the blog and turfs and the brandywine bankrompers

I was seriously considering throwing in this blogging thing earlier today - as an experiment, it's essentially failed (if you take aside its initial incarnation as a diversion while at work and the brief flurry while I was at school).

That was until I read an old compadre of mine this afternoon that incensed me for no apparent reason. It's an innocuous entry that makes a small contribution to the ongoing battle between Lew and Chris Trotter over the future of the country's political left.

Yet it was this simple statement that got my goat (my emphasis added):

Lew at Kiwipolitico has the kind of post up at the moment that reminds me why mainstream media is such an unsatisfying read/consume when it comes to political commentary.

There's a common refrain in the blogosphere that the mainstream media has failed, yet I remain unconvinced - yes it has its short-comings, but it can't be everything to everyone.

And that seems to be the over-riding concern for a number of my friends - it doesn't coin things in a paradigm that they've bought into.

For every lament as to why our top political commentators aren't delving into the growing divisions of the Labour Party movement, we get insightful pieces from the likes of Colin James, Pattrick Smellie (I'm contractually obligated for this one), and Fran O'Sullivan as to how political language is being re-written, why Don Brash is a naive idealogue rather than the spawn of Satan, and what the government is doing wrong in addressing youth wages.

They are doing what they do, and the majority of them do it very well, even if it doesn't touch on a number of keystone issues that the blogosphere wants to enter the main lexicon.

To be honest, the internal politicking of the wider left-wing movement in New Zealand isn't actually that important when it doesn't have any power, or prospect of taking power in the next five years (just saying).

What I'd be much more keen on seeing would be the internal divisions of the labour movement, which will have a lot of power in the coming years.

So I guess this is really just a gripe, and I've fallen into that trap that so many bloggers (and New Zealanders) do of identifying a problem without providing an answer. So let's pull a Kevin Smith a la Zack and Miri and tack something into the credits: ummmm, bloggers can do thier ultra-specialised commentary that will be taken with a vat of salt and MSM columnists (why am I even getting worked up over columnists - excepting Garth George, Michael Laws, Jim Hopkins, Richard Long, etc etc etc) can stick to their turf of churning something out in 40 minutes as deadline looms.....

Oy vey...

PB.

It is a terrible thing for a man to find out suddenly that all his life he has been speaking nothing but the truth

Maybe I'm being petty - no, no maybe, I am - but it's recently come to my attention that me and my team (okay, my bosses and their team) really need to boost our profile.

It's more a case of what tabs our esteemed bloggers look at, but last week I stumbled across a presentation by the Treasury secretary which I dutifully wrote up.

We splashed it across the wire and Stuff and the Herald picked it up - no probs there.

Imagine my consternation the following day when I see not only Danyl, but DPF (he who knows all) attributed it as a Herald report. Hmph. I couldn't handle three hours on the Herald, let alone be a part of their politics press team.

I'm still a baby after all.....

Anyways, the curious aspect is that it was up the previous day on both the Herald and Stuff business tabs - my favourite bloggers only picked up on it 'cos the Herald ran it in its political tab too - hence the attribution (I'm looking for any excuse to excuse 'em).

Still, it would've been nice if it was "BusinessWire reported".....

Oh woe is me - will I only ever be taken seriously by the blogging world if I make it into the politcal realm......?

PB.

(Anyone know why Whitehead's out in the trenches rallying the troops....? I for one would love to see an uprising by senior executives and board directors in the coming year..... the streets would run red with Central Otago pinot noir.... 'twould be beautiful....)

Slippery adj. 1. difficult to hold firmly or stand on through being smooth, wet, or slimy

I've been playing this one out in my mind for quite a while.

It was one of those moments when you realise "ah crap, now I've gone and done it...."

A few weeks back a friendly, but difficult to get hold of, press sec came through for me and tee-ed up a chat with his guy. He's a fairly busy fellow and I don't tend to want much on his major portfolio, so I'm down the pecking order - I can deal with that.

Anyway, here's how the exchange should have gone:

Me: Hello minister, how're you going?

Minister: I'm pretty well -
how're you finding Brent?

Me: You must be working him like a dog,
'cos he's always tough to get a
hold of...

Minister: Ahahahahaha....

