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...