A photo taken in Wellington with a test car I had for Lucire. White cars aren’t the over-represented colour in New Zealand: guess from this photo what is. A friend of mine put me on to this Fairfax Press Stuff article, entitled ‘Silly Car Question #16: Why are there so many white cars?’. It’s a […]
Tag: Fairfax Press
Go well, Dave Moore
I was very saddened to learn of the passing of my colleague and friend Dave Moore on May 31, which I learned about a few hours after. You don’t expect your mates to drop dead at breakfast while on a press trip, especially not at the age of 67, and it’s particularly painful to […]
How a car accident makes you grateful
The trouble with all the yellow-peril reporting that’s far more prevalent than it should be in Aotearoa is when something happens to you that may get people thinking about a stereotype. Back in March, of course, we had one writer justifying racism toward (east) Asian tourist drivers in the Fairfax Press, when the facts […]
Read the report: Deloitte actually doesn’t blame migrants for increased corruption
Deloitte has published a report on the increasing corruption in Australia and New Zealand, which Fairfax’s Stuff website reported on today. Its opening paragraph: ‘An increase in bribery and corruption tarnishing New Zealand’s ethical image may be due to an influx of migrants from countries where such practices are normal.’ The problem: I’m […]
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When the media advocate racism to hide the real culprits behind bad driving
This op–ed in the Fairfax Press smacks of typical yellow peril journalism that has come to typify what passes for some media coverage of late. Yes, some Chinese drivers are awful in their home country and they will bring those bad habits here. But I’d be interested to get some hard stats. For instance, […]
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A familiar call after two mayoral campaigns on Wellington’s knowledge economy
The latest Victoria University study, expressing that there is a shortage of creative people, sounds very familiar. Dr Richard Norman highlights in a Fairfax Press editorial that knowledge economy companies are ‘struggling to capitalise on opportunities for growth because of limited local talent … ‘Many of these companies are well-seasoned and high-earning—a third […]
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Upset about needing Google Plus to comment on YouTube? Here’s a radical idea: don’t
There were a few upset people in November because Google compelled everyone who wanted to comment on YouTube to have a Google Plus profile. Even a co-founder of YouTube, Jawed Karim, objected. But it’s been a long time coming. In 2011, Google combined, as is its prerogative, YouTube accounts with its own. While […]
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Steve Guttenberg shows us how a Kiwi accent is done
Back in September, The Dominion Post claimed on its front page that I have an ‘accent’ that is holding me back. It was a statement which the editor-in-chief subsequently apologized for, and which she had removed from the online edition—you can judge for yourself here if the claim was a falsehood. Still, despite having lived […]
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The Murdoch apology does not let us off the hook
Above is Rupert Murdoch’s apology for the actions of the News of the World, to run in the UK in the wake of the resignations of Rebekah Brooks and Les Hinton. They’re great words, and they’re straight out of the PR 101 playbook. Some might say they’re a trifle too late, as was […]
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Privacy Commissioner agrees with my 2009 thoughts: New Zealand Post breached your privacy
A Fairfax Press headline today: ‘“Large-scale breach” of privacy rules by NZ Post’. The Privacy Commissioner has found New Zealand Post breached privacy rules in a promotion in July 2009, which I thought would have been a juicy story back then. The reporters write: The 2009 survey asked participants 57 multi-choice questions, ranging from […]