Chat proceeds as it should.

Here's how it actually went.....

Me: Hello Minister, how're you going?

Minister: I'm well - how're you finding Brent?

Me: Uhhh, well, he's a bit slippery?

Minister (incredulously): Slippery?!?

Me: Uhh, yeah, I mean, he always returns my calls.... (inward groan)

Chat proceeds - call comes straight away:

Brent: Slippery?!?!?

Me: Uhhhh, I was, it just, I didn't mean....

This is when it pays to remember the second definition of slippery:

2 (of a person) evasive and unpredictable.

Not to mention the amount use it got last year..... jeeeeez being a baby reporter can leave you with a lot of red faces.....

When I'm back on speaking terms I'll let y'all know....

PB.

I never forget a face, but in your case I'll be glad to make an exception

The life of the baby reporter can often be a disheartening thing.

Not so much because you come across such horror as to send you into a spiral of despair (although that happens too), but from having to front up to the most ridiculous mistakes. Regularly.

Here's a tip for those who have yet to suffer this pitfall:

When you're floating an idea with the flack for a chat with the top guy, be prepared to talk to the guy straight immediately.

I had the pleasure of having a half-decent idea ruminating in my skull for a couple of days - put in the call to the company's minder (not a bad sort) with some vague topic for an interview, and got a call back 30 minutes later sayng I had the head honcho on the phone.

Needless to say, I wasn't prepared and had to put it off.

Fortune smiled on me in this circumstance (it hasn't in the past, but I'll go into those when I try addressing them... my face still burns when I think of one of them), and I got my ten minutes with the guy and should be able to spin a half-decent yarn out of it. I'll tell you about it later...

But god, the flack had a point when he said he'd never expect a hack to turn down an interview with the CEO of one of the country's biggest players.

What was the lesson you ask?

Well sniffing the Smellie breeze, if you can't be prepared, just put your best foot forward and wing it.... I'm not sure if my man under the hill would agree, but I never seem to be short of red faces at the moment..... I'll tell you about them soon.....


PB.

A blanker whiteness of benighted snow with no expression

What a strange afternoon.....

It was a simple task - follow up on a bank report into fixed interest securities that was saying investment grade corporate bonds (essentially a big safe company offering to borrow money from joe and jane public) were in high demand and find out if that's the case - 250 to 300 words or thereabouts.

Easy pickings - I've got a dozen or so fixed interest guys to call on......

"Hi, is so and so there?"

"No, s/he's away for the week/day/year/month...."

"Okay, thanks, bye."

Change phone number/name, repeat.

After exhausting everyone (including bigwigs at some of the country's largest fund managers), I finally got through to a pleasant chap who gave me a fairly good idea of what was going on, and was happy to get the odd call now and then (which is always handy).

Then, just on the stroke of 5, one of my guys came through for me with the perfect 8 minute interview explaining how everything worked, why it was doing it, and where to from here.

The only question I have, is what on earth would happen if it wasn't a baby reporter ringing but a big-time investor who wanted to know the state of New Zealand's bond market on a Tuesday afternoon?

Some days ya just gotta wonder......

PB.

Question: Which blue chip company likes to put out press releases late in the day to avoid immediate comment for the wire services/talk talk and can completely talk around the issue at hand when it finally comes out......?

Unhelpful and overly cryptic hint:

There will be nothing here for the diary entry

There was going to be a slightly more interesting blog about nothing and the banality of daylight savings, but then blogger pulled an IE and destroyed all of my beautiful musings.

Just look at the labels and think what might have been.

In the meantime, enjoy this:




PB.

Indeed there will be time to wonder, 'Do I dare? and, 'Do I dare?'

Sheesh - it's amazing what a good day can do to your attitude.

I'd been toying with the idea of making this a kinda thing that I dip back into when I have something eloquent to say for a while - six odd months to be precise. Unfortunately, it's rather embarrassing when you realise you don't actually have anything to add...

So, in a fit of rage yesterday, I considered turning this into the life and times of a baby reporter.

Am I still a baby? Unsure....

I've been doing this gig for six or so months full-time, which in the scheme of things could make me a veteran to some, but considering the old hacks I hang around with, I'm definitely a baby.

