Hard News: The Wall and the Paper
297 Responses
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Sacha, in reply to
As for boycotts, I would urge you not to boycott all Fairfax products!
If you're going to boycott, try the main advertisers - I suspect that's more lucrative to the publishers than subscriptions or listeners/eyeballs.
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Kumara Republic, in reply to
Just as the public has the right to contact companies that advertise in Kemeys' newspaper and tell them they'll boycott their products so long as they advertise in a medium in which Laws is published - which is, I think, the next logical step to take.
And the next logical step after that, well, the Southern Poverty Law Centre has the answer.
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Paul Williams, in reply to
But there are already established grounds (and channels) for complaint without testing a new one which might take some time to work through.
You mean the Press Council? Sure enough, but they've got no standing to consider criminal matters. Perhaps that is a bridge too far however.
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Sofie Bribiesca, in reply to
Not without the paper meeting their obligations as a responsible publisher. There is no license to say whatever you like about groups of people without facing consequences.
True Bro', absolutely agree which was my point of complaining every time he writes. I don't read the guy. I think he is vile, anytime I have seen him so I ignore him but at least complaints to the Editor is tarnishing his reputation too and that might be effective enough to move him now that RB did bring it to his attention. He is now johnny on the spot with this.
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Russell Brown, in reply to
As for boycotts, I would urge you not to boycott all Fairfax products!
Well, quite. I'm impressed with both your editor and the work you and others do for The Press.
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As for boycotts, I would urge you not to boycott all Fairfax products!
Death to Fairfax! And death to the quisling traitor Phillip Matthews!
Actually no, I was thinking of contacting the major ad spenders in the SST and sending them a polite letter summarising Laws' various outrages and regretfully advising them that they were enabling him and that as a result I would no longer use their products.
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I don't like boycotts. Democracy for people with the biggest wallets doesn't impress me much. And I'd much rather boycott the actual product than the advertisers. Let them know I don't buy their paper and why.
Out of interest: is there anywhere in Wellington where one can get the Christchurch Press or the Otago Daily Times?
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Sacha, in reply to
And I'd much rather boycott the actual product than the advertisers. Let them know I don't buy their paper and why.
That would be fine if you were seeking a conversation rather than a result - but their business model suggests peeling off a major advertiser is going to get their attention more than losing one subscriber or audience member will.
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Democracy for people with the biggest wallets doesn’t impress me much.
what does that even mean in this context?
boycott
withdraw from commercial or social relations with (a country, organization, or person) as a punishment or protest.
• refuse to buy or handle (goods) as a punishment or protest.
• refuse to cooperate with or participate in (a policy or event). -
I’ve finally figured it out. Lhaws is on the Pipe.
It's easy to see why people could assume the bile that passes for copy published in his (sometimes incoherent) column is the product of methamphetamine psychosis, but have a look at this description, you'll see his personality is literally a text book case of an abrasive psychopath .
This struck me as a remarkably accurate description of the hostile, weird, offensive and ultimately pathetic personality of Michael Laws.
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st ephen, in reply to
Out of interest, why would you want to buy the ODT in Wellington when you can already read Doug Wright's fabulous shipping news column online? Fifty-five years of interesting visitors...
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Dal Boy's back!!!!!
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Even if Laws does get the shift (don't hold your breath), he'll most likely win some award in a few months for best Op-Ed. It's happened before.
Hello Ian.
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Islander, in reply to
Dunno whether you want appreciative noises or not, Ian D - but good to read you again...
There's quite a lot of online stuff from the ODT - but nothing quite compares with reading the paper - I share a copy with my mother (i.e she gets to read it first -annd do Simon Shuker's codecracker - and then she bundles up a fortnight's worth and posts them to me. Annd I get to carve out the interesting articles, and spend a happy couple of hours catching up with well-written well-subbed opinions (tho' they do run Chris Trotter) and local items. We share payment = win/win!
