Our publisher and editors deeply apologize for the errors in this article. To preserve our journalistic integrity, we have decided not to change one word of Tom Ukinski’s article. However, our team of reporters are working as fast as possible to provide you with the most accurate news and information covering the recent New Zealand earthquake. We expect to provide you with an update shortly, right here on this page.
Thanks for your patience.
Below is the original story done on the earthquake, which incorrectly reported it as occurring in Australia rather than New Zealand. I deeply apologize for this major factual error.
But a wrongheaded article, of course, is of insignificant consequence compared to the devastation that has been inflicted upon the people of New Zealand.
There have been 43 earthquakes between 5:00 a.m. and noon today, as reported by The Dominion Post, centered around the town of Seddon, on the South Island of New Zealand. They have ranged from 2.3 to 5.8 in magnitude. No deaths have been reported as yet. (Fox News) But the earthquakes are expected to continue.
The earthquakes apparently did not prompt a tsunami. The Pacific tsunami warning center has not issued a warning. (NBC World News)
Seddon is approximately 71 kilometers (44 miles) from the capital city of Wellington, separated by the Cook Strait.
A Geonet seismologist said that it is common to get a shock with a magnitude of 4 followed by one closer to 6, as occurred today. A 4.2 quake at 7:04 a.m. was followed by one with a 5.8 magnitude thirteen minutes later. It is also common for a series of quakes to follow every few minutes. In this case the quakes were initially separated by intervals of one to seven minutes. (The Dominion Post)
GeoNet’s website crashed this morning due to the onrush of people wanting to know where the earthquakes had struck.
There have been several earthquakes in a sequence, beginning on Thursday, July 18th with a quake measured at 5.3, followed by a 5.7 quake on Friday, July 20th and a 5.8 on Saturday. These have occurred to the northwest and northeast of the currently afflicted area. In addition, there have been a number of previous smaller shocks in the same area, as well as dozens of aftershocks taking place within two hours of the most recent outburst. (USGS and GeoNet)
Nearby cities and towns affected by shocks include Blenheim, Karori, Wellington, Lower Hutt and Porirua.
Earthquakes are expected to continue near Wellington for some time. (National Business Review) Wellington is a seismically active area. The most recent quakes occurred in an area very close to the subduction interface, which is the boundary between the Pacific and Australian tectonic plates. (The Dominion Post) Subduction is the geologic process in which the edge of one tectonic or crustal plate is forced below the edge of another.
In Wellington there has only been one report of structural damage, and the power is still on. However, a Wellington television reporter said that the most recent quakes felt as bad as the 2011 quake in Christchurch in which 183 people died. (Reuters) Furthermore, OneNews has reported the indefinite suspension of all flights in and out of Wellington Airport, due to concerns about equipment damage.
New Zealand is made up of some 33 islands, the largest being the North and South Islands. The South Island is often referred to as the “mainland,” because it has a 33% larger landmass. The two islands are separated by the Cook Strait. Wellington is on the North Island, Seddon on the South. The distances between the two islands vary, although in some areas they are about 24 km apart. (Wikipedia)
Although the South Island is the larger of the two, the North Island is more populous. The region on the northern island around Wellington has a population of some 400,000 people. Only 23% of New Zealand’s 4.4 million inhabitants live on the South Island
There have been 21 major earthquakes in New Zealand between 1843 and 2013.
In 2010, an earthquake with magnitude of 7.1 occurred in the South Island, centered in the town of Christchurch, 307 kilometers (191 miles) southwest of Wellington. Christchurch is New Zealand’s second largest city.
In February of 2011, a large aftershock with a magnitude of 6.3 was centered just to the north of Lyttelton, 10 kilometers southeast of Christchurch, at a depth of 5 kilometers. The quake toppled buildings, resulting in the deaths of 185 people.
In June of 2011 Christchurch suffered another quake with a magnitude 5.7. Forty-six people suffered injuries, and one elderly man died after being knocked unconscious. Some buildings were destroyed while others suffered additional damage after being wracked by the February earthquake.
A 7.5 quake occurred in 1848 in Blenheim, a few tens of kilometers to the northwest of the July 21earthquake. The 8.2 quake in Lake Wairarapa in 1855 happened about 80 kilometers to the northeast of the current quakes.
The people of New Zealand have suffered the assaults of earthquakes before, and they will endure this most recent violence, though that does make it easier to bear.
By: Tom Ukinski
(Original Report, without corrections below)
A severe earthquake with a magnitude of 6.2 has erupted in an area 20 kilometers east of Seddon.
Seddon is a suburb 7 km west of Melbourne, Australia, with a population of about 4,851 people. It is located in the state of Victoria on the southeast tip of Australia. The shock effects of the quake have been felt as far away as Napier, in Western Australia, 3,302 kilometers (2,066 miles) from Melbourne. This suggests that the path of the quake is along the southern part of Australia.
The intensity of earthquakes is measured by the moment magnitude scale (MMS). Events with magnitudes greater than 4.5 are strong enough to be recorded by a seismograph anywhere in the world.
The death toll for earthquakes with a magnitude of 6.0 to 6.9 can reach 25,000 people. A large number of buildings in populated areas can be destroyed. The damage can be experienced far from the epicenter. (Wikipedia)
The depth of the quake near Seddon, as of 5:09 p.m., was 19km, which is over 11 miles deep.
Earthquakes can occur up to 700 kilometers below the surface.
There is an average of one earthquake per year in Australia with a magnitude of 5 or greater and a depth of 0 to 70 km. (USGS)
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608 Responses
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According to family who are in Wellington currently, it was 6.7, there were zero fatalities, and other than the decorative eagle falling off the ceiling at the airport, locals seemed unconcerned with yet another rumble occurring on a town situated on a fault line.
Should we send intrepid reporter Magellan and his editor a few extra bucks for a dictionary in addition to an atlas? “Journalistic integrity,” good one.
The article was about the Seddon earthquake last year, not the 6.2 Wellington had yesterday.
So an even worse hack job than you thought.
Some of the more critical folks here could benefit from a course in English composition, with an emphasis on the placement of punctuation.
