But this dumbarse way of dealing with news you don't like has also spread to other parts of the media, and has now become a regular fixture in the worlds of sport and entertainment journalism.
Sports and entertainment reporters are regularly sneered at as not 'proper journalists' because they don't write about crime, politics or injustices, but these sections of the media are also big fat metaphors for everything, and there is a shit-tonne of money involved in both areas.
These journalists still follow the same basic rules of news media - they try to report on events within their rounds with accuracy and knowledge, and try to stack up rumoured whispers as incontrovertible truth.
And sometimes, they'll have something juicy - something nobody else has - and it will be confirmed by trusted sources who can't go on the record. And even though there is no actual official confirmation coming, they're going to run with that story. They might have to word it very carefully, but you can bet your arse they're going to run it. It's their fucking job.
And when everyone goes to the people who can officially confirm this news after it has broken, they frequently find PR people and management representatives lashing back out at the reports, with an increasing tendency to claw away at the fake news idea.
This is where the money comes into it - there is so much capital at stake in sports and entertainment deals, nobody with any brains is going to give anything away. If, for instance, there are reports that a high-profile league player is looking at the switch to rugby, of course those representatives of that player are going to keep quiet about anything they have for the negotiations. You expect them to keep their mouth shut and get on with the job.
But an increasing number of them aren't just leaving it with the flat, classic 'no comment', they're lashing back at the reports themselves, crying out about bias and the reporter's personal agenda. It's somehow worked for the current US president and they look even tougher when they rock up to the negotiation table.
And if it turns out that a deal can be done, and the best league player in NZ ends up in an All Blacks jersey, well, the media are still going to report on it and will be too busy congratulating themselves on the scoop to really acknowledge that they'd been played again.
The most egregious example of all this in recent days is TVNZ's handling of their news show host bullshit. News sites reporting on their rivals' host issues isn't big or clever, but it gets fucking shitloads of clicks. People do actually read these stories, and more read about these shows than actually watch them.
So last year the NZ Herald figured out fairly early that it was almost certainly going to be something involving the mighty Hillary Barry and ran a story about it and TVNZ lost their fucking minds. They went full apoplectic and denied the reports with the fervor of somebody who is really trying to hide something. They even took the Herald to the goddamn Press Council over it.
The Council, in its own inimitable language, told TVNZ where to stick their complaint: 'Quite clearly the categorical denials from TVNZ have not stopped speculation within the industry, and that is what the story is reporting on.'
And then it turned out that the reports that Barry would team with Simon Dallow on the 6pm shift weren't right at all, so who knows why TVNZ gave up the moral high ground on the issue with its pissy complaining, instead of sticking with the 'no comment' line and winning the argument. It all didn't stop the Herald from later talking up the Barry/Wells combination om Seven Sharp, which they were dead right on.
TVNZ benefited from this kind of speculation and attention, with acres of free publicity in the nation's major media, but still went apeshit when that speculation actually happened. It might have had an impact on the overall negotiations between hosts and broadcaster, but it was all in the detail. The shows still got their hosts.
Instead, the executive branch of the state TV broadcaster tried to start up its own cries of fake news and muddy the waters of trust and authority, which is only going to come back and bite them in the arse. It can only be hoped that this kind of media in-fighting is an isolated incident, and not the new normal, but who the fuck knows anymore.
- Ron Troupe
Posts
