here the other day trying to defend another of his inane mutterings and promptly got shot down in flames by commentators armed with the facts.

  9. Trevor Mallard 9
    13 March 2009 at 6:21 pm

    And if the lazy diarist had done a wee search s/he would also have seen me in several blogs in their own stable, the herald, even whaleoil and cactus kate tho I need to shower after going near the last two

  10. Trevor Mallard 10
    13 March 2009 at 6:29 pm

    Of course grassroots is the place with most of my comments – really good to have a conversation in a very friendly place. If lefties haven’t been for a look they should.

  11. randominanity 11
    13 March 2009 at 6:57 pm

    Sounds to me like you’re more upset at being described as “dull”.

    In the blog world when a blogger criticises the media it’s regarded as insightful comment. But when they fire a shot back it’s an outrage.

    Harden up.

    • Tane 11.1
      13 March 2009 at 11:08 pm

      I’m not outraged, just taking the piss. I’m just saying to the Dom, look, If you’re going to have a potshot at us, fine, just make sure you don’t make yourself look like an arse in the process.

    • Steve Withers 11.2
      13 March 2009 at 11:59 pm

      No. Tane’s on the money.

      You might like to think the Dom is right and Tane can’t take it…..but I read this blog almost every day, but gave up on the Dom as a daily item years ago.

      I got sick of paying for what was left of the news after it was filtered through their pro-National news screen. I can get better right wing propaganda for free elsewhere if I want it.

  12. Steve Withers 12
    13 March 2009 at 11:56 pm

    The Dom Post hasn’t let a fact get in the way of being Hurrah Harry for the National Party since Richard Long took over as editor in 1990.

  13. randominanity 13
    14 March 2009 at 10:54 am

    Y’know there’s a funny thing about bloggers and their perceptions of media bias.

    Invariably anything written that contradicts their world view becomes an example of either the bias of the media agency, or of the reporter. But when something’s written that fits their beliefs/opinion mindset it’s held up as a shining example of truth and reason.

    • Quoth the Raven 13.1
      14 March 2009 at 1:06 pm

      The Standard’s bias is explicit. They don’t hide it and we all know it. The point is that the MSM pretends not to be biased when they clearly are. I would rather read something that states its bias than something that tries to keep up a facade and thinks us all ignorant mugs in doing so.

  14. Madeleine 14
    14 March 2009 at 10:59 pm

    You’re complaining about not getting your name in the paper? Not a good look.

    Note for future reference: We all want out names in the paper like Kiwiblog but we don’t want to be seen saying so.

    • Tane 14.1
      14 March 2009 at 11:18 pm

      Our name was in the paper. I don’t think you understand the point of the post.

      • Madeleine 14.1.1
        14 March 2009 at 11:34 pm

        I know your name was in the paper but it wasn’t mentioned in the same manner that Kiwiblog’s was was it?

        • Tane 14.1.1.1
          14 March 2009 at 11:59 pm

          You said:

          You’re complaining about not getting your name in the paper?

          I’m saying we did, and you obviously misunderstood the point of the post.

          Then you said:

          I know your name was in the paper but it wasn’t mentioned in the same manner that Kiwiblog’s was was it?

          Now I’m just confused.

        • lprent 14.1.1.2
          15 March 2009 at 3:03 am

          Who cares if the DomPost mentions the site or not. It always causes a increase in traffic but that happens regardless of if the reference is good or bad. These days the systems take care of that without me having to look at them. I usually just note the spike in traffic.

          What was interesting (and what Tane pointed out in the post) was that the dickhead at the DomPost hadn’t bothered to check their facts. Trevor comments here often when appropriate – presumably that is what he also does at kiwiblog (and elsewhere). The staffer at the DumbPost probably read the line at the sewer (kiwiblogs comments section), along with the one that this site is dull. They didn’t bother to type ‘Mallard’ in our search and look for Comment Author or to check google – ‘site:thestandard.org.nz “Trevor Mallard”‘ would have done it

          Anyway that ‘dull’ assessment comes from a group that is largely made up of people that have been banned from this site as being trolls. They are incapable of stringing a coherent argument together. They aren’t a group that I place any value in.

          Tane’s point was that the DomPost has the same issue as Kiwiblog – increasing irrelevance. Now that David has a government that he wants to support, the posts there are getting pretty boring and avoid almost all of the interesting questions of the day. I’ve almost stopped reading them. That is in much the same fashion as I’ve stopped reading the Herald in Auckland. It is faster to find the few interesting articles to read there because someone links them. There is little content that I cannot read in the press releases on scoop or stuff earlier.

          Incidentally, the sewer at Kiwiblog reflects that lack of relevance in the posts there. It is increasingly looking repetitive, talking about things from the past rather than what is happening now and in the future. The few readable commentators are increasingly getting swamped by the trolls (that we booted from here).

          Those were the points of the post. Did you actually read it? It doesn’t look to me that you understood it. You seem to be hung up on getting mentioned in the MSM. That happens too frequently for us to be of much interest. We are however very interested in the extent that the MSM are getting incapable of doing their job with the falling advertising revenues.

  15. Madeleine 15
    14 March 2009 at 11:13 pm

    Trevor why don’t you comment at MandM?

    • Felix 15.1
      15 March 2009 at 3:34 am

      Probably because it’s, you know, a bit creepy there.

      • lprent 15.1.1
        15 March 2009 at 3:45 am

        Felix: What are you doing up so late? I have a party next door that is just finishing its noisy progress. Two live bands (and noise control) followed by the usual drunken conversations at full volume towards the end.

        Reminds me of my younger days when I still thought that parties were fun