Discussions about the media, journalism and news.
With the first billboard going up in town, I’ve been asked about whether my free wifi programme will cost ratepayers. In a word, no. The wifi programme will be supported by selling the space on the home page. Upkeep of such a service, and I am looking at several alternatives, is in the […]
Read More… from Making free wifi pay—at no cost to ratepayers
Writing about cars calms me. So call me a freak. And maybe I’ve just needed to chill more in this last month as we head into the last few months of the mayoral campaign. It surprises me that Autocade has reached 1,200 models: 100 in the past month. And since I knew we were […]
Dear Chevrolet: even your own nation’s president calls the brand ‘Chevy’: You might want to rethink that memo. You may also like A whinge about whinging Johnny Foreigner might be better at running a car company in Shanghai Volkswagen’s scandal won’t spread to other German car groups How can we help those fooled into believing […]
As some of you know, I was at Cape Kidnappers last week, visiting the Napier area for the first time. (I tried getting there last October, but this was as far as I got.) It was for the Audi A8 launch, and we at the office had a good laugh at this lovely and […]
My friend and colleague at the Medinge Group, Ava Hakim, passed on a few papers from her day job at IBM. The first is the latest edition of a biennial global CEO survey, while the second asks the next generation of leaders—Generation Y. The aim: to find out what these groups think about the challenges […]
Read More… from What we need from leaders in the new decade: creativity leads the list
I learned the sad news that Norman Macrae, CBE, 旭日章, passed away on June 11, just shy of his 87th birthday. Norman was one of the great visionaries and forecasters of the 20th century, and served as deputy chief editor of The Economist till his retirement in 1988. Among his forecasts was the […]
Certain media are reporting the city’s [debt] in the $200 million–$300 million mark but our outside-council research reveals this is a very conservative estimate. It’s likely to be more. Regardless of whether it’s $200 million or half an (American) billion (scary just saying it), any deficit that’s nine digits long can’t be good for […]
There have been a few times in the history of this blog where I stepped away from writing regularly. At the end of 2006, I had a pretty good excuse: I was in France. This time, my reasons for stepping away for a few weeks do not include: (a) I was spending too much time […]
Read More… from Chatting to TV, radio and internet journalists for the mayoral campaign
I had a very insightful meeting today with one of the country’s leading information strategists, which put things into perspective for me regarding the mayoral race. His thoughts (though not exactly his words): Wellington has almost always voted for the right person at the right time. We needed someone like Mark Blumsky to give […]
Read More… from A new decade demands a new way—and a new mayor
You have to love the thinking behind the local newspaper in Wellington when it comes to the mayoral election. We have five people shown here in their poll, one of whom (Councillor Foster) hasn’t declared his candidacy. Spot anyone who’s missing? I’m very glad to say ‘None of the above’ is leading at […]