Russell Brown (media commentator)

Russell Brown (born 1962) is a New Zealand media commentator, and the owner of the Public Address[1] community of blogs, and writes the blog Hard News.[2]

For other people named Russell Brown, see Russell Brown (disambiguation).

Russell Brown
Russell Brown at the Orcon Great Blend in August 2011.
Born1962 (age 60–61)
Lower Hutt, New Zealand
NationalityNew Zealander
Occupation(s)Blogger, journalist, television presenter, media commentator
Known forPublic Address, Media7
Websitepublicaddress.net/hardnews/

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.[3]

Career

The origins of Hard News was the Hard News radio segment written by Brown from 1991 to 2002 on Auckland student radio station bFM. The text of the radio commentary was circulated on the internet by various means from 1993,[3] and the bulletin officially became a blog with the launch of Public Address in November 2002.[4]

Brown's journalism career began in the early 1980s with the Christchurch Star and the music zine Rip It Up.[5] In 1986, he moved to England where he wrote for various publications, mostly covering the music industry,[6] before returning to New Zealand in 1991. From 2008 to 2012, he presented the media commentary programme Media7 on the TVNZ 7 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.[7] In 2014, it re-appeared on Māori Television as Media Take[8][9] and ran for four seasons until 2017.[10]

Personal life

He lives in Auckland, with his long-term partner journalist Fiona Rae. They have two sons, who are both autistic.[11][3]

See also

References
  1. Public Address
  2. Hard News
  3. "Twelve Questions: Russell Brown". The New Zealand Herald. 25 June 2014. ISSN 1170-0777. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
  4. "From blog to brand: Russell Brown (Public Address)". stoppress.co.nz. 1 April 2014. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
  5. Russell Brown: Sneaking it out of the shop: a life in music journalism Audioculture, 17 October 2013
  6. Friday Music: NME – it was fun while it lasted, Public Address, 9 March 2018
  7. "Moving on". Hard News. Retrieved 18 September 2013.
  8. "Russell Brown's Media Take finds new home on Māori TV". 2 July 2014.
  9. Public Address - We're back!
  10. "Media7/ Media3/ Media Take". NZ On Screen. Archived from the original on 5 March 2022. Retrieved 10 September 2023.
  11. "60 • Hard News • Public Address".


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