Editor's desk: Week of June 19, 2006

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Friday June 23


The stats are in, and they show that crime stories were the most-read this week on nzherald.co.nz. The week was dominated by the mysterious deaths of 3-month-old twin boys in Auckland. As well, many of you came to the site for weather updates, including news on continuing power blackouts in the South Island, and for our coverage of voting at the International Whaling Commission. Here are the top five most-read stories from the past week:

1. Pukekohe rape-accused given name suppression was the final update of a story that began Thursday morning when police announced an arrest in connection with the sexual assault of a woman in her home.

2. Dead twins' father no longer speaking to police was one of three reports on this tragic case that were among our five most-read stories this week.

3. Dead twins' parents 'determined to find out what happened'

4. Second twin dies of head injuries

5. Teacher to deny she was almost four times over the limit is the story of west Auckland high school teacher Joanna Winifred Wright whose case will go to court in August.
- - - posted 1.22pm by Neil Sanderson


Further to yesterday's posting about overseas readers of nzherald finding the site quite slow to load, our technical team have begun increasing our international bandwidth substantially. They're pleased with the results so far, but say it will take them a few days to get everything tweaked. If you're reading the site from offshore, we'd appreciate your feedback.
- - - posted 12.44pm by Neil Sanderson


It's Friday, and although we try not to get too casual here at the Herald, here's something a bit light-hearted. If you're planning a new website, it's worth remembering that domain names that look good at first glance can turn out to be embarrassing - and perhaps risque. Here are some real disasters. Click at your own risk.
- - - posted 12.35pm by Neil Sanderson


Thursday June 22


Reader comment: What is the problem with this online edition of the NZ Herald? It is the slowest loading online newspaper site I have come across. It's not unusual for pages to take 15 seconds or longer to load, sometimes it is so slow I just give up. I have fast cable broadband and have no difficuly with any other newspaper site world wide.
- - - posted by Lloyd, Australia

Response: We've heard from several overseas readers in the past few days saying that nzherald pages have been slow to load. Why is this happening? The main reason is there are more people trying to read the site than we can accommodate within our (very expensive) international circuits. But our technical manager is on the case and promises me we will soon have some very good news for overseas readers. Stay tuned - and thanks for your patience.
- - - posted 1.10pm by Neil Sanderson


Reader question: Yesterday you ran a story that Chris Kahui was refusing to talk to the police until they supplied his lawyer with a video tape of his previous interview. Today you run a story that he subsequently talked with the police for 6 hours but not a word about the video tape??!! Shouldn't your staff supply some continuity here and fill in the missing link?
- - - posted by Alan

Response: Yes Alan, we should have explained why Mr Kahui's lawyer, Lorraine Smith, had agreed that he could speak with police. We've amended this morning's story to include this paragraph:
The father spoke to police after officers agreed to release a copy of an earlier statement he made. Ms Smith had been refusing access to him until this was done.
- - - posted 12.55pm by Neil Sanderson


Changes to Entertainment coverage: Today marks the launch of a revamped 44-page Time Out in the Herald print edition, and there are come corresponding changes to our Entertainment coverage on nzherald that I'll outline below.

But first a tip: If you use an RSS reader, you can be notified automatically whenever we update the content in any of these areas. (I'll provide the link to each feed. All you have to do is click on "RSS", then paste the feed's URL from your browser address window into your RSS reader software).

Film reviews are now published on Thursdays rather than Saturdays so you can be prepared for the latest releases. [RSS]

What's On, a rundown of the biggest events in and around Auckland over the next seven days, will be published every Thursday at 1pm. See Time Out in the print edition for a comprehensive daily list of events. [RSS]

Theatre Guide, a summary of what's on stage in and around Auckland, is a new addition to our online coverage. Like What's On, it will be published Thursdays at 1pm. [RSS]

Today's TV highlights is something new. Every day, the Time Out reviewers will suggest what they think is the best on TV. We'll publish it daily at 1pm. [RSS]

We'll continue to carry feature stories and reviews of music, film, and television online -- while comprehensive television listings and the daily events guide can be found in Time Out.
- - - posted 12.00pm by Neil Sanderson


Wednesday June 21


Reader question: I am seeking to read Lincoln Tan's older articles which are no longer available online. Please help. Thanks.
- - - posted by Jenny

Response: Hi Jenny. Finding articles by a particular writer is pretty easy once you know how (our archives go way back to 1998). Here's what to do:

1. Near the top right corner of any page of the site, you'll see the words "View Subject Index". Click on that.

2. When the Subject Index page has opened, you will have access to more than 1500 content subjects. To find Lincoln's page, you could click on the letter "L" at the top and then scroll down the list of subjects. Click on "Lincoln Tan".

