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Journalism? I don't think so

I recently tried to browse the news using a smartphone.

What the?

Normally I access local NZ news websites using a desktop PC and find the level of advertising annoying but tolerable, albeit only just.

A few days ago however, I tried to use my smartphone to do the same and was absolutely blown away by the intrusiveness and volume of the ads that were hurled at me.

To be honest, I gave up on even trying to read the news with such a device and I have a great deal of difficulty understanding how anyone could do so on a regular basis.

The "value exchange" deal is truly and utterly broken in such a situation.

Perhaps this is yet another reason why news publishers are in such dire financial straights right now.

This suicidal over-presentation of advertisements is not the only reason however, as I also discovered this week.

Stuff, which continuously annoys the snot out of me with its begging and groundless claims of high standards of journalism, published this piece titled Explained: Is green hydrogen the next big deal?

Although I looked long and hard, I couldn't find the words "advertorial" or "sponsored" anwhere on that page so one can only assume that this is supposed to be a balanced piece of journalism that puts both sides of the story.

Yet it does no such thing.

This is a promotional piece for the local green hydrogen industry if ever I saw one -- except that Stuff has dressed it up as an objective piece of journalism.

Shame on you Stuff. It's things like this that earn you zero sympathy from me and show just how full of shite your self-promoting claims to journalistic integrity and professionalism truly are.

This piece is full of all the usual pro-H2 catch phrases, such as "it's the most abundant element in the universe" but nowhere are the real drawbacks of hydrogen mentioned when used as a fuel.

For those who want the truth, take a read of the piece I wrote way back in 2008 titled The Great Hydrogen Fuel Myth. This explains most of the reasons why hydrogen will not be a significantly useful fuel any time soon. All the hurdles I highlighted 16 years ago remain true today.

So where was Stuff's mention of the lack of energy density; the difficulty in storage; the huge inefficiencies in the creation, distribution and use of H2?

Anyone who took Stuff at its word will have come away thinking that hydrogen might be the next big thing, after reading their promotional piece. What happened to the war against "disinformation" that Stuff has been so proud to spearhead -- does it not apply to their own partisan pieces?

As I've recently covered in this column, attempts at turning H2 into a viable transport fuel overseas have largely failed. In California, a state well-known for its green initiatives, many of the H2 refueling stations have been shut down, leaving those who bought Honda or Toyota H2-powered vehicles high and dry.

Funny how there was no mention of that in the Stuff article eh?

Once again, reading this crap has really got me itchy to return to the news industry and set a benchmark that I'm sure Stuff couldn't come close to equalling in respect to the integrity and honesty of its stories.

Ah well... I'll continue my contemplations over the holiday break and you never know.

Carpe Diem folks!

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