1 EAGLETON NOTES: It's All In The News

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Friday 24 October 2014

It's All In The News

One of the things that struck me when I first went to New Zealand in 2005 was that there was to some extent no such thing as local television news in the way that news is local in the UK.  There are no regional TV News programmes.  On the other hand there is another way of looking at it: that all news in New Zealand is local - regardless of where it happens.  So having been back in Scotland for half a year this email from TVNZ struck me as peculiar.


Am I the only one to feel this?

In case, by the way, you are wondering to what I am referring it is the item about a woman refusing to pay her rates.

21 comments:

  1. Does seem an unusual place to rank it up with the world news on a tv related web site...

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    1. Yes Fiona even by TVNZ standards it struck me as odd.

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  2. The way the information about the shooting is presented makes me shudder. It is so sensationalist. They are very close to writing stuff like "see the blood ooze out from the shot wound in our latest video footage" and "count the body parts on the ground and win a ticket to [some sensationalist event or other]".

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    1. Meike we are becoming completely inured to violence and warfare with modern television cameras in there - literally at the kill. One would think that it would bring the horror of it all to people but it seems to have the opposite effect. It's as if people think they are watching a film.

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  3. This is brilliant. They have a sense of proportion. Canada is a long way away so although it leads they do provide news for their viewers.

    I love local news. The Westmorland Gazette is a gem. The headline I remember best read.
    " MAN STEELS PURSE FROM BABY." sic.

    After a couple of paragraphs the article concluded with. "Purse found intact."

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    1. Ah. The Westmorland Gazette. Fond memories. Perhaps the best Scottish example which has persisted for nearly a century was the Aberdeen Journal when the Titanic was sunk. It is supposed to have read “North-east man lost at sea. 1500 perish in Titanic disaster”.

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  4. Oh, I thought you were referring to the Frodo Baggins item. Previously, I thought he was just a figment of Tolkein's febrile imagination and now it seems he's in a safety video so he must be real!
    And now from Isle of Lewis Weekly:-
    "Man extends concrete path with help from neighbours"
    "Eagleton cat accused of goldfish stalking"
    "Ranting drunkard - Alex Salmond ejected from Stornoway bar yelling 'It's not fair!' repeatedly"

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    1. Now you've really upset me YP. Fancy suggesting that FB wasn't real. Next you'll be telling me you don't believe in fairies either.

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  5. So if it works for New Zealanders that's fine. It looks odd but that's what they're used to .

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    1. That's absolutely correct Red. It's a large country but a small population.

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  6. How very weird. Is rate avoidance rare in NZ?

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    1. I would think Frances that non-payment of rates is pretty much the same as any other place.

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  7. After being constantly bombarded by news reports from Syria/Iraq/Iran/Lebanon/Israel, plus the shootings in the Canadian Parliament, plus the school which took place just twenty miles up the road from us, plus other assorted disasters/political scandals etc. etc. etc., I am swearing off news, period. I don't know about anyone else, but I need a break from all the sturm und drang of this so-called "modern" world. The world is too much with us, I fear. xoxox DeeDee

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    1. The mind is a strange thing DeeDee. I read 'school shooting' and was quite puzzled when I went back and saw 'shooting' had been omitted. You are correct of course and one of the wonderful things about New Zealand is that it is a very grounded society and, in world terms, a very safe society too. I was so saddened this evening to hear, yet again, of another school shooting.

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  8. Sorry, GB, that should read "school shooting which took place just wenty miles up the road."

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  9. I wonder what rates she isn't paying. Taxes? Water? Just wondering out here in California. And I rarely watch news on tv, it is too violent and seeing the carnage on tv is more horrible than staying informed via print and radio.

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    1. It'll be the property tax Terra. One of my habits is to watch the TV news although sometimes I wonder why.

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  10. I'm pretty used to a mix of local and global news as we have a fairly big daily morning newspaper in my town which provides both. i guess it might twist one's perspective sometimes. But on the other hand it does save us from always getting just the Stockholm perpective which tends to dominate the national TV news and the biggest newspapers (which ae produced there)

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    1. That's the advantages of regional newspapers Monica. In the Uk we also have local TV news which, on the BBC, follows the national news. Of course in Scotland we have the Scottish news after the UK national news.

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  11. Sometimes I just want to yell "STOP!!" and get off this crazy world.
    News houses are all caught up with making their news more sensational than each other and at what cost....
    To be honest I have not watched our local broadcast news for a number of years...it's just too much.

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    1. I'm afraid, Virginia, that I'm a compulsive watcher of the news headlines in the morning and evening.

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