I’d rather people here — writers and commenters alike — concentrated on the placement of FACTS first and worried about punctuation later.
Does preserving “journalistic integrity” include allowing the writer to use the word suffered in three consecutive sentences in the same paragraph? Does he not own a thesaurus?
Loved reading all the comments! I was once talking to an American couple whilst in France, it was June and they asked if it was Christmas in New Zealand. I replied “umm nope, we don’t change the birth of Christ dependent on the weather!”
All that tells me is that you can not take this site seriously, it is all a joke
most thinking people outside the USA think that the moon landings were faked as well
john boy
Hi Tom
Nice recovery and by the way (lots of smiles) the South island being called the “Mainland” thing from Wikipedia is an “in” Kiwi joke. It is not called the Mainland because it is larger geographically but rather because most of the population and industry is in the other “big” island and so Southerners call their Island the Mainland as a way of emphasizing that they matter in the scheme of things (which of cause they do).
This is funny as. I always thought nz was a state of Australia!
Shame Tom. Contrary to popular belief, Google does not know everything. And how did you get Napier, Australia? And then the article continues, as if written by a seismologist (is Tom a seismologist?) that… “This suggests that the path of the quake is along the southern part of Australia.” Random as!
dont forget folks that the Us is a nation that thinks professional wrestling is real and the moon landings were faked.
And mermaids are real.
And Nelson Mandela died a month ago
Hello Everybody. I am Ken from Florida, USA. Just a few wackos belief it is real. What really is crazy, people still think the Earth is flat.
Twelve years ago, two hijacked airliners later confirmed it ordered by bin Laden slammed into the Twin Towers,@ the World Trade Center. A third hijacked plane slammed into a Pennsylvania wilderness when the
brave men and women on board overpowered the hijackers. September 11, 2001, pray, or a Moment of Silence
Men, Women and children died that day were from all corners of the world. Could be some Australians or New Zealanders along with many nations other than the Americans.
That day changed our way of thinking. Then the Shoe bomber tried to light the fuse when brave men overtook the man when the flight was near Detroit, Michigan. World Terrorists could be in your countries blending in, awaiting instructions This has happened twice to Canada,.
Hey, well done on the correction and also leaving the original version up. We down here in New Zealand (Im in Auckland which is 400+ miles from the quake zone) thought this was just too funny. We know we are just a spec on the bum of the planet but a sexy spec none the less. Hey and being called an Aussie aint all that bad. We love those guys across the ditch.
Keep up the good work. Actually we are pretty happy that you guys even report on stuff outside the USA.
Anyone with half a brain cell would know where New Zealand is. In the year 2014 there should not be a journalist alive in this world who can remain employed to make such an error and continue to be a credible source of information in today’s society. Since such activity is obviously “creative journalism” my vote would be at the very least, to expose this brain retard in the international news media and have his ability to produce anything further severly limited, by public ridicule and the loudest voice of public opinion.
Oh, the irony.
What year is it?
He’s right now, on the basis that a stopped clock is right twice a day!
Lets face it most journalists don’t know their arse from their elbow and report any rubbish if they think it will make a buck for their employer. Too bad the employer has no sense of ethics or morals either!
You’ve had a rough couple of days Tom! Don’t lose too much sleep, there were inaccuracies but you’re human and to be honest you gave us affected a chuckle. You should come for a visit! We’re not all dicks.
And on the plus side, if there are any NZ-based questions in a pub quiz you’re the man!
Wow even your rehashed article is a hash job.. You readers must have a good daily chuckle
HAHA, that was so funny. Aussie’s always trying to claim our stuff people, why not take our natural disasters. LOVE IT Tom!!!
“New Zealand is made up of some 33 islands, …”
Help! Someone’s stolen most of our islands!
New Zealand does have 33 Islands in total.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_islands_of_New_Zealand
BOOM!
Yeah, Wikipedia strikes again. The list of 33 is preceded by the words, “The following table lists the largest islands of New Zealand by size.” Whakaari/White Island is not on the list of 33. Is it an optical illusion? It causes some pretty real acid rain in Whakatane when the wind’s from the north. Tiritiri Matangi is not on the list of 33. Better tell DOC it’s only a figment of their imagination, I suppose. Why doesn’t Mokoia count? Hinemoa found it pretty useful.
(Handy hint when using Wikipedia; scroll down.)
Andrew that thinks Wikipedia is a definitive source of information. I am pretty sure I can think of 33 islands just in the Southern Lakes region of NZ … and that is not even taking into account anything “off Shore”. Give the guy a break he is having a bad week.
News Flash: An e-news paper based in Las Vegas in Mexico reports that they have corrected a couple of errors included in an article on NZ earthquake. Their parent company located in San Francisco, Canada says “woops”.
That’ Las Vegas,NEW Mexico you twerp.
Let’s face it, having to Google Seddon is not the most egregious show of geographical ignorance, I imagine that many New Zealanders had to look that one up. The only reason I know where it is, is having had the misfortune of being stuck there for hours on end trying to hitch-hike out of there in my youth. However, having the information at hand that there was an earthquake near a town called Seddon and completely missing that it was located in a country called New Zealand shows an awesome level of oversight! Knowing that the event was felt as far as Napier, and concluding this was in Western Australia over 3,000 km away from the alleged earthquake site is also awesome in its implications! I’m surprised there are buildings still standing in Melbourne if the effects were so far reaching! ;-p Perhaps this quake even shifted the earth’s axis as well? ;-))) Thanks for providing a good laugh! BTW, things wobbled and swayed a little in Christchurch too, Christchurch, New Zealand that it is, not the UK.
Wow, so we had some big earthquakes in the 1800s yet you can’t mention the 7.8 Hawkes Bay earthquake of 1931 in which 256 people died?
There were 185 deaths directly attributed to the Feb 22 2011 Christchurch quake – 183 is an outdated number.
More facts in the reworked article than have appeared in many of the New Zealand publications that sneered. Congratulations!
That’s because we wrote and published them all at the time.