Anyhooo, that's not really what I wanted to say.

Oh yeah, hi, sorry it's been a while, if I could find the xkcd cartoon where it has the panel with the guy who blogs every six months to apologise for not blogging more often, I'd link to it, but I can't, so sorry on that front.

So what did I have to say today?

Just something I found curious about the Herald and Stuff in picking up me currency story and tyring to lose the crux of the story in the head they used.

Stuff did it a couple of days ago when they picked up a PA story on the appointment of David Mayhew as the new financial adviser commissioner.

Which poses the question as to why they don't add or edit the wire stories when they don't say what the web editor wants....

Sure they'll get the hits they want, but somehow that naive idealist in me just sees the reader getting swindled. And journalism ain't about.... is it....

PB.

Oh, as an aside, it was nice to see me currency piece forced PA to pick up on my theme - I'm not particularly one for the free market, but it is refreshing to see how competition can tangibly improve quality...

It pays to be obvious, especially if you have a reputation for subtlety

But in this case, it's pretty bleedin' true.

My Political Views
I am a left social libertarian
Left: 5.06, Libertarian: 5.18

Political Spectrum Quiz


Didn't expect to be quite as much of a libertarian... but I'm sure we can iron that one out....

Here're the other two thingees...

My Foreign Policy Views
Score: -5.87

Political Spectrum Quiz


and...

My Culture War Stance
Score: -8.19

Political Spectrum Quiz


Well worth a play.

PB.

A tip of the fedora for the irrascible Inventory2

I have nothing to declare but my genius

I'm going to miss Michael Cullen.

As numerous commentators have already mentioned, his wit was brutal - something I enjoyed when listening to the wireless or traipsing down to Parliament to watch the fun in the Chamber.

So it's obvious that I strolled up to watch his valedictory on Wednesday eager to watch his final set-piece.

If you've bothered to read any of the columns about his speech, you may have noted that the public gallery was full - unfortunately, it wasn't with the public.

When I arrived at 3.50pm (learning from experience having tried to watch Helen Clark's valedictory), I was kindly informed by security that they'd be closing it off at 4pm so friends and family of the good doctor could watch the event.

That's a lot of family and friends.

I can't begrudge the clearing of the gallery so our outgoing MPs can ensure their nearest and dearest can attend their final moment of glory, but I do take umbrage at the prospect the public can't attend what could potentially be historic moments in our Parliament.

I like the fact that we have such unfettered access to our elected representatives; I like the fact that entry to Parliament is so easy; I don't like the fact that attendance, if not participation, isn't encouraged.

I think events like the valedictory speeches of some of our leading Parliamentarians, the Budget, maiden speeches, and opening addresses should be public occasions - people should gather together in Parliament, in front of big screens, or huddle around the wireless to see our politicians at their best, rather than accept the sound-bites of them at their worst.

Ahh, who am I kidding? I'm just bitter that I was thwarted from observing history twice in a month..... enjoy the Herald's cut....



PB.

(Big ups to the Herald for continuing to lead Stuff in the "using cool interweb gadgets" stakes)

Live Faithfully, Fight Bravely, and Die Laughing!

Well here I was, all ready to don the blogger's quill once more and bore my three readers with anecdotes of life as a J-School grad in the middle of a recession when lo and behold... something twinkled and grabbed my attention.

I don't want to be a Godwin or anything (I already have my favourite angry white man), but I struggle to fathom who my fellows have voted in when I read our Associate Minister of Defence Heather Roy write this sort of garbage (my emphasis):

As well as the main Review, I will personally be leading a set of companion studies. These will focus on our defence industry, on the role of the NZDF in youth programmes and the Cadet Forces, and voluntary national service.

The gleeful announcement that Mrs Roy has secured a review into how our Defence Force can play a role in youth programmes (boot camps anyone?) as one of the three (three?!?) companion studies to the Defence Review that will make up the Minister's White Paper (decisive stuff here guys), put certain images in my head...


Going through the national security policy of our "classic liberal" party I can't find anything that may point to the defence force having a role in youth programmes.

Ah heck, just call Godwin and let's get this over with:



If anyone out there can enlighten me as to what the NZDF has to do with youth programmes that doesn't resemble the Hitler-Jugend, fill me in....

