Stuff have an article running that is an upchuck of one they ran a year ago:
There is no better cure for a breakup than treating yourself to some lovely jewellery, and that is exactly what a Waikato teacher did after selling her ex-boyfriend’s most prized possession.
Nominations are now open for New Zealand’s worst political journalist.
Again place your nominations in the comments, with your reasoning.
There are plenty to choose from, the entire Press Gallery is listed here to assist.
Nominations can be for general ineptness, repeating, churnalism or just outright bias or maliciousness.
The Herald reckons that “NZ says no to larger school rooms”…or so their headline says:
A nationwide survey has given a strong indication that New Zealanders don’t want larger class sizes.
The street survey conducted by APN newspapers from Whangarei to Dunedin showed most people stood alongside education groups in their opposition to controversial ratio changes announced as part of the Budget.
Oh a nation wide survey…sounds impressive…bit not so fast it says a street survey.
Right…so not a poll, not scientific, just some repeaters going out and asking people in the street….I wonder how many people they asked to come to this momentous declaration that ”NZ says no to larger school rooms”?
Some of the more than 70 people questioned in the national snapshot slammed the measure as “rubbish” and “bloody ridiculous”. Only a handful supported the move.
Seventy! Oh FFS….that is pathetic…they claim it is a poll, it is not. They claim it is a “national snapshot”, it is not.
I am sure David Farrar will be able to point out the statistical errors of conducting such shabby survey and then reporting it in an even shabbier manner.
Apparently school cuts appal [sic] principals. What is more appalling is the spelling skills of sub-editors.
Fairfax repeater Jenny Keown really shouldn’t have put her name to the byline for the article on Stuff about the Ports of Auckland issue. She has basically cut/pasted Garry Parsloe’s press release in full from the Maritime Union website.
Comparing the two articles side by side there is a prima facie case of churnalism. Simply repeating a press release as if it was news.
I have highlighted the direct cut/paste passages:
Yesterday David Farrar blogged using the following quote:
My response was to quote former United Kingdom Prime Minister Harold Macmillan and say “Events, dear boy, events”.
Today the same quote appears in John Armstrong’s article.
As British prime minister, Harold Macmillan was once asked what was the most likely thing to blow a government off course. “Events, dear boy, events,” he famously replied.
Coincidence, Channelling or Copying?
Oh look the Repeaters at the Herald are following me again.
Despite being acquitted of the crime, Chris Kahui murdered his twin sons, Chris and Cru, in 2006, National MP for Rotorua Todd McClay has said under cover of parliamentary privilege.
Addressing Parliament last week during the second reading of the Crimes Amendment Bill (No 2) Mr McClay brought up the deaths of the 3-month-olds as one example of the “very many cases of children being abused, harmed” each year.
“We had another high-profile case of the Kahui twins, who were murdered … I believe Chris Kahui killed those children, but … that is for others to consider now.”
Maybe they found out about what he said from this post yesterday.
Tracy Watkins spins that National party members are upset about “asset sales”.
She was obviously at a different conference to me, when only two people out of a room of over 400 asked questions. Her contention is wrong but it doesn;t stop from spinning. Of course the difference between the National party and other parties is that delegates are able to feel comfortable
State asset sales are proving to be a bone of contention even within National’s own ranks as its grassroots members question whether crucial assets will be flogged off overseas.
The government has struggled to reassure Kiwis that its plan to sell a 49 per cent stake in the remaining state owned power companies won’t see them end up in foreign ownership.
But it also appears to have done a poor selling job among its own members with Finance Minister Bill English facing questions from party members during a public session of the National Party conference in Wellington today.
Mr English said the government was working on ways to ensure Kiwi investors were at the front of the queue but acknowledged there was no way to stop them selling shares to overseas buyers.
This was shortly before the media up sticks and bolted before lunch.
Of course the difference between the National party and other parties is that delegates are able to feel comfortable, even in a stage managed event such as this conference, to stand upa nd voice a contrarian opinion. That is to be welcomed. Political sycophancy should be avoided assiduously.
Last week I blogged about Len Brown’s Christmas card and three days later the Herald on Sunday has a story about the very same thing. Google Len Brown Christmas Card and see what Google thinks. The Whale on top and The Herald several links down the page.
Yesterday I blogged about Japhet Simiona being hailed as a success story in a school bullying project. I broke that story, I published it first and loe and behold a NZ Herald repeater goes and does a story about the exact same thing. Now this is news and all good that it is exposed, but a little credit where credit is due is in order I think. (Note all the links…that’s how modern media does things)
I’ve lost count of the number of times that I have broken stories and the repeaters ahve follwoed along one, two or even a week later. It would be nice of them to insert a line acknowledging where they heard about it from.
The thing is I know they heard about it from me first, because they all follow my Twitter account and read my Facebook wall. I’m sure as hell not following them on Twitter.
When bloggers use news stories to highlight their opinion they politely provide a link to the source story, it would nice if churnalists and repeaters did the same.
I might have to start billing I think. Either that or the various schools of churnalism start teaching these chumps about ethics, how to google, how to link to sources and other useful topics instead of them sitting on Facebook and Twitter hoping a story will land in their lap.
UPDATE: Just had an email from Jared Savage…he has said that he got the story from other sources…and that he was going to email me last night because he knew I would do a post like this lol… Good on Jared for emailing me.
It started as a trickle and now it is an avalanche.
I first noticed a couple of weeks ago a few journalists, churnalists and repeaters were starting to follow me on Twitter, then a few more, then even more and some are really obscure. Sure I had a few that were already, the heavy users and the like but the ones signing up now are just flunkies really.
It’s like they have all been on a course or got a memo or something. The funny thing is they are all set up the same way…so I’m thinking a course.
That would be typical, not ones to have any original thoughts about seeing that is out there, they wait till their overlords instruct them or send them a memo or on group hug bonding tweeting course or something.