Seddon is in Marlborough 25 kilometers south of Blenheim at the top of the South Island. Not Australia do check geography before you write articles. Cheers.
Honestly, I’m book-marking this site for any time I need a good belly-laugh. Has anyone read the article about the mermaids yet? Effing hilarious; the comments even more so.
As long as you’re correcting minor errors , please note that the correct terminolgy is ”in the South ( or North) Island ” not ”on”.
Derp.
Sum Ting Wong, Wi Tu Low, Ho Lee Fuk and Bang Ding Ow
Need I say more?
Oh my goodness, how can we trust anything this news website reports….what a load of rubbish
What kind of reporter is this guy that doesn’t check all the facts first? If he did, he did a trash job. He can’t be called a journalist anywhere in the world. He is just a guy who wants to be something other than a amoeba.
It’s par for the course for a news website whose own advertisement (in the right-hand column) proclaims that it is ‘Bodly Inclusive’. If it can’t get its own slogan right, then we can’t expect it to have much time for things like facts and research.
Well spotted, Jack!
Thank you, Joy! This site also reported that Nelson Mandela died in June and yesterday, that the royal baby was ‘eminent’!
Yeah, though they later corrected the spelling mistake. Although he is eminent too, poor little sod.
Unbelievable. I pity the poor people that expect to get current affairs from this periodical. The worst copy and paste job I have ever seen.
Even people in the stricken area would be hard put to say which is more devastating – the earthquake, or being confused with Australia.
Since my sister in Upper Hutt reported no damage or injuries, I’d say the slander of being called a Convict (Australian to you historically challenged folks) would be far worse…
It’s like saying USA is a state of Canada!! LOL.. what do you learn Geography….durrr!!!
I’ve met a couple of Americans who insisted their country has 52 states (never mind the flag only has 50 stars, one for each state). I thought: what, are they trying to count Iraq and Afghanistan?
I know we Kiwis can have a poor grasp of our own history, too, but as someone noted, this article plays to a stereotype.
The more illegals that are allowed in the U.S. by the Obama administration, the higher chance of its residences being ignorant of U.S. history.
American’s for ya LMAO!!!!
Epic Fail of a large scale magnitude
“To preserve our journalistic integrity” – what journalistic integrity would that be?
It would be how not to write news articles
Tom, you’re in idiot. Is this what you do for a living? You actually get paid to do this? Research is a journalism basic. Google’s right in front of you on your computer. Use it. You may need to go back and redo that journalism course.
He did use google. He googled “Seddon” clicked the first one that popped up and copied and pasted a few details from Wikipedia. Added a few connector words and WALA there’s your article world! Good journalists are fast + accurate. (with a touch of sensationalism… – to quote Tom – “The death toll for earthquakes with a magnitude of 6.0 to 6.9 can reach 25,000 people.”)
Thanks Tom for your integrity in leaving the original article up.
New Zealand is surrounded by islands. Stewart to the south, North to the north and Australia to the west. Some people call the mainland “South Island”.
The 2 main islands have no official Geographic Board names (as was discovered when the issue of adding names in te reo Maori to the official English ones was raised). The are simply “the north island” and “the south island” (previously “the middle island” before Stewart Island was renamed). They’re capitalised because we’ve forgotten the words are merely descriptive, not proper.
the editors ares till trying to find out what state of the USA new zealand is
really are the drugs and brain washing that good in nevada
Haha, scientists like this guy also wrote the rubbish about Global Warming with about the same level of accuracy!
Hope ol’ Thomarse learnt something from this.
@Paul Hannon in some respect your criticism of the NZ herald article is unfounded. They were referring to O’Driscoll as a player in the British and Irish Lions team which are often referred to (correctly I may add) as the British Isles team. So in a manner of speaking (geographically, not in terms of nationality) O’Driscoll is ‘British’. By no means is it as spectacular an error as this one. “Quake was felt in Napier Western Australia” ohh he was only about 4500 miles out!
Now New Zealanders know how news about Israel are reported in New Zealand Herald
(sans the Mea Culpa part).
What you get when you outsource!
This is just a cut and paste of ‘facts’ with no coherenc also
Nearby cities and towns affected by shocks include Blenheim, Karori, Wellington, Lower Hutt and Porirua….
Blenheim, Wellington, Lower hut and Porirua are cities.
Karori is a SUBURB in WELLINGTON!
My 8 year olds could research and write a better article than this! You get paid for this!
Who cares about Brian Driscoll? Not even on the bench and the won… irrelevant much?
Just a wee note on your corrections – Karori is a suburb of Wellington, not a separate town or city. In addition, the reference to the South Island as the “mainland” is not entirely correct. The use of the term “mainland” is used in a joking, brotherly fashion. South Islanders refer to themselves as the “mainland” to distinguish themselves from the more populous North Island.
OMG! What a lot of ROT! Are you really that stupid?!!!! At least report your correction accurately! Nonsense!
As if New Zealand media never makes mis-stakes like this all the time!! Check this great example of Kiwi reporting (see below). And don’t get me started on how awful and cheap their TV news is. God forbid they might not use footage from UK TV all the time!!
http://www.joe.ie/pic-of-the-day/oh-no-the-new-zealand-herald-have-called-brian-odriscoll-britains-greatest-player/
Apology sounds remorseful and genuine. Thanks.
Made me laugh out loud… I see why Tom Ukinski can be fired. Such a nonsense!!! Google is your best friend, Tom, really. 7 km of Melbourne???? Really???? I live in New Zealand, hope you’ll get to study geography 101 as soon as possible.
more useless info – Both Seddon in Victoria (Melbourne – Australia ) & Seddon in NZ (Marlborough) are named after Richard Seddon – Prime Minister of NZ 1893-1906
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10901374
The appalling reporting made our news… Please do yourselves a favour and ensure that you proof check every article prior to letting them go live
Kiwi reporting is just as bad, if not worse. Constantly don’t know the difference between the UK and Ireland. Doesn’t know where the North Korean capitol is, that’s just 2 from the top of my head, and ALWAYS uses footage from the BBC and ITN for it’s international news.