PB.

These fragments I have shored against my ruins

Initially, I was going to blog about how crazy and hectic my days are as the count-down to graduation looms, and I find myself struggling against the tide.

But then I saw this piece of claptrap - I mean, honestly, what kind of lame PR outfit is looking after Vector Arena these days?

I mean, writing a profile of the chief executive to sneak in some figures about how well the venue did last year, and preview some of the upcoming gigs this year is not my idea of savvy marketing.

My favourite line is the intro: "Passing Auckland’s Vector Arena daily as it was being built in 2006; Guy Ngata would think 'that’s going to be great, I’d love to be part of that'." Barf.

I sincerely hope Star PR isn't still looking after this account - when they started up a few years back, they seemed to know what they were doing.

Compare that to Network PR's latest job to make hay for bankers in the middle of a financial collapse and you can see quite easily who's doing the better job.

(Incidentally, it's nice to see Network have figured out that they really shouldn't be advertising their wares when they're on the job - well done.)

End rant (and destructive procrastination),
PB.

Thanks to words, we have often sunk to the level of demons

Kudos where it's due.

My initial suspicion that Minister of Housing Phil Heatley merely jumped on to the comment option on the NBR to push forward his own agenda and shut down any criticism of Gateway Housing product has been laid to rest... for now.

The Minister took on board my major concern and responded that my fears would be taken under consideration:

it is our intention to address both the dispersal and concentration issues you cite.

Of course I'm not naive enough to take this at face value - it's a broad enough answer to allow the Minister to wriggle out if he fails to address the potential creation of ghettoes with his housing project.

But it's an encouraging prospect that ministers are willing to make these statements in comment threads that will undoubtedly be used to hold them to account if they fail to deliver, and I can only hope it continues.

Credit where it's due....

Well done Mr Heatley.

PB.

I alone, as the sharer of their way of life, presented a replica of childhood

This is a first for me - Minister of Housing Phil Heatley commenting on the veracity of a story on the NBR website... in under three hours!!!

I'm not sure how I feel about this - on one hand, it's impressive that Mr Heatley is willing to engage (so far) with the Jazial Crossley's article on National's plan to open up Crown-owned land for the development of low-cost housing, but on the other, he goes to great lengths to refute the points that he's not particularly fond of.

Whether he continues (via his proxies) to engage with commenters on the NBR website remains to be seen, and I honestly hope he does.

If not, well, it'll be another case of Juli Clausen's ill-advised foray into commenting on Colin Espiner's blog a while back, and a pretty cynical (and early) attempt to shut down any critique of the government.

Unfortunately, I'm inclined to think the latter.

He sticks well to the party line, rattling off low interest rates (for which I find it quite concerning that he's trying to tie monetary policy to the whim of the guvmint), lower taxes, and RMA reform, but he opens with:

As Housing Minister I’d like to take a few moments to comment on some of the points and assertions raised in this article, not the least with the headline, which obviously misrepresents National’s intentions with the release of its Gateway Housing product later this year.

and closes with:

Certainly it’s my view that the assertion in the headline is both incorrect and unfair.

Yet, he only makes one attempt to explain why the headline "Why does National want to create poor-people ghettoes?" is incorrect when he says they will be "providing cheap land for first home buyers in places like Hobsonville alongside million dollar homes, in the same suburb, with the affluent living alongside the less well off", but doesn't go into more detail, and doesn't rule out the concentration of low-cost housing that could (and often does) lead to the creation of ghettoes.

He may well be right (and I hope he is), but the hint that there will be some low-cost housing in affluent suburbs and the assertion that the development of low-cost housing in specific areas is not going to lump together impoverished people together seems to me to be a flawed argument.

I'd suggest quizzing the minister and seeing if we can get a decent thread going on the story... that's what I'm doing...

PB.

As a general rule, people, even the wicked, are much more naive and simple hearted than we suppose

Well I can't say I'm too surprised at the superficial coverage given to our State Services Minister's sleight of hand yesterday evening.

Kudos to Tom Pullar-Strecker at the Dom for pulling together a story for the front page of the business section - at least he gave it a try.

And I guess the Labour Party's belated response in the form of yet another press release kind of fanned the fire.

