Monday, April 18, 2011

how to make an old news story a new one

Last night TV One News featured a woman whose house (presumably one bought recently) had been plumbed with black Dux Quest piping, probably sometime in the 1980s (although that wasn't specified).  This was a cheap and nasty product that was used with enthusiasm by builders in the 1980s, until it was banned in 1987. This woman had had lots of leaks because of it and decided there was no option but to replumb the house at a cost of $4,000 (shock, horror).  Probably she'd rung TV One News to tell them about this stupendous house maintenance bill.

Wait a minute - banned in 1987?  So why raise the issue now for?  As the news report itself pointed out, plumbers deal with this awful product all the time, and any good building inspector will be aware of it.  Maybe it wouldn't have gone to air, but for the fact that a camera crew cornered the Minister of Housing, Maurice Williamson and asked what was he going to do about it?  He hadn't heard about it.  A bit surprising? Yes, a bit.  Shocking? Hardly.

Clearly an example of "we're a bit short on local news today, let's run with this one."   As we have mentioned before, TV One often surprises with what it considers to be headline news, and in this case, news at all.

By the way, if the woman in the item has a bill of $4,000 then she's got off lightly. We had to spend $14,000 replumbing our Kapiti property (built in 1986), although it is two storey and some new fittings were included in that.

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