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EDITOR INCOMPETENT
Best-selling author Antony Loewenstein has sold only 5987 copies of his painful book, according to the Australian’s Amanda Meade. I blame the media blackout. Also from Amanda:
The latest high jinx from The Age came when senior news editor Patrick Smithers, usually very patient, shocked the evening editorial floor when he yelled and hurled his mobile phone across the room, apparently after one too many calls from editor-in-chief Andrew Jaspan. One of Jaspan’s habits is to demand every story be printed because he is not yet competent on the computer system.
Please, Andrew. Think of the trees.
He demands every story be printed? That’s called the newspaper. Pretty hard to edit after the fact. Sure does explain a lot.
Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2006 11 30 at 01:50 AM • permalink“Mr Jaspan, I’ve found this terrific story on a man named Jessie Macbeth who was involved in murder and torture in Iraq.”
“Spare me your idle chatter, Lane. Print it and put it on my desk.”
Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2006 11 30 at 02:04 AM • permalinkOrdinarily, I wouldn’t post a large excerpt of an article but link to it instead. However, I trust everyone (including Mistress Andrea) will be pleased to deny Loewenstein the traffic. No links for Leftard. However, his latest blog posting responds to The Australian and says:
More research needed
by Antony Loewenstein November 30th, 2006The Australian’s media diarist has clearly done her research
......
A few points for the intrepid Murdoch journalist. I’m based in Sydney (though published by Melbourne University Publishing.) A subtle geographic difference for some, but one worth noting. My tongue-in-cheek comment regarding respect of a best-selling author was obviously lost in translation. Clearly understanding sarcasm isn’t the writer’s strong-suit.Finally, my book has sold far more than 5987 copies since its August release, but again, let me guess the Australian simply relied on the notoriously unreliable Bookscan figures? Making a call to my publisher was too much to ask.
I look forward to journalist Amanda Meade’s best-seller book on office reporting.
A quick Google search confirms Loewenstein regards anyone and anything with which he disagrees as “notorious”. He is in notorious need of a thesarus.
She missed his sarcasm? I doubt it. Loewenstein honestly describes his book as bestselling and is clearly struggling to discredit a journalist who very obviously has done her research. He is good at sneering though. Oh, and carrying a man-bag (Illustration here).
To his sneering heading “More Research Needed”? Two words Loewenstein: Tzipi Livni. Research that.
As for the “many more” copies sold than Bookscan reports? He doesn’t (and never has) mention how many actually were sold. Many more? Sure Antony, sure…
But I thought that Smithers was looking for Amanda Huggankis? Oh, sorry, wrong two-dimensional media source.
Posted by andycanuck on 2006 11 30 at 02:31 AM • permalinkMy supervisor prefers the printed word to reading text on a screen. But she prints it out for herself. And if she can’t figure out how to use the computer, she asks someone to show her how to do it. Jaspan is a pompous and petulant pretender.
BTW, just what sort of “computer system” does The Age use? Do newspapers use some sort of specialized software package, or a standard office package?
I’m wondering because most major software packages come with a training module of some sort. Either The Age went really cheap, or Jaspan hasn’t availed himself of the available training.
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2006 11 30 at 02:32 AM • permalinkThe_Real_JeffS
Just standard stuff - Photoshop particularly gets a good workout. Some papers are ‘better’ at it than others. So does Illustrator.
In Design is widely used for DTP. Adobe make a killing in the newspaper game. So no, if the Age are using PC’s networked through servers it’s not rocket science - even for Jaspan.
Perhaps The Age uses a system called CyberGraphics. It was just being installed when I left one of Rupert’s papers. I’m not sure if it is an entirely proprietary system, like the old Coyote or whether it is an interface for other programs like Word, InDesign or PhotoShop.
—Nora
Posted by The Thin Man Returns on 2006 11 30 at 03:20 AM • permalinkAnd as for idiot Lowenstein, BookScan is the industry standard for measuring book sales.
It’s just like saying Dreamboat saying ‘I have a best selling album’ but the ARIA charts have him at #987 and he then he claims he’s much more popular than that.
—Nora
Posted by The Thin Man Returns on 2006 11 30 at 03:28 AM • permalinkSo the Witless Wonder has racked up 5,987 sales of his ‘best selling’ fictional rant, has he?
That’s a whopping 0.03% of the Australian population!