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Islander, in reply to
I suspect Lhaws would fit a number of profiles for disordered/dysfunctional personality types - lacking the compassion & insight of lovely others here, I just find him a thoroughly nasty human.
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Welcome back once again, Ian.
Regarding the Prolefeed, sorry, TV awards... if you want a vision of Henry & Lhaws' idea of humour, imagine a clown shoe stamping on a human face - forever.
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Sacha, in reply to
he'll most likely win some award in a few months for best Op-Ed. It's happened before.
Quick, someone write him a letter he can read out as an acceptance speech. Doubt it would be half as funny, but.
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giovanni tiso, in reply to
but their business model suggests peeling off a major advertiser is going to get their attention more than losing one subscriber or audience member will.
I'm aware of that. I just don't like it as a way of bringing about results. It gives a bigger voice to people who are wealthier - and who enjoy more rights already. I prefer to vigorously pursue the view that Laws shouldn't be allowed to do what he does on account of press standards. If he gets sacked because his brand is tarnished to the advertisers I'm not sure it counts as a victory at all.
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Russell Brown, in reply to
Dal Boy’s back!!!!!
Cool, huh?
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Jackie Clark, in reply to
I have always maintained you were some sort of social engineer, now I know it to be true. Or if you don't like the term 'social engineer", the term "the glue that holds people together" might please you better.
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recordari, in reply to
“the glue that holds people together”
In Korean they have a saying 'the essential ingredient'. Not saying in what context that was used previously, although I seem to remember Karaoke (KTV), Soju and... nope lost it.
But this would seem apposite. Keep it in mind for the Food blog. ;-)
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Russell Brown, in reply to
I have always maintained you were some sort of social engineer, now I know it to be true. Or if you don’t like the term ’social engineer”, the term “the glue that holds people together” might please you better.
I've thought of it as being able to draw a crowd. Without really knowing how -- because I am not of a systematising mind -- communities have formed around things I've done. Anther way of looking at it is that I know how to throw a party.
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Islander, in reply to
I have a neighbour like you (my oldest friend, except for my mother):she has an idea, she recruits in the gentlest way possible other people to notice her idea - and the great parties/events of the Okarito Free Republic then just happen!
With a helluva lot of time & energy & organisation behind the event.
Same with you eh?
Thanks for being, both!
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Russell Brown, in reply to
she has an idea
To be honest, there’s nothing more satisfying for me than having an idea and seeing it work. The last two Great Blends have been really good like that. I had a conscious moment a few hours before the one at the Civic last year of thinking “Right – the production works. Now it’s just about whether the creative ideas work.”
And they did. And for that to happen at any scale, it means other people making it happen too. For me, that’s about having a good intuition about what to ask of whom, and making sure I do my part with integrity and confidence.
I was actually really pleased about the way Blair Parkes’ music went at the OGB last week in Wellington. I have huge respect for Blair, and I’ve often thought that if I was curating a Late at the Museum, I’d bring him in to make sounds for those spaces.
As it was, the idea was to get away from DJs fighting our community’s natural urge to converse. So I asked him to do something tonal, rather than rhythmic. He ended up doing things people wouldn’t notice, but which were quite influential. From 6pm when the doors opened to 7pm when the show started, he shifted progressively upwards in key, for example. It literally keyed people up for the talk.
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Sacha, in reply to
I prefer to vigorously pursue the view that Laws shouldn't be allowed to do what he does on account of press standards. If he gets sacked because his brand is tarnished to the advertisers I'm not sure it counts as a victory at all.
Beyond whether you're primarily after a long-term (social justice) or shorter result (get him off air), to me it's a matter of belief about which approach will get the traction first.
I'd say both converged in the case of Mr Henry. It would be interesting to hear from a wall-fly what preyed most forcefully on the minds and consciences of those doing the deciding.
There's a broader campaign needed to make the long-term changes match short-term outcomes in any case. Who's vigorously leading that?
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