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Earnings
There's a bit of buzz around the social media traps about Air New Zealand's new micro-site Dear Listener.
Seems the Listener published an editorial that didn't go down well with Air New Zealand. Whoops-a-daisy.
Digi-outfit SaatchiDGS has called it "brilliant leadership, and understanding and use of the new communications paradigm". Many are chuckling.
It's amusing to see Rob Fyfe take a swipe back at comments he found wanting. And at the very least, it raises awareness of deaf issues (I hope).
But it's a little unfair to lambast the Listener simply for publishing anything other than the party PR line. The push-back shows a fundamental lack of understanding around journalism and freedom of the press.
It's insidious enough already that for each journalist in New Zealand there are around 5,000 PR people. (Actual figure may be slightly inflated.) That means every time you publish something outside the party PR line, you get a slap on the hand with a wet bus ticket quicker than you can say "body paint".
There's also a difference between an objective article and an editorial, which is typically partisan and takes a position. Often when people scream loudly with the catch-cry "check your facts!", they're neglecting to distinguish one from the other. Sometimes a partisan approach is mixed into a fact-based article, which muddies the waters further. But in this case the line is clearly drawn.
The idea of subjecting editorials to the same restrictions as a strictly objective, fact-based article where the party line is trotted out is a dangerous implication for freedom of the press.
Telling the Listener they're out of their tree isn't the smartest PR move, either. It merely invites more of the same.
Yet others are calling it "cult of personality".
We laugh, but there are other issues of understanding at stake.
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Air New Zealand smacks the Listener, but is it warranted?
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