That fire being the NZPA and its under-resourced pump out the re-written press release machine.

I can't even criticise them 'cos everyone knows that's what they do, but I do lament the lack of scepticism on the part of our full-grown journos who didn't feel like chasing the Hon Mr Ryall and finding out when the tender's going, if anyone's already applied to take over the contract, how many people will lose their jobs (I'd love to see a cost benefit analysis for the sacking public servants - right down to the consultant's fee) and a number of other questions relating to the pruning of the bureacracy.

I do hope Mr Ryall's PR team don't try to sneak through more bad news in the still of the night - it's just not a good look and much easier (and honourable) to face the light of day when you make a ballsy call.

But hey, what do I know...

I'm just a baby journalist...

PB.

Bad taste creates many more millionaires than good taste

It was only a matter of time.

And in this case, time is the essential item.

I can already hear my socialist friends chanting "slash and burn, slash and burn", because the man with the manifesto to slash red tape in the health bureaucracy has now begun his role as Minister of State Services.

Sitting at my school PC (that's what baby reporters do), I noted a scoop e-mail alert titled "Government Shared Network to be discontinued" pop through at 5.13pm.

The fact that the State Services Minister Tony Ryall is cutting the GSN ("a secure network linking government agencies with high-speed Internet and telecommunications services) is not, in and of itself, overly surprising.

Nor is the fact that the "[p]articipating government agencies will be moved to a new provider in the private sector."

The thing's losing money, and has done since its inception in 2007 (don't ask me why it was supposed to make money), so it was obviously going to be a candidate for slashing under our auspicious minister.

But 5.13pm for the press release?!? After the layout of most morning papers have been drawn up and TV's putting on the finishing touches to its 6pm bulletin?!? Hoping against hope that it gets lost in the avalanche of press releases accompanying the return of the politicians?!?

Puh-leeze - that's just plain stupid.

It looks suspicious and it draws attention to the move when it could have been sneaked through earlier in the day while all the media focus was on the RMA changes.

This is a senior minister with experienced PR professionals in his office, and it's not something that they saw at 3.30pm this afternoon, decided upon at 4.45pm, and wrote up a press release at 5.12pm.

Dumb, dumb, dumb.

Will the media fall for it and ignore a potential follow-up for something that looks, sounds, and smells like scuttling public sector jobs? Probably.

But it shouldn't - and touch wood, someone will pick it up and ask Mr Ryall what else is on the agenda for the slash and burn treatment.

This baby journalist would, but afterschool care's closing up, and I've got a ton of stuff to do.

Maybe I'll leave it to the professionals.... maybe...

PB.

You don't talk with that man - you listen to him

I'm not really a fan of these types of blog posts, but this column in the Herald was too good to ignore.

Read it - it'll give you a very good basic understanding of the situation in the Congo - and offer some kind of deeper analysis of the situation.

I know - it's a little surprising.

The only thing I think it lacks (or it may merely be my own curious nature) is how the problems in the Congo can be related back to New Zealand, and why it's important for people to care here (and not just in humanitarian terms - which, when you consider the situation, should really be enough).

Thank you granny - gold star for you.

PB.

(The cynic in me wants to link this to an attempt to help sell the Independent's stake in APN, but I just cannae do it - sorry)

These words force you to a new madness

After what seems an interminable amount of time, I've drawn myself back to the blog.

Two weeks, five weeks, 32 weeks, it all seems like much of a blur at the moment.

I've just come off a two week internship at the Dom Post, which was very much an eye-opening experience. While you can see some of what I managed to achieve here, here, here, and here, let's be perfectly honest about this - I was out of my depth.

Sure, the baby reporter moniker has always been something of a piss-take, but I would not envy anyone jumping into the atmosphere of a metropolitan newspaper (or its equivalent) in an entry level position. It's... it's... it's difficult to explain, so I shan't.

I shall merely say that while it wasn't what I expected, I could take away some serious lessons, and so could my compadre, Sandra the luddite (who was able to start off our internship with this wonderful surprise - which sounded incredibly familiar).

And when this baby reporter grows up, he's going to be a full-grown hack...

Something to look forward to...

PB.

Other intership adventures can be found here and here.