Is it the other 99.97% that he of the Fiskesque grasp of reality accuses of silencing him?
Posted by Jack Lacton on 2006 11 30 at 03:35 AM • permalinkBonmot:
....it’s not rocket science - even for Jaspan.
About what I thought. Thanks!
Perhaps The Age uses a system called CyberGraphics.
That would make sense, Nora, if it was an interface for other software packages. That seems to to be common in business and government these days.
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2006 11 30 at 03:38 AM • permalinkJeffS - Get down to that gun thread stat. I think you’ve been challenged to a duel!
Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2006 11 30 at 03:53 AM • permalinkHa! I just came from there. Check out my latest reply to ramwhathisname.
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2006 11 30 at 03:59 AM • permalinkcaptain, I thought Ant is an expert in anything. If you don’t believe me, just ask him! ;-P
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2006 11 30 at 04:00 AM • permalinkFrom Meade of The Australian:
Loewenstein’s only published work, My Israel Question, has so far sold 5987 copies, according to Bookscan.
And from Loewenstein:
Finally, my book has sold far more than 5987 copies since its August release, but again, let me guess the Australian simply relied on the notoriously unreliable Bookscan figures?
No wonder he has trouble with his research.
Posted by flying pigs over mecca on 2006 11 30 at 05:06 AM • permalinkDan, I think you are focusing unduly Ant’s shortcomings. He did, after all, go to Israel once in order to become an expert on that country. And he was magnanimous enough to give his hosts (and cousins) such a prominent and balanced voice. He has also learned a great deal since being a failed F2 cadet.
And we shouldn’t forget that influential chapter he wrote for Margo Kingston’s successful political activism exercise. In fact in a bit of brilliant reverse psychology, Ant and Margo were probably responsible for the historic re-election of our beloved leader.
And rather than looking at the man-bag as being a detraction, you could look at it as Ant merely being ahead of the curve.
Ant just needs understanding and a bit of tweaking to his vocab.
Loewenstein should get The Lancet to determine the exact number of books that have been sold.
Posted by The Best Infidel on 2006 11 30 at 05:53 AM • permalink#13 Dan Lewis. A manbag would suit Antony. He was quite effeminate when I knew him in the early 90s.
Posted by flying pigs over mecca on 2006 11 30 at 05:56 AM • permalinkLoewenstein should get The Lancet to determine the exact number of books that have been sold.
Using our model, we extrapolate a total of 11,000,000,876,111 books sold.
Clearly, aliens are involved.
Posted by Quentin George on 2006 11 30 at 06:13 AM • permalink#35
Clearly, aliens are involved
Aliens? Didn’t the Zionists invent them? Those Zionists! I knew it was one of their tricks again ;-)
Posted by The Best Infidel on 2006 11 30 at 06:47 AM • permalinkOne of Jaspan’s habits is to demand every story be printed ...
And I bet he still answers the phone with this obsolete greeting too.
Posted by Art Vandelay on 2006 11 30 at 07:50 AM • permalinkBart: “Please don’t call our parents!”
Chief: “I’m afraid I have to for hijinks like these. Hijinks - it’s a funny word. Three dotted letters in a row.”
Eddie: “Is it hyphenated?”
Chief: “It used to be, back in the good old days, you know. Of course, every generation hyphenates the way it wants to. Then there’s *NSYNC! What the hell is that? Jump in any time there, Eddie, these are good topics.”Only 5,987 copies? Good lord! The boring and mendacious political recollections published by former Secretaries of not-very-interesting caninet-level federal agencies do better in the states, even discounting for the difference in population size between Australia and the U.S. Does Antoine’s book have his picture on the dust jacket, by any chance? Maybe that’s got something to do with it.
Ah, but you fail to appreciate Jaspan’s cunning plan.
Every time he orders a story printed, it adds to the paper’s declining print numbers.
Over a year, that more than doubles the Age’s circulation figure.
Posted by Evil Pundit on 2006 11 30 at 01:08 PM • permalinkWhich brings up another point—why doesn’t Jaspan get his secretary to print the stories, instead of wasting the time of the senior news editor?
Posted by Evil Pundit on 2006 11 30 at 03:01 PM • permalinkAnd grinding the coffee, paco. Don’t forget the coffee.
