“NZ Herald Staff” dribble

Written By: - Date published: 3:41 pm, November 20th, 2008 - 26 comments
Categories: Media, news, scoundrels - Tags: , ,

Bomber over at Tumeke has pointed out a stupid news story about the blogosphere from the Granny Herald. It either shows a selective bias, or someone reporting on something that they don’t understand at more than a superficial level.

From the Herald staff…

The Blogosphere has made much of the “popular Westie” Paula Bennett’s new job in its initial analysis of John Key’s cabinet announced yesterday.

From bomber..

I love this ‘story’ by the Herald, they do a story about the ‘blogosphere’ reaction to Paula Bennett to my shock they didn’t look at Tumeke…

…instead the Herald goes to the two most right wing blogs on the blogosphere, the Fox news online Kiwiblogh and the appalling whale oil…

Ok, so I thought that bomber was probably over-reacting. But no he isn’t, the blogs looked at were Colin Espiners blog, Kiwiblog (yeah – dog-whistles for the nat’s), and Whaleoil (aka national’s smear unit). The latter two are so associated with National that it is difficult to see them as anything more than sock-puppets for National PR. You’d have thought that a balanced report on the blogosphere reaction would have included some reaction from a range of blogs. Like the lefty or green blogs for instance – just for a bit of balance.

I don’t have time to read many blogs, but the reaction on most blogs has not that favourable about the cabinet lineup. We haven’t done explicit posts on the details of the micro-fauna of NACT + MP cabinet. However there is a lot of comment both in the posts and inside the comments. For instance a lot of the 100+ comments on this post were not exactly complimentary about the cabinet choices. Bomber of course did Paula Bennett the perfect patsy which probably accurately sums up the reaction of the left to putting a first time minister in charge of the social welfare budget. There are certainly enough links to it.

But hey, the “NZ Herald Staff” probably read Kiwiblog and watch Fox news. Fed exclusively on a PR drip-feed, they probably consider that ill-considered knee-jerk reactions are ‘analysis’. More likely they’re too damn lazy to read below the headlines of posts of the blogosphere.

Personally, I’d suggest that people simply stop buying the Herald. It is becoming a rag with low value news content and the reporters are starting to look like they’re dribbling on their bibs.

26 comments on ““NZ Herald Staff” dribble ”

  1. Kerry 1

    Reality is there are no journalists working at the Herald……just look at the crap they pump out!

  2. Tane 2

    There are some good journos at the Herald, it’s the columnists and the editors that I have the issue with. The best journalism in the world is no use if your editors won’t let it through.

  3. randal 3

    tane in all fairness what you say is probably true
    the stuff that gets through now is sh*t so the editorial policy is wonky and the mangement is hidebound and sclerotic, juvenile and fogeyish at the same time and is only trying to sella form of pap to its readers
    it is okay to be partisan but to serve it up in such a mean nasty horrible backbiting self serving way is intolerable in a democracy that is striving for self expression and accuracy and instead being lead by idiots in the fourth estate
    and for that matter
    none of the newspapers in new zealand are authentic anymore
    they are all facsimilies of some universal formula employed by the chain

  4. Maybe, but Bomber is an idiot as well. I wouldn’t go by anything he says. Damm Muppet.

    [lprent: Yeah I’m a skeptic about some of his stuff as well. So I looked at the Herald article.. Didn’t exactly cover the range of opinion in the blogs that you read or I read did it? That was the point of my post – not bombers post]

  5. Carol 5

    Does the article call KB & WH’s sites, “National Party affilliated/linked” similar to the way the MSM usually links the Standard with Labour?

  6. Carol, of course not 🙂

    The other day they had a roundup on blog’s reaction to the election – we were mentioned last and the only one without a link. That’s despite being the second largest blog

  7. Lampie 7

    There are some good journos at the Herald, it’s the columnists and the editors that I have the issue with. The best journalism in the world is no use if your editors won’t let it through.

    Yeah, ask Rob oram about it.

  8. I wouldn’t bother with the herald either now I’m back posting…

    http://robinsod.wordpress.com/2008/11/19/back-in-business/

    [pretty blatant link-whoring but I’ll allow it because your post is a good ‘un. SP]

    [lprent: what was that promoted by? I removed sodblog from the blogroll last night as part of the pruning of dead blogs (no posts since september)]

  9. Ianmac 9

    I enjoy the commentary from Rod Oram. I understand at least at the time, just what he is explaining. I believe that he has been banned from interviews of National spokesmen, especially John Key. Wonder why? Remember Tom Scott being banned from Muldoon’s presence because of his cartoon/column in the Listener I think.
    I’m down south so only read reluctantly the Herald on-line. It is the quickest and easiest to navigate but the most unpleasant to read!

