The hope only Of empty men

Far be it for me to criticise laziness (my prolonged absence from the blogosphere can attest to that), but - there's always a but - I'm a little disappointed with John Roughan's profile of Steven Joyce in the Herald yesterday. It looks remarkably like Dwayne Alexander's blog post at the start of September.




I'm being unfair. Mr Roughan did actually address a couple of timely issues in his interview with Mr Joyce, such as the Labour Party's response to the economic crisis and the unveiling of the universal student allowance policy. And Mr Joyce, to his credit, addressed them - even if it was merely to bat them away.

However, after his auspicious start, a fairly lame profile piece followed - something that is happening in far too many papers at the moment. I don't think I'm alone in considering a straight profile of a political candidate to be boring and unambitious.

Sure, give us a general outline of who the candidates are and what they have done in their previous lives, but stick with a line of questioning where the reader might actually get some handle on what the candidate stands for, what their motivations for entering public office are, and what they plan to do, given the opportunity, when they take the reins of power.

Y'know, act like a representative of the Fourth Estate and all that jazz.

OR, if you must do a profile (and I'm feeling charitable here)...

Don't make it a promo listing all of the candidates' achievements... we know these people are talented - it's generally why they manage to get into the party hierarchy. What's more interesting is how they've acted in their previous incarnations, and how this may relate to how they'll represent us in the future.

Using Mr Joyce as an example, what Mr Roughan could have done was delve into the crossover of Mr Joyce's radio career and his position as campaign manager of the Nats. In the lead-up to, and fall-out from, the 2005 general election, he was the drive show host on RadioLive. I remember listening to Mr Joyce every afternoon (as was the wont of my employer at the time), completely oblivious to his position with the Nats (which was never disclosed). I merely thought he was another of those crazy talkback hosts that loved the phrase "nanny state" (he replaced Paul Henry who was forced to resign by TVNZ, and was up against Larry Williams on ZB, who models his show on Bill O'Reilly's). We should also note that, by this stage, Mr Joyce had sold his holding in RadioWorks to the Canadians (better known as CanWest) - not that Mr Joyce let his listeners' knew of his former association with the station.

Curiously, a quick google search finds few acknowledgements of Mr Joyce's tenure ever occurring: there's a post by DPF at the end of November 2005 and another, which no longer exists, but has an extract available on Lawswatch.

I find nothing untoward about commericial radio holding a conservative bias - it's a natural fit, much like the perceived liberal bias associated with public radio - it's just that, y'know, I would have liked to have been made aware of the fact that there was some active political campaigning going on in the lead-up to a tight election that some 30-odd thousand people were listening to every day.

I can see the argument that would likely be put up - my opinions are obvious to anyone who listens to me, and my audience, in the main, agrees with my point of view, but that's a little different form being active in a party political campaign while putting out your views as an independent voice (albeit, a conservative one).

I know all of this screams conspiracy, and I don't actually have a problem with figures in the media holding a political bias. I think it's good for views contrary to my own being pushed and discussed in an open forum. But an open forum requires a certain level of disclosure, and Mr Joyce's inability to let his listeners know that he was actively campaigning for the Nats in '05 leads me to conclude there's only one position he wants after November 8...

... and that's the role of Machiavelli's Prince, Murray McCully.

Thus ends my case study and wildly inaccurate conclusion.

I'm sure the nation's fearless army of journalists would be happy to dig a little deeper when approaching their candidates for a simple profile piece - it's certainly a lot more fun to do (and read). And maybe, just maybe, it might inform the public of whom, and what, they're actually voting for.

Dreaming of better journalism,

PB.

