On Thu, 13 Dec 2007, Jonathan Bell wrote:
The ChCh press is a paper that won the newspaper of the year award - and one would expect a high standard.
Errr.. I guess you don't read newspapers much these days. New Zealand journalism is a joke.
Sigh! Having lived elsewhen I'm deeply appreciative of how many things are right and good about New Zealand, but the reporting here is awful. I blame boredom for The Reporting And The Hoons. Nothing really scary going on to worry about, so the Hoons go seeking danger to make them feel real. No issues morally outrageous enough to be worth risking a Journos corporate meal ticket. Sort of nice really, I've been in far nastier times and places that had no hoons and excellent reporting. Well, at least for a short while before the Good Guys were banned / imprisoned / disappeared. Even the arts and culture pages were (briefly) edgier and better. I'd love to create a news paper called "Perspective & Context" that.. * Places issues in context. eg. If it talks about "crime rates", provides the actual crime rates for the country and comparable countries. * Places issues in Perspective. eg. If it talks about a danger, it puts it in perspective of the risks of that danger occurring vs other risks. * Allows authors from different biases to write, provided those biases are accurately represented in the Authors biography. (ie. There are no Truths, only differing perspectives) * Having done so, actually asks the relevant people the then obviously relevant questions, and embarrasses them by recording the fact if they don't give a straight answer. Sigh! I doubt if anyone will buy it. Certainly ad revenue would be hard to come by. People seem to actually want infotainment and sound bites rather than knowledge and understanding. ObLinux bit.... Sort of like MSWindows vs Linux really. John Carter Phone : (64)(3) 358 6639 Tait Electronics Fax : (64)(3) 359 4632 PO Box 1645 Christchurch Email : [EMAIL PROTECTED] New Zealand
