Last night on TVNZ or TV3 (can’t remember which and was probably on both) there was a story about Paris Hilton being arrested for possible possession of cocaine and changing the story she gave to police.
You know the story because no doubt it’s in all our heads. She told the police she thought the cocaine was bubble gum.
I watched the newsreader read the story. Was difficult to know whether her wry smile was because she thought it was funny, or because she thought it was crap.
Crap to be presenting the nation with such pap on a week night under the guise of the evening news.
If I want to know that stuff I’ll buy a woman’s magazine. When I switch on the news I want to learn about what’s happening in our country and our world. Things that matter. That are shaping our world.
Paris Hilton’s cocaine habits are not news.
Don’t see a lot of focus in our news on things like the shitty state of housing across the country, the lack of govt action on doing anything about that and child poverty.
I see political stories that are all about conflict and about personalities. And a lot of fluff. We used to have really good international news coverage. Don’t have much any more.
Our news is infotainment. It’s based around ratings and it needs to change.
Couldnt agree more Clare, you’re not alone, but dont hold your breath waiting for a change
When was our news good?
Sell tv2, run tvone as funded tv including resources such as radio nz (why the separation between the two? why the need for separate state owned news gathering services?)
The again, public tv news, as shown in the states is in decline. The only growth in news is fox. Wonder why that is?
“Don’t see a lot of focus in our news on things like the shitty state of housing across the country, the lack of govt action on doing anything about that and child poverty.”
If only we had some sort of taxpayer funded official opposition party whose job it was to force these issues to the fore.
Well, yes, that’s kind of stating the obvious, Clare. Many of us gave up on NZ’s laughably bad TV news a long time ago.
It’s rubbish, it insults our intelligence, and all we can do is shout at the television, which is therapeutic, but changes nothing. So we switch off.
But then, we’re just ordinary viewers. Imagine what we could do if we really had the power to do something about it. Say, if we were in government for nine years.
It’s too late now. On television, mainstream public broadcasting is dead. I hope you guys do a better job fighting for public radio. Because that’s next.
Your not the only one who is SICK of our deleted. offensive. Clare media which is just like Paris Hilton.
With there flashy and expensive graphics/clothes/suits/words and the attitude “Im a journalist respect me, It my right to free speech”, it quiet off putting really, they wonder why everybody think deleted and don’t really listen to them.
Just look at that deleted personal and offensive. Clare
Journalist just like to hear themselves talk and all they do is just parrot each, they can’t think for themselves. They have free speech and all they do talk shit, stir the pot, tell lies (YES LIES), twist words/events and ask dumb question and then twist the answer they given.
Ask them real question about real things and they will turn around and tell them you not suppose to question them.
Tell them they not speaking for me or for New Zealand!
They only speak for themselves, and on the odd occasion big business but mainly for themselves.
Your right Sammy
It beyond help…
we really gotta reclaim the term “woman’s magazine” cos damnit, if women ever were some kind of monolith who all loved celebrity gossip and horoscopes, they aint anymore.
Let’s put it this way: The TV is not my source of news these days. It used to be, before what celebrities put up their noses was considered front-page material.
Radio NZ is about the only olde-fashioned news service worth listening to. It makes you think. No wonder they want to shut it down.
Vik :v)
They do News on TV?
To be honest the most honest and reliable news show I’ve seen recently is Jon Stewart. That is *not* a compliment – it’s a sad indictment on the state of journalism. But them what do you expect, the bloggers are killing true journalism.
PS: Those without working sarcasm detectors please don’t read the last line.
*lmao* I would have thought the night before would’ve set you off. While watching something on TV3 they had one of their news updates. You know the ones – where they give you their headlines (inaccurate as they may be).
Turns out, a certain amount of accidents happen in the home and are preventable. I was talking to a friend last night who had seen the story in question and said that they concentrated on the 25% which were attributed to alcohol without even mentioning the other 75%.
This just in, the sky is mostly blue during the day when clouds aren’t obscuring it. Also, it turns out, for the most part, dogs like to chase cats. Teenage or early 20’s idol or star with temper problem ends up in legal trouble again.
Never mind though… if that’s all they have to report… *pfft*
What’s Labour’s solution to this? I hope Labour go in to the next election with some really decent policy to shake up how our media is structured, so we can develop a decent broadcaster like the BBC.
“women’s mags”? Friend of mine categorises them as “trash mags”. Brenda and Clare, welcome to the term.
