‘Papers are still big. It’s the screens that got small’

A lovely journalism-flavoured roundup from Chris Bourke on his blog Distractions.

Among other things, he finds a biography of NZ journalist and author David Ballantyne…

Long sessions at the Occidental in Vulcan Lane were part of the reason, but he managed to get off the bottle in 1973 and produce a late flurry of work. After the Fireworks captures the smoky newsrooms, the pride and wisdom of the long-serving reporters and sub-editors, the daily post-deadline binges, the hidden subcultures such as the rundown flat at 301 Willis Street, Wellington, where journalists, poets, novelists (and even Douglas Lilburn) would come and go, knowing they could get a beer after six o’clock closing. Under the circumstances, the Aucklanders’ productivity is extraordinary:

“… visits to Willis Street were sporadic and impulsive excursions, usually involving drinking in Auckland on a Friday after work, catching the overnight train to Wellington, drinking at various Wellington watering-holes … partying on at 301, then catching the Sunday night train back to Auckland in time for work at the Star on Monday morning.”

… critiques the Dominion Post’s obituary of former Dominion editor Jack Kelleher…

Portraying him as a cardigan-wearing conservative – and concentrating on the brief tabloid folly of Rupert Murdoch – doesn’t tell the whole story.

… and quotes Maureen Dowd quoting a reworked quote from Sunset Boulevard:

“Papers are still big. It’s the screens that got small.”

The rest is here.