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You can't trust the mainstream media

Well I'm gobsmacked. As readers of yesterday's column will be aware, I wasn't expecting large crowds to form outside computer stores in anticipation of snatching-up copies of MS Vista -- but boy, was I wrong! According to reports broadcast on NatRad (oops sorry, "Radio New Zealand National"), around 400 people were queued up at the Manukau City branch of Dick Smith Electronics in an effort to be one of the first in the world to snare Microsoft's latest offering.

But I have to wonder if that thronging crowd might have been the victim of a TV1 advertorial that screened earlier that evening?

I'm talking about he absolutely appalling bit of free advertising that the Closeup programme aired at just after 7pm on Monday evening.

If you believed what was said in this item, you'd think that Vista was just the most amazing bit of code ever cut.

If you missed the broadcast, you'll find it online at the TVNZ website. Just have a look around this page and you'll find it.

Where was the mention of the well publicised disadvantages of Vista?

Why didn't they interview *anyone* who might have something other than glowing praise for this new OS?

Surely local expert Peter Gutmann's excellent paper on the performance hit and restrictions imposed by Vista's DRM was worthy of mention. After all, Peter's paper has made news around the world -- well everywhere except NZ perhaps.

No, I'm sorry -- this piece appeared to me to be nothing more than a gratuitous plug for Microsoft and its products.

Cute little bits of spin such as a Microsoft exec spending time with his kids on the computer, safe in the knowledge that the parental control facilities of Vista would protect them from all the Net-nasties was poignant but looked like it could have been excerpted from a slickly-made advertisement.

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In fact, most people get pretty good value from their Microsoft software -- but to accept and broadcast Microsoft's PR as, what TVNZ like to call "current affairs" smacks of poor standards.

Shouldn't Close Up be required to place a little "Advertorial" advisory in the corner of the screen when it does this kind of thing? I wonder if an otherwise ethical and experienced Journalist like Mark Sainsbury is cringing at being associated with such an unbalanced bit of journalism?

But hey, TVNZ are not alone in having a little explaining to do this week...

It seems that the NZ Herald has been suckered by some of the mis-information that lurks on the Net.

Check out this column written by Ana Samways. It's entertaining and fun -- but take a look at that picture and the caption beneath it.

Now scroll down towards the bottom of this page from the official "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" website.

Spot anything strange?

Gosh, it's not (as claimed by the NZ Herald) a shot from the US edition.

In fact, if they'd done a little research, they might have found this page where the name of the site might have hinted that this was nothing more than a hoax.

I seem to recall that back in the old days, the ramblings of online bloggers were considered to be of dubious veracity. These days that honour seems to fall more often to the mainstream media whose standards have certainly fallen a long, long way.

Do you think that mainstream media (at least in NZ) has lost a great deal of its credibility when it comes to the accuracy and honesty of its reporting?

Are *some* bloggers taking over as a more accurate, objective and reliable source of news and information?

Should Close Up do a follow-up on that awful Vista promo so as to present a more balanced picture? What the hell were those 400 people in Manukau thinking?

Have your say on this...

Oh, and don't forget today's sci/tech news headlines

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