There are a couple of things at play here. One is to remember that any commercial media outlet has as its first and only priority the sale of advertising. I don;t care how much TVNZ says it is ‘charter’ driven, if it wasn’t selling enough ads, it would be down the gurgler. Newspapers, commercial internet sites, all of them are there to sell ads first, and the news is just the ‘draw’ to get you to see them.
I wouldn’t be angry at a pop celeb. magazine for having pap instead of news, and its hard to be angry at TV news either – its much the same thing.
I do have a problem in getting news I can trust, but with a combination of RNZ, werewolf, BBC news, John Stewart (who is a consumate journalist), the Standard, facebook, my twitter mates, the Otago Daily Times (I live down here, and for all its failings, it and the Star do a good parochial/parish job) along with a selection of other websites I cobble together enough to feel informed.
The other thing to remember is the cynicism of those who edit and program the news shows. They think we are all thick, and don’t dare challenge us. Cambell tries, but even then he can patronise his viewers… It would be fantastic to have an intellegent NZ MsM news outlet, but I doubt they have the guts to put it together, or the ability to create a business plan for it. In the mean time, werewolf slowly replaces listener subscriptions, and RNZ talks to me like the adult I pretend I am.
Well Clare would be the one to answer that. Whether or not we get any quality public discourse out of it is another matter… Where’s my press secretary? Mmmmmha, I know! Practical…
hehe its on facebook
Two thumbs up
And the language, I guess you refering to me:D
I like to mention that in all seriousness thou.. unlike most of my other post…
It a shame you deleted the bit about that “reporter” cause hes a good example of what wrong with our media but I guess you don’t want to be had up for it etc… So I can understand why you wiped it out.
I think I will write him a letter some time.
All flash suits and over geld hair + hot air and rubbish.
“What’s Labour’s solution to this? I hope Labour go in to the next election with some really decent policy to shake up how our media is structured, so we can develop a decent broadcaster like the BBC.’
Why…? Just sell the state liability and make us all better off.We have Sky et el so why have the state fluffing about in Tv…or radio for that matter?….madness.
Sell it all and stop propping up old media with my taxes at the expense of quality internet sources.
“Imagine what we could do if we really had the power to do something about it. Say, if we were in government for nine years. ”
For goodness sake if Labour began to tamper with TVNZ there’d be cries of them trying to bully or propagandise etc etc…
Quality internet sources? They’re few and far between too, the internet, like tv “news” is full of celebrititus and opinionating masquerading as truth and fact
NZ 6pm news is terrrrible! Such trash, that Paris hilton segmant went on for ever, and…IS NOT NEWS!
If the 6pm news in NZ was a persons only news source you’d be so uninformed.
Big fan of scoop/alternet.org/bbc/and blogs (checking sources on anything suspect of course!)
However. The Mayoral debate on Campbell Live the other day was brilliant. Please make it more of a political/current affairs show rather than a trash magazine show, have noticed that it has been getting better.
Whats the term I learned from here (or The Standard?) which describes this perfectly?
Prolefeed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prolefeed
Triangle TV has some quality international news from a range of countries. So, good public service news is not dead (it’s just not made in NZ). I usually watch AlJazeera NewsHour in the mornings, and may catch a bit of Euronews that follows. Deutsche Welle also has a good news show on Triangle.
After AJ Newshour, I usually tune into National Radio, and if I’m still at home, may also have TVNZ7 news on mute, to see some images of some of the stories being covered on the radio.
You’ve got it arse about face. The first and only priority of a commercial media is to attract an audience. These days with the concentration of the MSM into fewer and fewer hands, the overt sale of advertising is becoming less important than dumbing down the poplace so as to keep them acquiescent.
A bland diet of sport and meaningless celebrity drivel is just the latest form of sublimation to stop us thinking about the real issues. Doh! God help us if we actually start questioning everything.
Hi Girls and boys this crap stems from globalisation disguised as Americianisation which we had a real good practice at like colonialisation so don’t moan about what you practiced.
You see you don’t own anything so you don’t have a say and even when you do own it you don’t have a say. Thats how colonialisation worked and globalisation is the method of implementing Americanisation, In saying that, we could do worse and that’s the tricky question. You have total control over what you want to watch from the box in the corner. So use your power to change the channel switch on the DVD player or do something else really constructive.
Rei
PS note I didn’t put Zeds in the big words.
The news problem is bigger than a political party.
Labour doesn’t have a show of fixing it but some strong policy would lift our spirits a little.
