In times of crisis such as the Rena oil spill, people take different views depending on their own perspective - whether it's the prospective tourist watching on television, the affected local business or the beachgoer seeing his strip of sand blackened.
Inevitably along the line, the media gets blamed for the "tainted images" that are broadcast and printed. I've been to a few business meetings lately - amongst people who are rightly worried about their livelihoods - and they talk about the negative reporting that's not helping their cause.
That's their perception. A person in Britain may suddenly think that all of the Bay is tarred. They perceive oil spill and trouble. It's not the media's fault that they don't look deeper and understand how the crisis has been managed and how fast the beaches have been cleaned up.
It's never been any different - just attack the media. The Rena crisis is a moving story - every day there's a change, a higher expectation or a new disappointment.
The Rena story is different to the Christchurch earthquakes and the Pike River mine disaster - we knew what happened immediately. Even after a fortnight we still don't know what will happen with the Rena and the 1260 tonnes of heavy fuel oil still onboard.