Mixed lollies
Following intense discussions with the government where, regretably, the NZBC's future funding was tied to the successful execution of a "cultural change program", the board has unanimously agreed to hire a Token Maori Chick (TMC). Welcome aboard Andrea Malcolm, Director of Lifestyle Programming and HR, who has already contributed.Yes, the foul winds of political correctness are blowing, gentle readers. Helen wasn't too happy about our muse either, but we stood firm. Scarlett is safe, for now. Aren't you my lovely?
But enough of our troubles. The media has been under attack for years, and not just from bloggers - from accountants, consultants and managers. Chris offers this on panicked old media management. While there are signs of a market backlash against media cost cutting. On the same topic from Mark, this piece on the dire state of the LA Times:
Baquet also believes that “newspapers run the risk of cutting themselves to death. At some point, we’re going to have to stop.”Of course it's happening closer to home as well, with David Kirk in the thick of it.
Mark also notes this piece on global warming, with experts noting that sceptics who use the uncertainties of global warming research to justify delaying carbon-reducing actions "forget that uncertainty cuts both ways, and things could be far worse than forecast".
Chris notes Wikipedia's founder admitting some of the encyclopedia's entries are a "horrific embarrassment" while other experts make their own assessment. He also likes, as smoking is rooted out of our bars and pubs, this piece on Judge Dredd's smokatoriums and this piece on blogging by Scott Adams, via Dunedinite:
The blogger's philosophy goes something like this: Everything that I think about is more fascinating than the crap in your head.Former dot com analyst Henry Blodgett asks whether we are heading for another bust.
Chris also points out that the best of John Crace's satirical Digested Reads for The Guardian are now available in book form.
Ciao, hombres.
posted by Rob O'Neill at 6:56 PM
4 Comments:
Shame on NZBC pandering to political correctness with this blatant example of racist tokenism.
I hereby call on Wayne Mapp to eradicate such nonsense immediately. You certainly would not have got away with it had Don Brash become Prime Minister.
Now, Andrea is an excellent journalist, who will make a superb contributor to NZBC. And I have enjoyed reading Andrea's contributions already.
But the trouble is with tokenism is that it undermines those who get there on merit.
In a PC world of quota filling, people think 'Did such and such get the job because they were the best or to fill a quota?'
So abolish your tokenism and appoint Andrea on merit. It is only fair for all concerned.
None of us other NZBCers got here on merit either Darren!
I'm self-appointed and our hiring policy was pure nepotism. I think a bit of tokenism is a step in the right direction.
As an aside, I was most concerned to hear about those Fairfax redundancies in Australia.
I fully agree that staffcuts are generally bad for reporting quality and rather than save money, they just fuel further decline at a publication.
I said as much on Kiwiblog earlier today.
However, this afternoon I was pointed to a political slant on the joblosses.
Fairfax realises it has been at the "wrong side of history" and this is costing it, thus the knives are out for 'lefty' journos.
The argument is explained in the link at the bottom.
Now Fairfax New Zealand is, so far, escaping jobcuts, but is often accused of having the same left-wing bias, which makes it out of touch with many of its readers.
When the country was split down the middle in Election 2005, was it financially and politically expedient for BOTH Fairfax Sundays, for example, to back Labour?
I can see that the tabloid Sunday News might be Labour through its strong readership in South Auckland. But a middle-class broadsheet like the Sunday Star-Times?
What might happen if David Kirk and the other guy look over here. Could we see similar changes editorially in New Zealand?
I for one, hope so, to give a better balance and help my employer make more money so it can operate better quality and better resourced titles.
Nonetheless, I guess any redundnant would soon find a job in TVNZ or National Radio.
http://www.crikey.com.au/articles/2005/10/28-1532-8378.html
Denial of service attack at Fairfax
Fairfax is facing a difficult time maintaining email connections. At
present email is taking from 4 hours to two days between sending and receiving.
Rumour has it members of the journalists union and their supporters are responsible for overloading the system with emails to CEO David Kirk regarding the redundancies soon to occur.
Former CEO Fred Hilmer has also been targeted and it is estimated that loss of revenue to Fairfax caused by the "denial of service attack" will equate to his large leaving fee.
Kirk has been requested to return his sign on fee and $4.5 million has been demanded from Hilmer to help return systems to normal.
Members of the journalists union are not holding their breath in
anticipation of either Hilmer or Kirk abiding by the request.
Source: MSM news reporter IC Clearly
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