Alternatively, you could click on "Author", which is further down the page, to see a directory of all our writers. Then click on "Lincoln Tan".

3. Once you're on Lincoln's page, you can click on any of the headlines to access his articles. If you are not already a subscriber to nzherald.co.nz Premium Content, you'll be presented with a page that explains the payment options.
Cheers,
- - - posted 11.50am by Neil Sanderson


Reader comment: Why oh why do reporters call people aged 60 elderly. 70 would be more realistic in this day and age.
- - - posted by Lynette

Response: Thanks Lynette. Doesn't "elderly" refer to anyone who is at least ten years older than the person speaking? But seriously, I'm inclined to agree with you that in this case our headline "Elderly woman hit by car" wasn't the best choice. We'll change the headline to "Woman hit by car in Lower Hutt". I'll also ask our editors to avoid using this term unless a) age is a factor in the story, and b) the person has at least reached retirement age!
- - - posted 11.25am by Neil Sanderson


Tuesday June 20


It's the tenth anniversary of washingtonpost.com, and they've published a look back at how the site began in the days before laptops, BlackBerries and home broadband.
- - - posted 10.05am by Neil Sanderson


The Guardian continues to redefine "newspaper" by announcing that it will publish a new print edition every 15 minutes. G24 will be an 8-12 page A4-size summary of the latest news (here's a mockup of the front page) that readers can download and print. It's designed to appeal to lunchtime readers and evening commuters, and content will be sourced from the Guardian website. The latest Guardian move was announced just days after the paper said that virtually all stories produced by its staff would go online immediately rather than being held for the daily print edition. Blogger (and Guardian columnist) Jeff Jarvis notes the irony in taking the news from print to digital and back to print.
- - - posted 9.25am by Neil Sanderson


Monday June 19


Reader comment: I pay $90 a year to be a subscriber to your web page. From time to time a piece impresses me to the extent that I want to share it with my cousin in England. Alas, he cannot read it. As he comments, somewhat acidly, "Maybe its worth pointing out to the Herald just how stupid it is to provide the capability for a subscriber to email a link to a non-subscriber BUT then to prevent the recipient from reading the article. They should either: - fix their website so that any recipient, subscriber or non-subscriber, can read the article. or - remove the "email a friend" facility because it is fundamentally broken if any arbitrary recipient is unable to read the linked article."
- - - posted by David

Response: Thanks for the comment David. We're glad to have you as a subscriber to nzherald.co.nz Premium Content. Your cousin doesn't need to become a long-term subscriber to read the occasional article. There are several options, starting at $3 for one day's access to all our Premium Content.
- - - posted 1.35pm by Neil Sanderson


More on last week's announcement by the Guardian that it would publish its newspaper content online first and in print second: Mark Day of the Australian looks at the effects on news gathering and production as newspapers shift their focus to digital publishing.
Day writes: "Until now, journalists have tended to regard the online operations of newspapers as a bit like skunk works, sited away from the newspaper production floor, where strange boffins experiment with unfathomable technologies."
Happily, things are more collegial here at the Herald, where the nzherald.co.nz news editors work at the central news desk alongside editors of the print edition. It's probably the best way to share information between our two "channels".
- - - posted 10.10am by Neil Sanderson


Tim McGirk, the Time magazine reporter who broke the story of the Haditha killings in Iraq, says his interest in the story was prompted by two pieces of video he had seen which seemed inconsistent with US military accounts:
"I looked at the video again, and thought 'well, these bodies are women and children, and some were wearing their pajamas," and you just wouldn't find Iraqi women going out in the streets at 7 or 8 o'clock in the morning in their pajamas'."
For more on how the story began to emerge, see the interview with McGirk in the Columbia Journalism Review.
- - - posted 9.15am by Neil Sanderson