Wednesday, May 22nd

Cheating Photo Journalists, Maori TV and Sir Max Hastings.

Modern digital technology is generally regarded as the 21st Century boon… a transforming force enriching our daily lives, the way we do business and even defining our personal place in the world.

It is widely seen as an engine driving civilization into a new era of prosperity.

But like all innovations the digital age has a down side.

It has facilitated anti-social behaviour.

It has encouraged cheating and plagiarism, with its easy access to a vast wealth of intellectual property and its ability to be harnessed to dishonest uses.

Now we have yet another modern scandal, with the World Press Photograph of the Year winner being questioned after it was revealed that the award-winning image was digitally manipulated.

“Doctoring” photos isn’t exactly new… In the old days many pictures were chemically enhanced in the darkroom and photographs were re-touched to improve the published image.

On Media 3 this week we ask if it was ever true, “that the camera never lies” and, if so, what is wrong with the practice of digital- manipulation?

Russell Brown also has an interview with the renowned British newspaper Editor Sir Max Hastings who at one time guided the destiny of The Telegraph and The Evening Standard.

Hastings has been described as “the military historian of the century” with more than a score of publications covering topics as diverse as the Falklands War, the Battle of Britain and the struggle for civil rights in Ulster.

Retiring Maori Television Chief Executive Jim Mather also joins Russell Brown to discuss his role over the past eight years.

Mather is widely regarded as the man who rescued MTS after a string of initial disasters.

As he leaves to take up a new role in tertiary education, Jim Mather can look back on a solid record of achievement in an organization that has become by default the closest thing New Zealand has to a public service television broadcaster.

Media3 is broadcast on TV3 on Wednesday nights, around 11.30pm after Nightline and is replayed at 10.25 Saturday mornings.

It is also available on demand @tv3.co.nz.

We record on Tuesdays at Auckland’s Villa Dalmacjia.

We'd love to have you along to join our audience and to watch the show at 10 New North Road, Eden Terrace, Auckland, at 5.30pm on Tuesday evening.