All eyes in Parliament are on the journalists employed by the three Fairfax mastheads, the DomPost, Sunday Star Times and the Christchurch Press. Fairfax is to chuck them all in one room in the Gallery and appoint a bureau chief from among the current staff- or possibly appoint from outside the organisation.
The days of serious competition between the Dead Tree Press papers will undoubtedly disappear.
The reasonably recently arrived Aussie scribe who took up the political editorship at the Sunday Star Times is apparently seriously miffed at the change in circumstances which means he may lose some status in the musical chairs game that's about to play out.
Apparently there is a book running in the round house on who is the front runner is of the two main contenders - Tracy Watkins of the DomPost and the ginga from Christchurch Colin Espiner. The good money is on Espiner who is a good mate of Paul Thompson, Group Executive Editor, one of the favoured few in the Fairfax managerial stable.
A parliamentary insider reckon the reshuffle wont make bugger all difference to the quality of the column inches produced by Fairfax. Apparently, corridor stops - designed to get quick sound bites to populate ever hungry online new sites are now the staple for parliamentary journalists. No real investigation, no having deep and meaningfuls with Minsters and MP's and bugger all OIA's. They just follow up on the ones the opposition churn out.
Sad Really.
No doubt this will all be a hot topic at the impending nuptials of the old southern media curmudgeon Barry Soper and his youthful bride Heather du Plessis - Allan.
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1 comment:
Excellent finally some real reporting.... from the blogosphere. As for who should head the fairfax gallery - I nominate Vernon Small. A clever chappy who does real journalism most of the time.
:)
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