The Day in Review Oct 11

- Rugby and energy were today's hot topics on the telly. 3 led with the obvious one - the Government's energy policy, with Sia Aston giving us a blow-by-blow account of what's good for us. They backed it up with a nice piece on Genesis Energy's ongoing battle with Greenpeace in the Court of Appeal over its Rodney plant that was to use fossil fuels (a no-no under the new strategy). When One got around to talking about it, Guyon Espiner gave us his third rendition of the strategy, letting Kris Faafoi run through how it was going to miprove the quality of NZ's substandard housing (something every student post-2030 will appreciate).
- One gave us Dougie first. His web-address (it didn't have much on Narm Hewitt); the $30k bar tab (explained away by numerous All Blacks); management's knowledge of the incident prior to landing and their umming and ahhing over what to do. 3 did the same really. You can't go wrong when an All Black does.
- The crackdown on motorists in South Auckland got a nice piece of coverage on both channels, with One asking the pointed question "is this a revenue gathering exercise?"
- 3 had a nice little piece on the Yellow Pages Group blocking internet access to the White Pages for some groups for fear they are using it for direct marketing. The AA was one of these groups, and our man Doug Wilson was none too pleased.
- 3 also had a good piece on a new study that found people will be willing to pay higher prices for their BZP when it's made illegal, forgoing the BZP-free party pills that will be readily available to the public... oh, they didn't take that into account. Hmmm. Well, there's going to be a black market for BZP, and these pills will probably be laced with things harder than sheep drench. So parents beware.
- One had a brief run on research finding that while police recruits did require some babysitting before graduation, once they were on the beat, they performed their jobs adequately. Maybe they had been listening to Mary Wilson grill the Minister, Annette King earlier in the day.
- The rest of our news was mainly international. Absolutely bizarre.
- The Wireless continued to go with the real estate agent furore, the police graduate research, and a little on A1 milk. Nandor had a good spot on Larry Williams branding John Howard as a racist over his stance against the Bali Bombers' pending execution. I'm sure he could have found a better example than that.
- Close Up went with a woman who was still waiting for breast reconstruction surgery after being bumped off the list three times; Campbell had a wonderful piece on budgeting that I caught the first 20 seconds of before flipping back.
- Insipid brilliance of the evening goes to Barry Soper, Political Editor Extraordinaire, who on Prime News interviewed (separately) the Prime Minister and the Leader of Opposition on their understanding of what the game of rugby means to New Zealanders. Inspired.
Good night.

The Day in Review Oct 3

- Normally I keep my cringe-worthy moment for the end, but 3 called my bluff tonight, with its 'cats got its cream' moment in announcing how it was going to flout advertising legislation on Sunday mornings during the finals of the RWC. Normally I'd accept this as a news-worthy story, particularly, as was pointed out, because it's a test case. But calling 'perhaps the best sidestep of the Rugby World Cup'? To quote Brooke Howard Smith, 'Shame on you!'
- Not that One's opening piece was any better. Police defending theri actions to pepper a nasty canine with a hail of bullets in suburban Porirua. One was all about the police and guns, with its two subsequent stories on the AOS.
- The All Blacks got some good coverage on both biggies, mainly because they lost the coin toss to wear their black jersey.
- Once 3 got their act together and moved away from themselves, rugby, and the police, they got in first to talk about Chris Carter's displeasure with Housing NZ's investigation unit. Mini Garner gave the story, ending on the note that the Honourable Mr. Carter was confident improvements would be made. One didn't tell us about it until after the half hour mark, when everyone's gone to the kitchen before the sports news.
- One did give us an ongoing cry of foul by Simon Power on the Government's new bail rules; all due to a Chris named Kahui.
- The mystery of the missing man from Hastings was covered by both, before receiving an update near the half that he had been found. Case closed. Kind of.
- 3 jumped on the story of the urgent Waitangi Tribunal hearing called by a Maori woman whose Tongan husband was going to be deported. She claims he taonga. Former immigration minister and all-round good guy Tuariki Delamere is acting on her behalf (appropriately enough).
- 3 also ran with the story of The Joneses first, running it in their second segment. We like this one. A real estate agency that is hauled before the REINZ disciplinary tribunal for bringing the industry into disrepute. REINZ wasn't really commenting, as The Joneses allegedly said the industry was ripping people off. The Joneses have a flat fee, not the usual commission of other agents.
- Close Up went out to find stoned drivers, as the Guvmint's cracking down on these sorts. Campbell got in early to talk to the head of the investigation into the mystery of the missing man from Hastings that has been brought to a close, tying up loose ends, and gettting a nice feeling of a happy ending.
- The Wireless focussed on Housing NZ and the tabled transport policy document, although I did note that Rick Friesen didn't turn up on Larry Williams after Lazza noted in his opening piece that TV3 wasn't fooling anyone. A slip of the tongue perhaps.
Good night.