News Editor 2004 & 2005, yum cha aficionado and Wellington blogger Keith Ng. The Genghis Khan of news journalism, champion hobb knobber of Wellington, Master of Statistics. The former News Editor walks into the Salient office, pants pulled up under his arm pits, brow drenched in sweat with Red Bull in hand. We sit down on the couch and dive into deep conversation about his time in this sacred office.
After a fleeting flirtation with former competing mag Lucid, Keith started his involvement in Salient by writing satire news, with the “week that wasn’t”. Topics such as “al Qaeda engaging in commercial whaling”, wars between campuses and faculties at Victoria, Nick Kelly becoming a Tory and vaporising VUWSA, and TelstraClear merging with Samoa filled the pages.
2004 saw Keith take the reigns as News Ed, a semi respectable position that became highly disrespectable in the direct aftermath of his reign of terror. During his time as News Ed he faced some challenges. One of them came in the form of an injunction raised by the University to stop the publication of documents that had been leaked to Salient. This Keith described as fun, and that the $4000 lawyer was superfluous. The dispute was settled with Salient returning the leaked documents somewhat more tarnished than when they received them.
Many of Keith’s news stories have used statistics: he sees this as a way of student media being able to use its long turn-around time to an advantage that normal media outlets don’t have. The favourite statistic he used while at Salient was one that showed over a four year period the number of people getting student allowance steadily decreased (while the Labour government claimed that it was increasing).
“Salient is the freest place you will ever get to write. You can experiment with style and content. There is little editorial pressure, and it is a freedom you wouldn’t get unless you are Rupert Murdoch.” Keith praises the open dynamics of student media and the ability of Salient to allow people to express their views with no interference. He sees mainstream media outlets as not dynamic enough, but aware of the need to change.
Keith denies ever using psychotropic substances to aide his writing, although he did once try party pills which he was convinced were P. Witnesses to this occasion said he spoke loudly obnoxiously and constantly. He was also reported to have lost at poker.
Keith spends his days now as a columnist for the Herald on Sunday, sporadically updating his blog, On Point, which features on Public Address, eating copious amounts of Yum Cha, tutoring the orphan kids in POLS 111, hob knobbing, and is hoping to get a website up and running in time for the election, called Fact Check.