Beaten up by Bob
Vision Wanganui chairman Bob Walker wasted no time firing off a letter to the Chron after last Monday's front page lead story headlined Mayor steps up pitch on picture sales in which the Diva sobbed about how poor the council was and pushed the idea of selling works from the Sarjeant as the only way to pay for restoration work.
Describing the byline-less Chron recycling of a Diva press release as "some media beat up" Mr Walker said: "If anyone wants the full and detailed transcript (not the abridged Chronicle one) of Michael's press release relating to the sale of art work I suggest you contact Michael, his secretary, or myself."
Concerned to see that everyone gets a fair suck of the sav from the Chron, LawsWatch took up Bob's idea and embarked upon a fearless quest for the truth behind the headlines. On Mayor Michael's very own website we found, guess what? A press release bearing an uncanny resemblance to the Chron "beat up".
It was 208 words long while the Chron managed to stretch it out to 299 words without so much as a lost syllable. The only acknowledgement of any contrary view to the mayoral mantra came in the last, 12-word sentence, "There is strong opposition to any sales from sections of the community."
Not a mention of the Nicky Higgie Friends Fundraising project that the Diva seemed to be intent on sabotaging. It was, it seems, yet another case of a press release dropped by the Diva on the skeleton Sunday staff finding its way straight into the prime news slot in a Monday edition. At least this time the Chron spared itself the ignomony of putting a senior reporter's byline on top of an ever-so-slightly reworked mayoral press release.
If this is a beat up, as implied by Bob Walker, that didn't do justice to the Thoughts of Charwoman Michael, we'd just love to see one that actually sought out and gave some prominence to a contrary view.
Another case of that inveterate diVisionary letter writer reminding us that you don't need an IQ much over 10 to join the Diva's cheer team. It's a wonder John Maslin didn't shoot another own-goal by appending an editor's note to Bob's letter pointing out that his criticism was unfounded as the Chron had simply reprinted the Diva's press release in its entirety.
Judge for yourself, Watchers, just what Bob is trying to tell us. Here's the Chron version, and here's the press release. We ran both documents through WCopyfind a plagiarism tool. On it's strictest settings (i.e. finding a "perfect match") the program reported a 72 percent similarity between the two documents. Allowing it a little more flexibility (i.e two words in a sentence changed still counted as a match) produced a rating of 82 percent. But don't take our word for it, the program is free: try it for yourself. You can have hours of fun feeding the Chron in one end, the Diva's spin in the other, and finding out just how uncannily the two resemble one another.
But things must be getting desperate in the diVision camp when printing a story that's 70 - 80 percent spin gets them foaming at the mouth about a "beat up". Must have been the shock of seeing that 20 percent they didn't write making it into print.
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11 comments:
Thanks LawsWatch. You're right about desperation setting in. But surely even the Diva wouldn't have thought Bob was being very smart diving into this one with his boots on.
I love Bob's method of telling casual lies. For example, when David Murray told us about the hate mail he'd received from Vision supporters, Bob started saying what an upstanding bunch of folk Vision members are, challenging David to prove otherwise. I'm still trying to figure out whether Bob is stupid or just plain deceitful.
That's a hard call. But a combination of stupidity and deceit is a dangerous brew at the best of times.
And these are the worst of times.
Laws Watch, can you publish Bob's letter ... we seemed to have missed that one in the Chron.
What are you saying: "We have to read Bob Walker, for professional reasons"? ;)
Laws Watch, can you publish Bob's letter
You don't ask for much, do you? ;-P Alright, our weary typing fingers have weaved their magic...
Spoilt children
You don't need an IQ of more than 10 to know that there are a bunch of single issue nutters and spoilt children out there who, every time their beloved gallery hits the front page or becomes a matter for council debate, they crank up their hate mail, their rumour machine (which is just a joke) and their email system.
This also involves vandalism to council footpaths and gutters with their childish messages.
So if D Murray (Letters, September 3) is a betting man I would put money on it that all this grabage being spewed out in recent weeks has some connection to those art nutters.
And for the record I want to state clearly that these idiots are damaging the image of the true art lovers of this city who have so much to offer.
It's a pity these idiots can't channel their time and effort into a more constructive pastime and back Cr Higgie in her efforts to develop arts for the city.
Finally, if anyone wants the full and detailed manuscript (not the abridged Chronicle one) of Michael's press release relating to the sale of art work, I suggest you contact Michael, his secretary, or myself.
Reading the full transcript is better than some media beat up.
Bob Walker
Chairman, Vision Wanganui
" back Cr Higgie"
Well, since her leader has gone out of his way to undermine her, how could we not?
Unless you take the view that they're playing Mutt & Jeff. Perhaps we're meant to be grateful for what little Higgie will salvage.
I had heard Walker tipped as a possible diVision by-election candidate but surely not - after reading this sort of crap and after his pathetic showing in the DHB election last year.
It's hard to imagine a greater liability for a "party" than having him as the only out-there member.
And let's not forget that the members of diVision's fictional letter writers club used prose very much like el presidente Bobby.
That was until Mas was forced to send them to their rooms before the slightly-over-10 IQ genius behind the campaign accidently hit on the psuedonmym Antoinette Beck.
And of course the Diva taken out lifetime copyright on Antoinette Beck, hasn't he, so that might course some internal diVision.
Bob, If your out there, and I'm sure you are, could you post the full transcript so we can see what your point is?
If not thats another one for the Watchers and an own goal to you
...could you post the full transcript so we can see what your point is?
Assuming Bob won't oblige (and, really, obliging isn't a word that springs to mind to describe him) we included this link in the original post to the press release archive on Michael's own website.
We presume that which was published online and that which was sent to the Chron are one and the same. If not, perhaps Mas might like to email us a scanned copy and we'll post that.
But we suspect it's a case of "he shoots... he scores!! Err, you're facing the wrong way there, Bobby".
Sorry Bob, I'm normally a supporter of yours and I'd love to see you in the by-election. However, it does not look too good for you on this letter, I think Laws Watch might have caught you out.
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