Comments on: Today’s news is fluffy

By: teriabel

teriabel — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 03:48:10 +0000

…what am I missing; I thought Rupert Murdoch was doing pretty well with the buy it up, dumb it down and spread it (circulation) out model. It’s a winning formula in the US. The Wall Street Journal is on course to be a coloring book any day now…with loooots of colorers…(isn’t it?)

By: Steve Bell

Steve Bell — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 17:34:02 +0000

Very much reflects my perception of local “news” coverage; Major Aussie papers are hardly better; they still seem to think (or to be trying to convince their readers) that TV talent and dancing shows are an important part of “reality”; they often get a large chunk of website home page real-estate (virtual estate?)

I went looking for news in the local dailies about Iran too. The NZ Herald’s search engine brought up “related locations” that included Titirangi and a tag for “Maori Queen” (Te Atairangikaahu, geddit?)

Search engine fail. The genuine “news” on Iran wasn’t much cop either.

By: billbennettnz

billbennettnz — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 05:39:45 +0000

So, how much would you pay for these stories if Fairfax and APN started piecemeal charging for news as suggested by Rupert Murdoch?

Not much I guess.

Personally I don’t see anything much on either paper that would have me reaching into my (virtual) pocket. The print editions still offer much better reading albeit at a (small) cost.

I suspect the two papers are mainly set up as Google-bait to drag in passing traffic, which equals advertising dollars, either via Google News or search.

Disclosure: I’ve 30 years experience as a journalist, editor and publisher and have worked in newspapers, magazines and online.

By: Paul

Paul — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 05:38:08 +0000

I was on stuff.co.nz today and thought **exactly** the same thing. The fluff percentage is at an all time high.

Still, it is not just the newspapers. Watch the news on TV and you will also see a lot of fluff. How much news programming time has been devoted to a new variant of vegamite?!?! Too much in my humble opinion.

By: Matt Harman

Matt Harman — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 02:01:56 +0000

Surely it’s not really the news that’s fluffy, it’s just that one particular view of it?

It’s not like the ‘worthy’ content isn’t on Stuff or the NZH — it’s just that the homepage is designed to appeal to a certain audience profile — people that consumes their news by going to the homepage of their favourite site and looking for links to click. …And constant experimentation with link placement on these hompages shows editors that visitors who fit that ‘homepage profile’ want to see poolside pics with the all blacks.

People following the Iran situation are probably typically consuming news in a different (less brand loyal) way – such as via Twitter recommendation or Google News. They still get to what they want to read on Stuff/NZH it’s just how they get to their destination is different.

As you’d know from your time at Fairfax, the majority of visitors never even see the homepage of news websites. It’s a referral driven business.

By: technebish

technebish — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 23:50:57 +0000

…Sigh… One of the reasons I don’t read Sunday papers is the lack of real news. I like to get my fluff from glossy gossip mags – they don’t pretend to be the news.

However, Stuff and NZ Herald are impersonating newspapers, and I’m with you on this one. Check out the ‘Latest Headlines’ on Stuff right now:
Latest Headlines
11:37am Bruno camps it up for UK premiere (Fluff)
11:30am March protests Yemen killings (News)
11:30am Playboy boss wants Kendra’s baby at mansion (Fluff)
11:26am Greenhouse debate lights up Parliament (News-ish)
11:22am Drogba banned six games for outburst (Sports – sorry, I don’t count as news)
11:18am Betty White’s nude requests denied (Fluff)

If they could get Kendra to tell the story about her baby-daddy’s near-miss while a holiday in Yemen, they’ve got the Woman’s Day beat.