Russell Brown (born 1962) is a
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
media commentator, and the owner of the Public Address community of blogs, and writes the blog ''Hard News''.
Early life
Brown was born in
Lower Hutt, New Zealand.
He had a bronchial issues as a child so was frequently home sick from school. He describes himself as a "bright" child who liked to read.
Career
The origins of ''Hard News'' was the ''Hard News'' radio segment written by Brown from 1991 to 2002 on
Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...
student radio station
bFM. The text of the radio commentary was circulated on the internet by various means from 1993,
and the bulletin officially became a blog with the launch of Public Address in November 2002.
Brown's journalism career began in the early 1980s with the
Christchurch Star and the music zine
Rip It Up. In 1986, he moved to England where he wrote for various publications, mostly covering the music industry, before returning to New Zealand in 1991. From 2008 to 2012, he presented the media commentary programme ''Media7'' on the
TVNZ 7
TVNZ 7 was a commercial-free New Zealand 24-hour news and information channel on Freeview digital television platform and on Sky Television from 1 July 2009. It was produced by Television New Zealand, which received Government funding to launc ...
digital channel. Following the closure of TVNZ 7 after its funding was not renewed, the show was picked up by
TV3 in 2013 and renamed ''Media3'' for one further series, however TV3 declined to produce any more series. In 2014, it re-appeared on
Māori Television
Māori or Maori can refer to:
Relating to the Māori people
* Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group
* Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand
* Māori culture
* Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...
as ''Media Take''.
Personal life
He lives in Auckland, with his long-term partner journalist Fiona Rae. They have two sons, who are both
autistic
The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...
.
[https://publicaddress.net/hardnews/60-1/]
See also
*
New Zealand blogosphere
References
External links
Public Address
Living people
New Zealand bloggers
New Zealand journalists
1962 births
People from Lower Hutt
{{NewZealand-journalist-stub