As our news sources were incrementally taken over and the chance of independence and serious alternative view point diminished. We end up with being groomed to accept axioms that are not only untrue but damaging to public hope of grasping many significant issues.
As deliberate skewing of information is repeated over and over the propaganda becomes normalised.
So many important events worldwide are just never reported to us.
Why is this, well look who controls the media sources and contemplate the significance of that.
http://www.converge.org.nz/watchdog/15/05.htm
Australia is no different, same money and control.
The net can provide a wider variety of sources but credibility is likewise a challenge to sort out. A degree of skepticism is definitely needed and some back ground.
The US moves under laws passed during the aftermath of the mocked up 911 affair, now are used to wipe web addresses for political reasons ( aka exposure of information ) SDN is alive and growing with various agencies finding reasons to block websites.
This has been going on for a while.
http://la.indymedia.org/pipermail/imc-la/2008-March/000760.html
Labour will earn many enemies if seen to intervene in and stop such political censorship, but without freeing up sources of information and viewpoint we will end up with a larger lot of deadhead or confused voters following the line they are fed daily.
Some of the stooges that blog to uphold the indefensible are no doubt products of the security provided following and blindly supporting the downward spiral.
When the terms economic growth are heard listen carefully and do remember it is a finite world. We are well past over shoot.
“…..so we can develop a decent broadcaster like the BBC.”
Indeed, the BBC is an outstanding broadcaster and sets a standard. It does, however, have a left lean that castro would be proud of.
News Papers as decent news sources?!
Come on people. The best we can hope for is some alternative web source. The question is, why are we now in a state where we have to go out of our way in order to find a news source?
I’ve found out more about what’s going on in parliament in the last sixth months from following Clare’s posts than I have trying to do the same from watching the news. Even a reliable internet source – one place – would be great. Oh and what about something almost nearing objectivity?
Why would Labour interceding with TVNZ be equated to Propaganda? The media is already a propaganda machine. How many stories have you seen of late which offer a view contrary view from the story? My favourite was the Chris Carter story. I’ve heard those same sentiments repeated A LOT of times yet the only people they could find for the story were people who thought that he was out of line.
What really upsets me is the fact that news – real news – such as what’s happening with the fibre roll out, is quietly ignored. Whether this is a fault of Labour not being it to the media’s attention or the fault of the media for not picking up on it, the result is the same. People aren’t encouraged to have an opinion.
You hit the head on the nail Clare. I cancelled my newspaper a along time ago, hard hitting journalism seems to be relegated to some place us. I know we are going digital with our TV system in NZ but at the end of the day delivering high def reality TV programmes, murder after murder TV progs and gossip news going as a headliner makes me think someone has lost the plot. I get all my international news and insight to what is happening in NZ from the internet. Television as we now know it seems rather irrelevant accept as infotainment or titillation. NZ television plays a very minor role in my media diet.
When was this magical time people were more interested in state housing then, say, Marylin and JFK or Anthony and Cleopatra..?
The more things change the more they stay the same…
Here’s a fun experiment everyone can do at home. Next time you watch the 6pm news, get a stop watch. Turn it on every time you see:
advertising
the weather
“headlines” of stories coming up
“updates” of stories already presented
covert advertising of the broadcaster’s web site
sport
and the inane chit-chat banter between presenters.
Last time I did it, I got 12 minutes of news for the whole hour. Whipper snappers like Mr Harris might be interested in viewing a news broadcast from before the days of the “Mum’n'Dad” male/female presenter format when the focus was actually on the news and not the “experience of participating” in the day’s events. You’ll find more time dedicated to actual news with real journalists giving the facts rather than what they think about what they think might maybe have happened.
I have to confess that I don’t mind infotainment
Agreed Vik, RNZ is bleepin great, I hate how they are being starved of money
@Phil Lyth – womens magazines, arrgh, arrrgh
!
@Carol – I wish I could get Triangle
@Rei – Glad you respect our spelling
I get a lot of my info from the net, and watch Q&A, docos and The Nation.
speaking of crap news
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9U4Ha9HQvMo
LOL
!!!!!!!!!!
Oldie but a goodie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3w-5KlJpOZU
Josh calls it like it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLdz0JpCpXM&NR=1
Cute animal story complete with snorting:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jzhm7_a20M
@Blip those clips are great.
@everyone Have had some very interesting email discussions since I wrote this post. Touched a nerve.