Kiwi reporting is actually orders of magnitude worse – this website is staffed by amateurs and they are guilty of over-reliance on wikipedia. New Zealand “journalism” publishes deliberate slanders reminding me of the darkest days of Pravda.
I’m sure that mistaking England for The United Kingdom isn’t something that americans do either, or the Republic of Ireland for the United Kingdom.
If you’re going to nitpick like that, you should get your facts right as well. Ireland is a geographic term, what you’re looking for is the Republic of Ireland.
Research, research, research ….. perhaps Tom Ukinski would like to come to New Zealand for a bit of research …. could give him a bit of a shake up 😀
I laughed my head off – thank you so much for such a good giggle in the middle of the unsteady ground 🙂
you never read my comment. i grew up in NZ or are you closed for hte night or just overworked with all the critical comments.
For data on the Christchurch events see http://www.canterburyquakelive.co.nz/
Good to have a laugh in the midst of a stressful event. Just as a point of interest.
You state: “In June of 2011 Christchurch suffered another quake with a magnitude 5.7. ” That one occurred at 1pm on 13 June 2011 and got upgraded once they’d done all the checks and calculations, to 5.9 (richter scale). At 2.20pm that day there was another large one measuring 6.4 (richter scale). This one was larger than the one that killed so many people on 22 February 22 2011.
Aw leave the poor guy alone. The Americans don’t even know the facts and geography about their own States, let alone other countries. On second
thoughts, you should look at another career option, Tom!
One can safely say that Geography is not a pressing subject to be learn in the States. It seems all boils down to two options: States and Rest of the World.
Godzone… instead of Gods’ Own…. have you been watching The Almighty Johnsons??? Google it… Honestly – New Zealand and Australia… you realise we’re talking about 2 different continents here, right??
Nick, I know Kiwis think they are the bee’s knees, but New Zealand is NOT a continent!
Actually you’ll find that New Zealand is on the Zealandia!
Talks about integrity, Then gets an author who’s never read an atlas to report on International News.
I’m insulted, He had the time to use Wikipedia instead of doing real research, But even then couldn’t even be bothered looking up place names, Even just for a little more background on where your reporting on.
For Shame, If you actually had integrity, This wouldn’t have happened.
Honestly, what the…? I had to check this was not a joke/fake news site. Worst article ever. I’m not sure this person knows how to write let alone research or fact check (in reference to the updated ‘corrected’ article, not just the horribly wrong one).
Thank you for your corrections
DERP
It is par for the course.
Tour bus, trip between Aoraki Mt Cook and Franz Joseph Glacier (no not in Greece) in the South Island of NEW ZEALAND. Yanno, the one WAY down south, couple of thousand km’s & over the Tasman Sea away from Australia, … next stop .. Antartica. THAT New Zealand.
Anyway – a middle aged American couple ask the bus driver where all the rocks along the side of the road had come from. The driver says – the river bought them up .. the couple go oh ok, and then say, but we can’t see any river. The driver replied – no, that’s because it has gone back to get more rocks.
Agh the couple say’s, impressed at learning this new fact – ok, wow, gotya!
Seriously, true story! I was sitting beside them. Heard it all. The driver winked at me and said nothing, I nearly fell off my seat laughing.
Thanks for another laugh here. Too funny!
Like!!! My sister was once told by a couple in Nebraska that they’d heard of New Zealand; that’s the country below England that’s at war with Spain. Silence from my sister, then a tentative, “Um… no, I don’t think so…” “Oh yes, yes,” she was told, “We saw it on Discovery Channel.” Have you seen the new article in this paper that says the Royal baby is eminent? Everybody laugh at the dumb Americans. Again.
Maybe they don’t know about google earth in the USA. Lol. Oh and Las Vegas, now that sounds like it could be 5kms from Barcelona, Spain and so you might feel earthquakes there as far away as Paris, which is in Turkey, yeah? Sound silly? Mmmhm. A bit like the article above.
Hahahahaha, among the shake rattle and rollin, that’s made my day cheers bro
I lived in the States for two years, and while the Yanks were hospitable and courteous, they were the most ignorant mal-educated people I’ve ever met (for so-called advanced Western culture at least.)
Maybe they don’t have google earth in the USA!! Los Vegas- Let’s take a stab-Las Vegas sounds Spanish to me. Maybe 5kms from Barcelona? and 3,000 kms from Wales…and you can feel earthquakes there in Paris which is in Germany??? Not too different from your article eh. lol
Christchurch is not the largest city in New Zealand either. Poorly written, gold stars revoked
Well yes, you got it wrong, but at least you owned up to it. A lot of less integrous reporters would have just pulled it down. It takes guts to leave your mistake in the open for all to see. Glad to see your more detailed update as well. Never sacrafice research for immediacy. Getting it right is more important than getting it first.
Glad to see the Guardian Express (Las Vegas) is continuing to live down to its journalistic “standards.”
Sorry, the journalism in this story is terrible. Love the copy and paste of wiki, This guy should be fired, its an insult.
you half wit!
I’m actually quite offended by this. NZ is a separate country from Australia so work out where the facts are before jumping the gun and going for it.
What most people don’t seem to realize is that the “Guardian Express” is not a newspaper but an internet only newsletter without any paying subscribers. The people writing their stories are not journalists.
No wonder Americans had to invent smart weapons if the military is anyware near as smart as journalists.
The South Island of NZ is not really called the Mainland, except sometimes as a joke from South Islanders because the population there is much smaller. I don’t see how anyone calling themselves a journalist can rely on Wikipedia for their “facts”.
Since when do we have 33 islands? You guys really need to check your facts before you even bother posting articles.
Actually, there are 33 island, Nth, Sth, Stewart, Chatham Is, Poor Knights, Hen and Chicks….need I go on? How about you do some research beyond the obvious?
Heaps more than 33, even not counting Kermadecs and sub-antarctic groups…
Do not feel too bad Mr Ukinski. A lot of New Zealander’s are pretending to be righteously indignant over you not knowing where Seddon is. Please understand that if you had asked them where Seddon was last Thursday the vast majority of them would not have known either.
thats probably because new zealand is a country. seddon is not. people should know basic info on countries, i dont think many are expected to know anything about small australian suburbs?