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2006 11 30 at 04:04 PM • permalink#49 - Paco - “self-imposed incompetence” is a brilliant description! My mum is astonished that I’m as ‘puter-savvy as I am (& I’m not, really) but I learned a long time ago that if I want it done, I better learn how to do it.
My world has both expanded and contracted as a result of having a computer in my home & learning about email & blogs. Expanded because I know more people in more places than ever before (I love this blog) & contracted because I am back in contact with people I thought were gone from my life, thanks to email.
If this arrogant bassard editor refuses to learn a new tool of his trade, one that EVERYONE else knows how to use, then he should be fired. You really nailed it, Paco…as usual.
I would just point out that Ant is again caught out in his reference to Meade not appreciating nuance. Not only was it utter crap that he made reference to himself as a best selling author “tongue in cheek”, but he does so again on his own site referring to his rubbish as best selling.
I think Jeremy Jones puts it best (to borrow on of Ant’s tired phrases) when he describes Ant as having “delusions of competence.”
#44
I thought he went to Israel to confirm to himself that he already was an expert?
No. He’d already written the book and went to Israel for some credibility so Evil Zionists Bullies couldn’t laugh and point and say “you’ve never even been there”. Well now he has, so nyer nyer. The fact he still has no idea what he’s talking about is of course besides the point, just like Antony.
Whilst I wouldn’t recommend anyone visit his blog, I posted a comment there two days ago, further to his complaint, simply asking “how many copies have you sold?”
Needless to say the comment is still “awaiting moderation”. What a phoney.
#59
Close, but no cigar. In Jeremy Jones review of Loewenstein’s book, the actual quote was:
In the first paragraph of the book, the author writes that “a reader of online magazine New Matilda wrote that they hoped it [Loewenstein’s book] would ‘lie in the tip alongside such other works as Mein Kampf and The Protocols of the Elders of Zion’”.
To repeat this comment testifies to the writer’s delusions of grandeur, while on an intellectual basis it is arguable he would be justified in holding delusions of adequacy.
Nice!
It is these same delusions of grandeur (competence?) that mean Loewenstein actually believes he is a “Best selling author” despite fewer sales (even after such publicity) than a single month’s issue of “Knitting and Crochet Monthly”.
Maybe I should send my psychoboss down there to get a job. His crowing moment came when he tried to ‘format’ a monitor for a Macintosh by fiddling with the bright and contrast buttons…
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2006 11 30 at 09:26 PM • permalinkNot competent on the computer system?!
Good heavens, man! Have you never heard of a thing called TAFE?
I’m getting tired of people using their age as an excuse not to learn computers. Thus far I am unaware of any operating system having an IsUserOver40 Boolean, which renders the computer non-functional if in the “True” state.
Posted by Korgmeister on 2006 12 01 at 01:24 AM • permalink#53: Well, Rebecca, I can kinda sympathize with those guys. We’ve got copiers here at the office that one approaches as if they were UFO’s. They sit there - no lights, no sound - and you wonder how they operate. So, you put something in to copy, push what looks like the right button, and then you start getting digital displays: “Machine scanning information”; “Machine warming up”; Machine Senses [’senses’, mind you] 8 1/2 by 11 paper; Use Correct Paper Drawer”. Then, if you’re lucky, it hums, whizzes and beeps, and stops. You’re pretty sure it made a copy, but you can’t figure where the copy came out. For that matter, what happened to the original? Once, a machine started to generate a burning smell, and the copy came out covered with lumps of what looked like molten, smoking rubber. I figured that I had disembowleed the thing, so I did what most people do when they have a copy machine problem - I looked around furtively to see that nobody had seen me mess it up, and scurried off in search of another copier.
Paco, if you have ever rummaged around in the bowels of a complicated copy machine in search of that one, tiny scrap of paper—- sort of like an Amazon jungle safari in search of the elusive red-butted wiblette, thought to be extinct lo these many years—- that tore off and is now preventing the copying of anything ever again, you emerge covered with toner, to be sure, but with a superior sense that no copier anywhere at any time will be able to defeat you.
We rule the machines, or they rule us.
“Best-selling author Antony Loewenstein has sold only 5987 copies…”
Best-selling book ever…
...written by a cockroach.
Posted by Dave Surls on 2006 12 01 at 02:33 PM • permalink
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There’s no way Loewenstein has 5987 relatives that are still speaking to him…