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Right of Reply - Scoop Responds To The Daily Blog
Right of Reply - Scoop Responds To The Daily Blog
From Scoop Editor Alastair Thompson
The following comment was submitted to The Daily Blog at 4pm for publication on an item published yesterday & headlined "Scoop’s latest attempt to rebrand itself".
In the post by Martyn Bradbury it was asserted that Scoop's essay on Friday, "Reinventing News As A Public Right - A Public Conversation", which launched Scoop's, "State of NZ News Media - A Public Conversation" editorial series, was a "desperate attempt" at rebranding.
In his post after first agreeing that NZ News Media is in a parlous state, Bradbury concluded, "I don’t think Scoop, with its looming internal problems will be around long enough to be part of the solution".
On December 8th 2014 Bradbury posted an item about Judith Collins taking up a columnist role at the Sunday Star times which included the throwaway line : "With Scoop about to collapse next month, The Standard, Public Address and Pundit are about to lose their largest revenue streams." At the time Scoop chose to ignore Bradbury's slur. While publishing groundless innuendo like this on a single occasion might be considered a mistake. Doing so twice is clearly deliberate
As the editor of The Daily Blog has so far chosen not to publish Scoop's response it is included here below.
Martyn,Please consider this comment a right of reply. I expect it to be published.
This is the second time in a couple of months that you have decided to speculate about Scoop’s imminent demise based on gossip in a post framed in innuendo.
To be clear. Scoop is not about to fail. And Scoop is part of the future of news in NZ. Scoop’s “Operation Chrysalis” project is about succession, finding a sustainable path for the business for the next decade. As you know we live in difficult times for the monetisation of independent free and progressive news, but it is clear to anyone with eyes that Scoop shows more promise in this space than anyone else in the NZ online space.
Specifically Scoop has a monthly audience of 500,000 unique visitors (roughly 10 times that of this publication), publishes 1000 items of content a week – including significant quantities of original journalism as well as press releases from unions, political parties, NGOs and progressive activists. We have a database of close to 1 million published and indexed pages and more than 4 million incoming links.
Scoop employs 8 staff and turns over 100s of thousands of dollars in revenue each year.
We are by far the strongest independent online participant in news – and as a result the best opportunity to build a future for independent online news in New Zealand.
Scoop would appreciate it if The Daily Blog, as a fellow traveller in the online news and commentary space, would desist from publishing reports which are intended to damage Scoop’s business, something which it is presumably doing for self-serving reasons.
Alastair Thompson
Scoop.co.nz
Editor & Publisher
Since Scoop's right of reply comment was submitted The Daily Blog's vice like moderators have chosen to publish a comment by a reader stating: "I’d be disappointed to lose Scoop – they played a pivotal role in getting me to wake the fuck up." Scoop's right of reply remains in the queue.
Scoop wishes that rather than launching internecine attacks on his internet colleagues, Martyn Bradbury would also wake up and realise that his constant posture of aggressive beligerence towards all and sundry is boring, annoying and counterproductive to whatever political cause he claims to represent.
ENDS
Alastair Thompson
Scoop Publisher
Alastair Thompson is the co-founder of Scoop. He is of Scottish and Irish extraction and from Wellington, New Zealand. Alastair has 24 years experience in the media, at the Dominion, National Business Review, North & South magazine, Straight Furrow newspaper and online since 1997. He is the winner of several journalism awards for business and investigative work.
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