So many issues with this article, not including the obvious. Contradicting facts about Christchurch’s earthquake, and incorrect readings on the Sunday evening earthquakes.
Won’t be getting my facts from this website in the future.
Tom Ukinski You are a tosser mate. You are not a journalist at all. Go figure where YOU are in the world. Nowhere mate
oh dear the errors continue …. Karori is a suburb of Wellington not a city, the airport is open, obviously you a following the path of never let the facts get in the way of a good story. By the way you have no doubt provided a number of media lectures something to show their students in how not to report the news (in-correct facts and obviously relying on such things as google – a good journalist knows that google is not always your friend and as for wikipedia …) Also thanks for providing me with a good laugh
The Guardian Express, am I not correct is in (lv) Los Vegas, please correct me if I am wrong …….. they’re all in “la la land” there anyway …… when I went there some years ago …. was asked by “local” if the Maori were still cannibals and ate the whiteman… and these people are some of those highly offended by your incorrect and
shameful reporting…….. Godzone ….. (gods own) Aotearoa…. land of the long white cloud ………. pacific paradise ……. u shud send some of your “reporters” to check in to the “real world”
I wrote earlier suggesting that a key problem was that the journalist was cut-n-pasting (with a little “re-working” of the text). It feels like a string of factoids and to me has the impression of little genuine understanding of the material (still). It seems a style more expected in a live-stream feed (like I did for the Christchurch earthquakes at sciblogs.co.nz, which currently has some background on these earthquakes by another writer, a geologist). A suggestion: if you must paraphrase, as is being done throughout, can I suggest you include actual links to the sources so that readers can see them in their original context?
Well well, here we go again sensationalism. Please stop scaring people and destroying business in New Zealand. We actually only had 4 reported injury’s, the worst case being a T.V. that fell on a gentleman during the shake.
This is the funniest report I have read, keep up the good work (of correct reports) but please please please dont give Tom to much of a hard time as this has provided us in the wobbly place we call home some great giggles
34 islands – the largest being West Island and as it name suggests, situated (some 1200miles) off the west coast of the 4 largest eastern islands (North, South, Stewart and Kapiti)
Just give up. You have no credibility left. You might as well not report on this as there are more reliable sources that people can get their information from.
“Journalistic integrity”… Leaving a factually inaccurate article in it’s original form… Riiiiiiiiiiiiiight… I’m not who the bigger idiot is… The original author, or the editorial staff who seem to believe they have any kind of integrity after this little fiasco… Good luck being taken seriously in the future…
When I first heard of this article I thought it was a “piss take”, then as I read more I realised Tom knew nothing about geography. Get the man an atlas or at least teach him how to use Google Earth.
Well he certainally wont be making that mistake again. I’m sure he learned his lesson guys, lets leave him alone now – From the less aggro Kiwis (Although if he really wants the nasty backlash to stop he should really take aussie out of it >_< )
LOL at the 33 islands part.
So I looked it up, and it turns out USA is actually a large country comprised of 18,617 islands! (U.S. Geological Survey)
And I thought it was just “South Canada”?
Hilarious, and as other comments have pointed out, rather typical of so many New Zealander’s experiences of North Americans. On a recent trip to the states, my wife and I were asked (in North Carolina) what language we spoke in New Zealand.This was after some 10 minutes of conversation (in English, of course)…
What this reporter really reported was his own perception that the US is the epicentre of the world!
Earthquake you guys need to research events, the earthquakes have not stopped there have been hundreds over the weekend, take a look at Geonet – Quakes , this shows the quakes as they are happening
The distance between the two islands vary ?? !! really, maybe the earthquake keeps moving them apart but what about the other 31 islands you mention ?
Of course the distance varies, depending on which route you take, where you leave from and where you arrive.
it is a statement that is superfluous to the article (i.e., not needed). oh hang the whole article is not needed.
Let me Google that for you http://bit.ly/118Hmrb
“Journalistic integrity”, you must be kidding. Check, check and double check before you publish
Hilarious article…in a cringingly awkward moment kind of way. Hard weekend was it?
It’s OK, we New Zealanders aren’t offended by a Canadian journalist confusing us with Aussies…..
Reading all the comments and the article itself I do feel sorry for Tom – but hey he should of reported correctly in the first place. The “correct” facts are also false, very close to the real story but not quite. A wellington reported claimed that the earthquake was very scary and has done damage but they are lucky it wasn’t like the Christchurch earthquake 2011. They have reported injuries two in fact, and everyone knows not to quote Wikipedia – seriously. Try better next Tom and do some proper research before you type up an article. Thanks
“Nearby cities and towns affected by shocks include Blenheim, Karori, Wellington, Lower Hutt and Porirua.” Can I point out now that Karori is a suburb of Wellington not a town or city in it’s own right. Perhaps you should replace this with ‘Upper Hutt’
33 islands??
Tom, thanks for giving everyone in New Zealand (and good portion of Australia) the pleasure of your very clever article. Oh how we laughed and laughed. How sad that so many of your readers misunderstood your clever juxtapositioning of earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and cross border competition.
Anne
It would be nice if some generous benefactor would pay for Tom Ukinski to have a trip to New Zealand, thus furthering international understanding and friendship.
The airport was closed for approximately 30 minutes, then back to normal. That closure was only required so that a runway/ infrastructure check could be done. I believe that there may have been concerns about the status of some navigation equipment, but perhaps that’s what RNP/ GNSS approaches are for 🙂 BTW – I was at the airport at the time and I am a pilot…
As for your latest comments – it is NOT devastating, but there is some damage. We’ll find out in the next few days exactly how much and whether or not any buildings are condemned. But, devastating, no.
@Rick Foster – nice answer! @Liz – I agree!
The United States should promptly declare war on New Zealand because, as everybody knows, war is God’s way of teaching Americans geogaphy
also theairport is NOT closed … The saying never let facts spoil a good story is obviously something you believe in. Tom you call yourself a journalist – did you do your training on Google as it is certainly not your friend and nor should it be. Remember check your acts, something the lectures, and also a editor, I had when I was training to be a journalist were always reminding us.
