Monthly Archives: June 2012
Financial journalism on TV
The end of TVNZ7 is a blow not only to critical political discourse in New Zealand but deprives this country of a great opportunity to produce and broadcast a lively but in-depth and accessible economics show like Capital Account on RT.com (although host Lauren Lyster is distractingly attractive). Sorry TV1 and TV3 – your business reporting on your morning […]
national’s contempt for public broadcasting
At midnight Saturday TVNZ 7 ceases to be a commercial free public broadcaster and becomes a time delayed repeat of its mother channel TV 1. National has refused to fund the channel at its annual cost of $14-16 million as part of its austerity measures. Despite being a bastion of quality programming, a mixture of local […]
American Hypocrisy on cyber warfare & human rights
Some excellent posts by American blogger and author Glenn Greenwald. He is a former Constitutional and civil rights litigator, is the recipient of the first annual I.F. Stone Award for Independent Journalism, and is the winner of the 2010 Online Journalism Association Award for his investigative work on the arrest and oppressive detention of Bradley […]
Framing the political portrait
The cover portrait and Guyon Espiner’s lead story in this weeks Listener raises the issue of framing photography. David White is one of New Zealand’s leading photographers and has done a number of portraits of political figures. His latest ones of John Key are certainly noteworthy for their contrast to the commonly held perception of the Prime […]
Is globalisation coming to an end?
Nice link here from http://www.interest.co.nz. I had heard of Canadian writer John Ralston Saul before but couldn’t recall his thoughts. He makes a nice metaphorical comparison to the financial sector as a collapsing souffle. “Trying to inject egg whites into a falling souffle doesn’t work” This short two-part clip ties in closely with much of what I have […]
Why we need the journalism of outrage particularly in times of war
An essay on journalism and propaganda in times of war as part of my PGrad Dip in Communications in 2011. “On some positions, Cowardice asks the question, “Is it safe?” Expediency asks the question, “Is it politic?” And Vanity comes along and asks the question, “Is it popular?” But Conscience asks the question “Is it […]
Why we need partisan political documentary
Propaganda is to a democracy what violence is to a dictatorship In 2011 as part of a PG Dip in Communications I researched elite propaganda and self censorship in the mainstream United States media during wartime. It was at times a profoundly depressing task, so pervasive, so blatant are the lies and half truths told by political […]
Labour could stop SOE sales tomorrow
If Labour really wanted to stop National’s asset sales in their tracks they only need to come out and say they will buy them back at cost or even better yet promise to nationalise them on their own terms. No one will touch the shares with a barge pole with such a threat hanging over […]
An Essay Revisiting Rogernomics in an Age of Globalisation
To what extent has New Zealand been absorbed into the flows and networks of global financial capitalism since 1984 and the economic reforms of the fourth Labour Government. Was this process inevitable, is it desirable, is it reversible? (modified from a paper on Globalisation as part of a PG Dip Communications) The neo-liberal economic reforms […]
realpolitik – gutless excuse for the status quo?
Realpolitik – politics or diplomacy based primarily on power and on practical and material factors and considerations, rather than ideological notions or moralistic or ethical premises. Is there room for ethics and morality in international politics? I ask this question after re-reading three excellent articles by Rolling Stone Magazine on Afghanistan, one of which resulted […]
unframed 