  10. jason rika 10

    Funny timing, I just posted about canning buying the nanny. Better than a tax cut, saving maybe 3-4 hundred. It was crap, is crap and aint about to change.

  11. Draco T Bastard 11

    It is becoming a rag with low value news content and the reporters are starting to look like they’re dribbling on their bibs.

    What do you mean – starting to?
    The NZHerald has been looking like that for several years. So have the TV news crews. Pretty much ever since we sold most of our media to overseas owners and they all started following the concept of infotainment.

  12. lprent 12

    There are some individual columnist that I find of interest (from all over the spectrum on different areas). But outside of the columnists there is a wasteland of superficial and trivial reporting.

    It is easier to read them online. Then I don’t have to cough up for a tree of ads to read the few columns of interest. It is actually easier to read the paper than the web – if they only had some things of interest to read. But I get the idea that the ‘news’ is just there to fill column inches so they can give readership figures to the people buying ads.

  13. Sorry SP – I figured I could get away with just one after such a long time of being good…

  14. burt 14

    You just wait till Key threatens the Herald with unfair tax treatment if they are not nice to him and print all his lies as instructed – then they will turn on him for being such a corrupt self serving prick prepared to use the power he has to control the media for political expediency.

  15. Santi 15

    But who is Bomber, but another whingeing socialist? The poor soul deserves to be ignored.

    [lprent: This post wasn’t about Bomber was it?
    Have you looked at the Herald article?
    Are you simply trying to deliberately divert?]

  16. Chris G 16

    Iprent I doubt Santi has.

    infused: “Maybe, but Bomber is an idiot as well. I wouldn’t go by anything he says. Damm Muppet.”

    Sorry, why is he a muppet/idiot? you just disagree with his views, right? If I disagree with your views (Likely) can I call you a muppet/idiot?

    Back to the topic:

    no Doubt the herald staff trawl through kiwiblog/slater crap

  17. Burt! Take your pills!

  18. djp 18

    ha, it is quite amusing to see partisan blogs take pot shots at other partisan blogs.

    to be honest though, dpf has always been open and transparent about any “connections” or viewpoints he has.

    [lprent: so have we – read the About. Of course that hasn’t stopped Whale lying about it at every opportunity. How many times has he said that the NZLP pays for this site as as straight assertion, without proof, and ignoring denials. Of course he could also be lying about being the sock-puppet of the national research unit, but for a change I think he might be telling the truth]

  19. the sprout 19

    Just the usual sort of crap you’d expect from the Herald, and just one of the reasons why it’s lost so much credibility that O’Reilly nolonger considers it profitable enough to be worth keeping.

    “dpf has always been open and transparent about any “connections’ ”

    A shame then that the Herald can’t be a bit more honest about its, DPF’s or Slaterwhale’s connections.

  20. Daveo 20

    He hasn’t been open about the fact he and slater are fed their information and smears from the national research unit djp. That was a big boo boo on slater’s part.

  21. Macro 21

    I only read the Herald when I get fish and chips. And I haven’t bought F&C in years.

  22. Smale 22

    Why anyone would ask ‘The Hack’ at WhaleOil for any comment at all is beyond me.

  23. rave 23

    Occasionally something gets through.

    Fallow attacking the avaricious bosses refusal to play for pollution.

    Idiot/Savant reports.

    Rudman the other day had a go at Hide and exposed the newbie Social Development Minister as an opponent of the Waitakere Ranges Heritage Act designed to stop creeping development of its fringes.

    Mind you these are all online, though its hard to put my feet up have a coffee and doze off at the same time while at the screen.

  24. Late Night Talk Lounge FTW!

  25. rave 25

    Andrew Wilde rips shit out of Roger Kerr on health productivity.

  26. PM 26

    Just like the ugly troll at the school ball, I see you girls at The Standard are crying about the fact nobody wants to dance with you.

    Isn’t it about time you faced facts? You’re irrelevant and nobody wants to read your propagandistic bullshit. DPF and Slater have credibility so they’re always going to be quoted.

    While you continue to post lies and BS posts (such as the recent Bill English garbage) you will continue to be irrelevant.

    [lprent: Boring troll]

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