Police officials in New Zealand have decided not to press charges against a freelance cameraman involved in the “teapot tapes” affair during last year’s election cycle. Allegedly, cameraman Bradley Ambrose intentionally recorded a conversation between Prime Minister John Key and Act Party Epsom candidate John Banks at a public press…
Category: Asia Pacific
NEW ZEALAND: Port Protest Goes Radio-Active
According to the New Zealand Herald, inflammatory comments encouraging striking port workers to violence by RadioLive host Willie Jackson have infuriated Port of Auckland bosses. Members of the dockworkers union are currently protesting long shifts and lack of job security, as well as the laying off of 292 workers last week. Mr. Jackson described the…
AUSTRALIA: Erotic eBook Excites International Markets
International acclaim for the erotic novel “Fifty Shades of Grey” by E. L. James and published by The Writer’s Coffee Shop, has landed the book on The New York Times Best seller list. There has also been a $1 million dollar sale to the publisher Random House, according to recent reports by…
WE ASK/THEY ANSWER: ‘THE GREAT (AND NOT SO GREAT) OF THE MEDIA OF THE ASIA PACIFIC’ An Exclusive Interview with Celebrated Career Editor David Armstrong
I was recently given the opportunity to interview longtime journalist and editor David Armstrong. The course of his career has led him to traverse the Asian landscape, from Australia, to Hong Kong, and currently to Thailand. Among his many prominent posts, he has been Editor-in-Chief of both The Australian and…
NEW ZEALAND: Reverberations over TV Station Collapse
A Department of Building and Housing investigation has found the Canterbury TV building that collapsed in the February earthquake did not meet building standards when it was built in 1986. This finding has led to numerous calls for justice by family and friends of the 115 people who died in…
AUSTRALIA: Newspaper Puts Politicians In Deep Water
Water Utilities Cabinet Minister Stephen Robertson and Premier Anna Bligh face fresh criticism from the newspaper, The Australian, following the alleged mismanagement of Brisbane’s main dam, the Wivenhoe Dam, during a disaster 13 months ago. According to reports, in January 2011, engineers were forced to release water in large bursts…
AUSTRALIA: Media Question Police Conduct at ‘Tent Embassy’
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the New South Wales Aboriginal Land Council has asked the Human Rights Commission to perform an investigation into the possible criminal conduct of police officers during a protest last week at the “tent embassy,” the semi-permanent council representing Aboriginal political rights. This request comes…
AUSTRALIA: Who’s Peeking Into the Labor Party’s Computer?!
On December 15th 2011, the Australian Supreme Court halted the Victoria Police from seizing three personal computers that belonged to investigative journalists Ben Schneiders, Royce Millar, and Nick McKenzie, all of whom work for the Australian newspaper The Age. Earlier that day, the police from Victoria’s e-crimes unit obtained a…
AUSTRALIA: Down-Under Goes Over the Top Over Obama
Even before U.S. President Barack Obama’s Air Force One touched down in Australia this week the trip was causing quite the media frenzy. An article in the Herald Sun, one of the widest read newspapers in Australia, trumpeted the fact that Obama was to be welcomed with a jar of Marmite, a popular native breakfast spread…
AUSTRALIA: Freedom of Speech versus Cultural Sensitivity
In Australia, journalist Andrew Bolt of the Herald Sun, the highest-circulating daily newspaper in the country, has been found guilty of contravening the Racial Discrimination Act of 1975 by publishing articles that were deemed offensive to light-skinned Aborigines…