I was asked if there was a Ferry service between Australia and New Zealand. American education is sadly lacking. My 11 year old Nephew in the USA is learning Greek Politics, that will be useful I am sure. Teach them some basic world geography.
Good to read the corrected article. Thank you.
By the way, the earthquakes have not been “centered around the town of Seddon’, they are actually in Cook Strait, generally east of Seddon. This site will show you.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/8946179/Earthquake-Shake-map
While it is good to see the links to where you found your information, I would have expected to see more from GeoNet and the Dominion Post (the Wellington paper), not Fox News and NBC World News.
Terrible reporting
Just terrible. Any integrity you once had has just gone out the window. The fact that the errors were not, (and some still have not)being picked up on what should have been multiple approval strata, highlights the stereotype that Americans dont have a clue on what goes on outside their own country.
Thanks for the update, in correcting some of the facts and acknowledging your mistakes (and making a couple of others). Probably best to quit while you’re ahead.
An American businessman on an Alaskan cruise asked me if we had our own money in Australia anNew Zealand. I gently explained that we bartered with shells.
I once had an American chap insist that we could walk round NZ in a day like we were a small tropical island, funnily enough a young man from the US was attempting to walk round the Sth Island in the 6 months he was permitted to visit and only managed about have way.
Nice…
This should not be put as a publication on any site. The number of errors indicates a complete failure in your companies process. The fact that the article is still up, uncorrected, shows how little you care for the accuracy of the information you present as fact to your readers.
I feel kind of sorry for this guy now – sure he screwed up but we all do that. There is no need for nasty comments, I bet he feels bad enough already. Thank you for changing your article Tom, we down here in New Zealand really appreciate it.
I agree.
Well done Mr Ukinski. Timely apology and rewrite. Congratulations.
the corrections are so close – SO close. Christchurch is the 3rd largest city. Not 2nd. Welly is the 2nd. So close.
Actually it is pretty close, but I believe Christchurcis officially considered to be larger than Wellington
Wellington City is the 3rd largest City in NZ, and Christchurch the 2nd largest. Wellington City is not the same as saying the greater Wellington area, which includes Lower Hutt, Upper Hutt and Porirua cities.
To preserve our journalistic integrity, you need to delete every incorrect fact and start again. You also need to change the header on the webpage which still says Australia. This article must be very concerning to those with friends or relatives in Seddon, Australia.
You NZers are making us kiwis look bad with all your comments, I see where he went wrong but Im not going to leave mean comments about it. I thought NZ was better than that.
my comment was that it was a nice giggle … never knew my brother in aus was so close .. I don’t see a problem with that.
When did we start thinking that stuff in the news media was factually accurate? come on guys, you should know better. Now that you know this for a fact, question everything that you read, hear, see from the 4th estate
So Tom, I met a relative of yours in Florida who was just slightly a touch more ignorant a few years ago. When I told him I was from New Zealand, he figured I lived down south. I then said waaaaaaaaaay down south. He then asked if we had wide screen TVs.At this point I just shook my head and walked away.
Mmmmm…. actually no surprise that an article from the Quardien Xpress would publiush a fo pa like dis. Armericans have know noledge of Geeografy at the best of times. By thee way this is Austaylian Inglish. Look it up in any Austrian dicksionery.
May I ask these Armericans do they come from Armerica? Is that the country next door to Armenia?
Honest question does the American education system possess any geography teachers?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cey35bBWXls
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0TK_vk-XDM
From their Facebook website (Stephany Chandler, with, in the About section, weblinks to this newspaper):
The Guardian Express is a Clark County newspaper that offers its readers relevant news, commentaries, and amusement to inform, inspire and enhance the quality of life for members of our culturally diverse community.
Description
Through our news stories, we aim to expose injustice and corruption, which can undermine the liberties and freedoms we cherish. Ultimately, The Guardian Express seeks to provide a safe platform from which to sound the diverse voices of our wonderful community, encouraged always by today’s successes and tomorrow’s possibilities.
GeoNet changed the earthquake magnitude at east twice. I have a snap shot of the first one that stated the 5:09 or 17:09 quake was 6.8, not 6.5 and later it was changed to 5.8 so it is the NZ system that is inaccurate and providing discrepancies- blame the disorganization of Government. It has probably changed at least 3 more times. Ridiculous! Get it together NZ… for once.
Kate, the reason it changes is because it gets displayed automatically as per the seismic readings. They are then manually checked by scientists to get a more definite and reliable measurement.
Hi Kate,
Geonet uses an automated system of sensors and algorithms to generate immediate quake reports. This means that there can live information (magnitude, location, depth) on the website only one or two seconds after an event. These initial reports are almost always tweaked once more information comes in and more detailed analysis can happen, usually within a few minutes.
The system is actually pretty awesome.
It’s the fact that he called NZ, Australia. That’s where he got it wrong, Seddon is a small town in NZ with less than maybe 5000 people. Not the captial,
Well you just got shamed. Next time lets not jump on the “blame the government” bandwagon and actually do some research before you comment…
Well done – you have become the laughing stock of New Zealand. It is hilarious that you are keeping Tom’s original (completely inaccurate) article. A better news site would remove any confusing or misleading information.
On a side note, you are still not reporting with any accuracy: “but there is no news of any injuries”. Actually there have been two reports of injuries – one man was knocked unconscious by his falling television in Wellington (New Zealand, not Australia) and another was injured on the Kapiti Coast.
Someone is now saying that the guy on Twitter isn’t the same bloke … fact check fail for me! Mea culpa.
https://www.google.co.nz/#safe=active&output=search&sclient=psy-ab&q=%22Tom+Ukinski%22&oq=%22Tom+Ukinski%22&gs_l=hp.3..0j0i22i30.1706.21749.0.21868.13.8.5.0.0.0.317.1985.2-5j2.7.0….0…1c.1.21.psy-ab.xJHtszCImU0&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_qf.&bvm=bv.49478099,d.aGc&fp=fb0b844a15f106df&biw=1280&bih=676
Thanks, Becs. I did the search, too. Oh well, it’s not too important—my feeling was if it was the same guy who apologized then I’ll walk away from this having accepted his apology.
if only there was a reliable search engine to get up to date and correct information 🙁 maybe something that rhymes with noodle?
