blogging it real

This is golden, Fairfax releases a press statement saying it hopes to speak to a reporter who worked for some of their publications years ago, just in case he faked some stories back then.

Fairfax New Zealand chief operating officer and editor-in-chief Peter O’Hara said: “As a responsible media organisation we owe it to our readers to ensure that everything we publish is of the highest standard.
“We accept that some mistakes can and will be made by all print and broadcast organisations from time-to-time and we will correct, retract and apologise when this happens. But the deliberate faking of an interview – if that is, indeed, what has happened at the Herald on Sunday – raises concerns of a different dimension for everyone in the wider media community.

The cynical may suggest Fairfax is generating quotes for its own publications to use - which several of them have.

But get this, the reporter John Manukia, used to work for that bible of journalistic intergrity The Truth.

O'Hara must be dreading having to go back and ask all the 'vice-girls who were pimped out by gangsters to pay off their four-year-old daughters' drug debts' if they were actually interviewed.

Gimme a break.

Speaking of crap how about this comment from the Herald on Sunday's editor, who many believe to be the biggest fuckwit in New Zealand journalism, Shayne Currie saying "readers can be reassured that the Herald on Sunday's staff are ethical and honest - and feel as betrayed and disappointed as their editor about their former colleague's actions".

Yeah right.

My colleague fabricated a news story I feel so betrayed.....more like they're thinking is it 5pm yet?

Or, how about a payrise?

Or, man that Currie's a prick.

The Independent has a nice crack at him too this week:

The Herald on Sunday told readers that Manukia had admitted that he had never interviewed Solomona. He had been suspended from work duties for a formal interview and disciplinary process, and then been fired.
The Herald on Sunday itself offers no explanation for Manukia's behaviour, but editor Shayne Currie has told other media the reporter felt "some personal pressure to get a good story."
What does that say about the culture inside the competition leader of Sunday newspaper journalism in New Zealand?
In his own defence, Currie has quoted The New York Times executive editor Howell Raines, saying: "Frankly, no newspaper is set up to monitor for cheats and fabricators."
But Currie should remember what happened next in the famous New York Times story fabrication saga, where reporter Jayson Blair was found to have committed 36 acts of journalistic fraud, including plagiarism and outright fabrication.
Executive editor Raines and the Times managing editor Gerald Boyd have both resigned.
A special committee was established to investigate newsroom policy, a public editor was appointed to monitor complaints, new complaints publication policies and processes were instituted, new standards on matters such as the use of unidentified sources have been developed.
There is no sign of a similar response within our flagship Sunday paper.

I don't know how many would agree with the Herald on Sunday being labelled the "flagship" Sunday paper though.