Spam Journalism #13

Spam Journalism: The spurious use of sensational headlines to add spice to an otherwise pointless article. (MacDoctor definition)

Here is a sample of politically biased spam. While I consider this a spam article because it contains only political innuendo, I concede that some left wingers may consider it actual fact. 

But it’s not my fault you are delusional.  

From the Dominion Post:

Razor gang’s 10pc target

“Public sector heads have been asked to identify cost savings of up to 10 per cent in preparation for the May Budget, documents obtained by The Dominion Post show.”

Note the highly emotive headline with the words “Razor gang” evoking fears of wanton destruction of valuable public service offerings and indiscriminate “bottom lining” (making long-term changes for  the sake of improving the immediate bottom line). Note also the highly charged word “target” suggesting the directive “take an arbitrary ten percent off or else”. The reality is quite different.

“But a paper issued under the Official Information Act, offering “guidance for carrying out the reviews”, makes it clear savings of that size some of which will be switched to other areas are under consideration. In the paper, attached to a letter from Finance Minister Bill English late last year, chief executives were told: “Using your detailed knowledge of both the department and sector … can you identify the spending that delivers the lowest value for money, say, the bottom 5 per cent and 10 per cent.””

This is a perfectly normal thing to do in any company going through hard financial times. If you want to look for appropriate savings, you would ask your senior managers where the low-value items are – and then ask them to justify why they should remain. This is far more efficient than simply ordering a 10% across-the-board cut that has managers making absurd short-term decisions for the sake of a few dollars. That Vernon Small, the author of this silly piece of spam journalism, does not understand the difference suggests that he has no real-world business experience at all.

The truly amusing thing about all this “Razor gang” talk is that Kevin Rudd is doing precisely the same thing as John Key. Looking for waste and removing it. Rudd also says he is not looking to slash public service jobs, just like John Key (and, guys at the Standard, TVNZ does not count as “public service jobs”, no matter how much you want it to). It is truly hypocritical to remain silent about Rudd’s razor gang while lambasting Key and English at every turn. Especially when, so far, National’s “slashing” seems very anaemic compared to Australian Labour’s. Australian Finance Minister, Lindsay Tanner, has stated that they had “already saved more than $4 billion over five years by making the operations of government much leaner”.

Way to go, Mr Tanner. Hope Bill English is taking notes.

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