Sir Neville Jordan – not dead

Victoria University chancellor and NBR Rich Lister Sir Neville Jordan is not dead, communications director Colin Marshall confirms.

Massey University's student publication Massive has published an article called Sir Neville Jordan dies following Salient spoof interview.

The article, on Massive's front page, is written in fairly straightforward fashion, although it is also included in the publication's Satire section.

There was a minor brouhaha yesterday after it was revealed on social media that the chancellor had demanded an apology from Salient (Victoria's student publication) over a spoof interview. His beef: it was not labeled satire. It was a gentle ribbing, leading The Spinoff to question if the entrepreneur had a sense of humour.

Massive's article is considerably more blunt.

Asked to comment on the apology demanded of Salient, or whether Victoria would approach Massive for an apology, Mr Marshall would only refer NBR to a one-line statement from Sir Neville, which read, "The matter has been dealt with satisfactorily. It is now historical and I have nothing further to add."

It seems Sir Neville has decided the best way to extinguish the controversy is to ignore it from this point.

POSTSCRIPT

A Q&A with Massive editor Carwyn Walsh

NBR: Why did you run the Jordan-is-dead article?

CW: Solidarity [with Salient] was the major reason. Another reason was that it was simply the right thing to do. Sometimes you have to put competition aside on the grounds of principle. Satire is something that we here at Massive believe is sacrosanct - especially within student media where it is an essential tool for poking fun at those in power, be they government figures or those that run our universities.

NBR: Have you had any blowback from Victoria University?

CW: No. We have not heard anything. We can only speculate as to why this is. Perhaps he learnt his lesson. Perhaps he just enjoyed the article.

NBR: How are student newspapers holding up today vs Craccum in the early 1990s, which is widely regarded as their heyday?

CW:  I was not aware Craccum had a heyday [It totally did - CK]. I guess you learn something new every day. The major difference is that after the Voluntary Membership Bill was passed and student unions were no longer mandatory, student media has had to rely on their own universities for funding. This, of course, has major ramifications – especially around independence. This is something you can see in the situation Salient currently find themselves in. Speaking from my own experience, we are very lucky that our vice-chancellor, Steve Maharey, respects our independence fully and allows us to function with full editorial independence.

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