The issue is real. No matter how much the media barons want to spin it.
Labour does need a good policy in this area. The country deserves it.
What’s at stake? Lowest common denominator news based on ratings and advertiser dollars rather than news values and good judgement. And a steady deterioration in the ability of of our news media to practice their craft. (Not just broadcasting)
And as the news media deteriorates to the lowest common denominator, and the awareness/information of our citizens deteriorates to the lowest common denominator, so our “democracy” shall follow.
Loota,
hehe
It almost already there, well some days
Most of the media treat people like there are the lowest common denominator.
Reality is most people 95% aren’t that silly.
So really its more of force feeding than pandering to the would be “lowest common denominator”
Trouble is there is no feed back for TV stations. That because they make there money from advertising, not US watching TV. (Like, we don’t pay for the service unless it sky. And sky is only an uplink to channels)
Thats the key there, they listen to there costumers not there views…
)
Freeloading has a price and this is it, sloppy dumb down TV.
I can’t stand to watch another episode for Friends (had to put that in there
So this in turn make them kind of forget who WE the VIEWERS are. Since we not paying them for the service we have no control/influence over them!
I suspect some of the reruns are the result of not getting enough funding
I liked Friends – the first few times they repeated the series. 
The TV news has not been well done during my lifetime at all from what I have seen in the UK, France, Aus, the USA and here. The only time it seems to be good is when it is not in fact evening news but a 24 hour news station who surprisingly don’t seem to find time to report what Paris Hilton is doing.
When watching news, it is prudent to approach them knowing that everything is just as timely, accurate and true as the weather forecast.
The last few times I watched 1News, we arrived at celebrity gossip after no more than 12 minutes. The second segment invariably includes drinking teenagers (or some other media-created problem), while international news take up less than 5 minutes.
I don’t think of the 6pm broadcast as news anymore, its our daily dose of dumbing down the masses.
Nice contrast between the OIA performance of Ministers (appalling – only one is not breaking the law), and the 6PM news.
Ministers performance should tick all the boxes for news – but there has been nothing.
You people lament the state of the news, but what do you propose to do about it? Is it to dictate to private news services what they can and can’t report on? Or is it to improve the state service in some manner to compete?
Yes it is and who are you to define what is not news? Whether you like it or not people are interested in the lives of celebrities and such reporting is going to continue to be with us. You don’t have to be interested nor do you have to watch it.
It was spite. The same was very clear with her reporting of Naomi Campbell as a witness in the Charles Taylor trial. Quite ugly (the spite) actually.
This is false as I saw the Paris Hilton Story on the BBC. In fact the BBC reports on all the pop culture/celebrity news that other broadcasters do.
I don’t particularly care for the news analysis on most providers, but this doesn’t mean I’m going to call for government “to do something” this doesn’t mean I’m going to impose my vision of what is and isn’t news or acceptable culture on others through the state. People have to get out of the mindset that just because they find something imperfect they need to call for the imposition of more top down control over people.
Quoth the Raven:
The problem for me isn’t what they are reporting but what they’re not. If they’re going to concentrate all of their efforts on entertainment, then term it an entertainment show. If they’re going to call it a “news” show, then how about some news? In the classical sense – things happening around the world.
Alternatively, if I wanted quality food, I wouldn’t go somewhere which described itself as a “fast food outlet” or “family restaurant” If I see the term “Restaurant” (without the “family”) I would expect a certain standard of food.
It’d be like going into an Indian restaurant and find a menu with one or two Indian dishes and 100 Italian dishes, I’d be disappointed.
I do think that we have a state owned news service and that news service should be held to certain standards. It is tax payers money being poured into it and it is supposed to be a news service. Thus, TVNZ news needs to stop seeing themselves as competing with TV3 News and instead concentrate on news rather than entertainment.
The advertising will follow the audience and the audience will come if they can get what they’re after rather than the crap we’re told we want to know.
Regards,
Nevyn.
Excellent points Quoth the Raven
Nevyn makes good points too
Things happening around the world include the trials and tribulations of celebrities and that is ‘news’ and always has been whether you like it or not. Again it comes back to what do you propose to do about it. Do you want the state to define what is and isn’t news? Because I think that would be deplorable and it begs the question by whose standard?
Freedom of speech important!
bLip I ve noticed tv1 now has 3 weather segments, there’s the promor of the weather at the beginning, then we get told how it was today (even though we ought to already know this, and then we get the weather, for tomorrow…