I take it this website does spoof news? Almost as funny as the report on “www.thecivilian.co.nz” – at least that IS a spoof news site (and proud of it) 🙂
Oh Tom – will you ever live it down. Maybe in the states, but I suggest you hold off visiting NZ any time soon. Although with your geographical nous you are unlikely to find us.
FWIW, the bloke has apologized via Twitter.
https://twitter.com/TomUkinski/status/358986367826534401
We must have made a lot of money for this website today (which, according to its own ad, is ‘Bodly Inclusive’) through our visits.
Looks like it might not have been the same bloke … fact check fail for me!
He is an ignorant American after all. HUEHUEHUE
I notice you have a Guardian Express Writers Boot Camp on your website. Maybe one or two of your journos should have a go. Wrong locations, place names, not to mention countries, an “erupting” earthquake, where do you get those? – wikipedia and the “Daily New Zealand News”? Is that like the Daily Planet newspaper you get in America/Canada?
I cant wait to watch this on the 6 pm bulletin. Hey here’s an idea @Guardian Express follow the link below maybe you will learn something about real journalism.
http://www.3news.co.nz/
At least this gave us something to smile.
I’m a Kiwi (New Zealander) living in Melbourne (Australia) not far from Seddon actually. I can’t really add to anything already said apart from, how is Tom? I bet he feels a little vilified right now, we all make mistakes mate, just not so obvious and global. Don’t be too hard on the guy; he has quadrupled your reader base as this goes globally viral on web. I’m sure he will take away some valued experience and wisdom from this fracas, perhaps come out the side an awesome journalist, he may even get the Pulitzer Prize, just not today. Cheers
Well said!
Well dang! I’m all shook up. I must be in Memphis – somewhere near – um – Austria, a small town in Germany
Send Tom back to school. He has no place in journalism if he is that incompetent and geographically illiterate. He obviously has no clue about what he is doing and does not even have the interest to bother researching about something before he reports on it.
Terrible, terrible article. I will make sure to boycott and tell everyone i know to avoid this new establishment at costs. Very unprofessional
Terrible and unprofessional reporting at its worst.
WTF….you call that preserving integrity???
We’re taking up a collection to buy Tom an atlas for his birthday
Put me down for a fiver…
Hahaha to all the people getting butthurt about this article…grow up! Who cares? The real story is available to anybody that really wants it via many other sources. Not a big deal. Find something else to do with your day. Lol at Sarah’s comments. So uptight. Worry about being a bigshot ‘journo’ yourself, and nevermind this pretty small scale amateur site. It’s obvious this website is not CNN, so come on. Look at the crappy website design. What did you expect? LOL!!!!
Americans have been accused of being ignorant about the location of New Zealand (as an American living in Wellington, NEW ZEALAND, I would know), but this beats all. I suspect there is no Tom Unkinski, but some poor underpaid drone in Manilla working under that moniker for $5 an article.
Google “Tom Ukinski” and here is the result:
https://www.google.co.nz/#safe=active&output=search&sclient=psy-ab&q=%22Tom+Ukinski%22&oq=%22Tom+Ukinski%22&gs_l=hp.3..0j0i22i30.1486.2314.0.2553.3.3.0.0.0.0.276.533.2-2.2.0….0…1c.1.21.psy-ab.mnoH4-SOuyA&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_qf.&bvm=bv.49478099,d.aGc&fp=fb0b844a15f106df&biw=1280&bih=676
Journalism basics – check your facts and geography, NEVER use Wikipedia as a cited source, read more than just the headline of Google search results, check your word usage (earthquakes don’t “erupt”), check your sources (the “Daily New Zealand News” doesn’t exist) and if you make mistakes – apologise and FIX THEM! How did this guy get a job as a journalist? I’ve just spent $5k and 2 years qualifying as a journo, it shouldn’t be the case that just anybody can do it, and make such glaring errors! What a shame it just perpetuates the view that Americans know very little about what’s beyond the end of their own noses. Please, use this as a wake-up call and up-skill/educate yourself!
Er, Tom, sorry to rub it in, you’re probably the whipping boy at your work place just now, although must have done wonders for the hits and advertising! Now then, according to your report, the earthquake happened 20 km east of Seddon, Seddon is 7 km west of Melbourne, therefore, wait for it… it happened 13 km east of Melbourne. Yep, must have been a different Seddon! ;-).
@Guardian Express, just who is The Daily New Zealand News?
Preserve your journalistic integrity? Too late for that. I thought this was a joke news site when I first saw it. Cannot believe such amateurs can get articles like this published.
OK there was mistake then the publishers and editors work hard to fix it and update it with accurate information right? I find it funny that they have a completely inaccurate source. The Daily New Zealand News doesn’t exist! And second you are quoting Wikipedia?-really? Journalistic Integrity huh
Are you a real news paper ? with real people or just a robot run enterprise. Earthquake in Seddon Australia you joke Nelson Mandela dead !! what planet do you represent
Why doesn’t he get his facts right….what a dork….
And did you hear that the undersea world was also rocked by the earthquake? The mermaids blame the death of one of their own on it (first reported casualty). Just check Amanda’s article; link on the sidebar. (Caveat – I haven’t actually read the article, but that’s ok; I don’t have to check facts before publishing something). And aliens stole my husband. Oh, wait; I’m not married…
john key is a facist by the way, a puppet of you stupid americans
In days of yesteryear, mistakes such as these might be understandable, but with access to high-speed sources of information there is NO excuse now. The writer needs to be sent to school again, to learn how to read an Atlas and how to search with a computer to verify facts. It really made my stomach flip, seeing such inaccurate information being quoted as fact. This truly is a ridiculous and unforgivable mistake to make.
As someone living just a 30 minute drive from Seddon, NEW ZEALAND….and feeling all of these quakes, it was annoying to read the inaccuracies in this article about the location. But to then correct it and update it with sources such as The Daily New Zealand News? PLEASE! You call yourselves journalists? Wikipedia isn’t a bloody source and there is NO “Daily New Zealand News”.
elvis is a live and living in seddon, afganistan
Yeah, nah, bro.
Kinda sad to see any news source quoting Wikipedia, especially in order to get something so hilariously wrong. Just so your journalist knows, there is a FIERCE rivalry between this island nation and the one next door that extends to all facets of life and is most obvious in sporting events between Aussie and New Zealand. We would certainly NEVER allow them to have ‘our’ earthquake. Oh, and the key difference between Aussie and New Zealand? We went nuclear-free in 1984. Aussie didn’t.
What is “The Daily New Zealand News”? Where can I read it? Seems the only source you can spell is “Wikipedia”…
“However, our team of reporters are working as fast as possible to provide you with the most accurate news and information covering the recent New Zealand earthquake.”
Hot tip >> http://tvnz.co.nz/ >> they have pictures and everything, given that they’re actually there and stuff.
the correction ….The Daily New Zealand News has reported….. Unfortunately, there is no Daily New Zealand News, there is however, daily news in New Zealand.
“… journalistic integrity… ” If there had been any, then this article would have been checked and not published due to the number of inaccuracies. Your reporter needs a geography lesson, as well as a lesson about being accurate.
As for working hard to keep us up-to-date -we can do that faster ourselves -internet search. I suggest you just post a link to http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post, especially for the live chat at 12 noon 22 July 2013 NZ time. The link will keep your readers up-to-date a lot quicker.
However, thank you so very much of the smile and laughter you have brought everyone in NZ who has either read this article or heard it being quoted on National Radio this morning.
Derp herpderp derpderpderp
Stuff.co.nz will have a job waiting for you if you move here, Tom. They have a lot of journalistic integrity too.
I think they should leave it up. As a Wellingtonian I’m finding it hilarious.
You need to take this down. it’s wrong in SO MANY WAYS. Napier is a small city on the East Coast of New Zealand… Go and do your homework and then come back and re-post.
– Bronwyn. New Zealand.
idiot needs to do his homework first time! how bout we mix america and canada up!
Guardian Express – Boldly Inclusive! It sure is….
Your paper just made this up! There is no ‘journalistic integrity’ to begin with!
“Seddon is a suburb 7 km west of Melbourne, Australia, with a population of about 4,851 people”
Bizarre response to a real emergency in this real and actual country… New Zealand!
Plonkers…. why leave the original article when it is so drastically wrong… obviously no journalistic integrity there..
Shame on you American Journalists!
Your news site is so much more informative than other ‘mainstream’ sources – not only do we learn about the Australian earthquake, but also that Nelson Mandela has been dead for over a month! https://guardianlv.com/2013/06/nelson-mandela-life-support-shut-down-as-respected-humanitarian-dies-age-94/ (right on the sidebar!)
All those slot machines in Las Vegas must be really good for your mind!!
Definitely gives new meaning to the advert “No more beersies for you” oh and Tom thought you might want this -Seddon is a small town in Marlborough, New Zealand. It is located on State Highway 1, 25 kilometres south of Blenheim and 20 km north of Ward.
Probably more people from New Zealand and Australia have read this article than anyone from the rest of the world has ever read this paper. Most story’s have no comments and half a dozen links to facebook, this has 370 comments and over 10,000 links to facebook. haha, are there any US people reading this?
Yes…sadly I am reading this and I am an American. Of course I would never have seen it were it not for my friend in NZ! Perhaps the “journalist” Tom also worked for Yahoo. I can recognize the same journalistic style in this article as in most reports found on Yahoo!
Hahaha cited Wikipedia! No shame
I’ve been to Melbourne, I don’t remember driving through Seddon? Where on a map will I find Napier? I thought New Zealand was a city in Australia?
Do these things never get proofed or verified? And rather than leave your original, misleading and outrageously incorrect report there – don’t you think you should fix it? How is leaving it there protecting your journalistic integrity? You have none!!
Proof that Americans are not known for their knowledge of anything outside of America. Well done mate! You just gave us another reason to increase our “sibling rivalry”. By the way any jobs going? My written English isn’t A+ worthy but I do know what Google is
A mistake made by one person does not necessarily reflect the intelligence of the greater group of which he or she belongs. Saying Tom’s mistake proves Americans are stupid is like saying a kiwi rapes someone proves all kiwis are rapists. Tom Ukinski doesn’t give you any reasons for anything, rather this article brings out the ignorance in you and your lack of sympathy for other people.
God! The Aussies steal everything from NZ. Now they even steal our earthquakes!
Yeah, nah, bro!
Get a Map!!
Sounds like it was written by a school kid using Google and copying/pasting. Nothing in it is actually news except the brief mention of where and when the earthquake ‘erupted’, and its severity.
Note to disregard anything this website reports.
One word….dushbag
Tom Ukinski needs to switch to covering showbiz gossip, seeing as though even basic facts allude him. Is this what “journalism” means now days?!
Terrible reporting. You should also be ashamed for using a photo of the Pyne Gould Guiness Building which collapsed in the Feb 2011 killing 18 people in the thumbnail for the ‘updated’ information about the Wellington earthquake yesterday.
When will it get through to everyone’s heads that NEW ZEALAND is NOT a part of Australia!?
This journalist must also have a PhD in Geography as well as highly qualified in journalistic accuracy.
Ummmm I believe this is a paper based in Las Vegas so any comments about Canada or Canadians being dumb is misleading.
I think that’s the point. It’s called irony. Congratulations on reinforcing the stereotype that Americans are a bit slow.
Well done, Tom! We can learn a lot from this, and think it is high time that you American’s invaded us so you can learn a bit more about us. It worked for Europe during WWII, Vietnam in the 60’s, and recently Afghanistan and Iran (oops, meant Iraq – you haven’t kicked off there yet). That way CNN can educate you on local geography. Hope all is well with you all in Toronto.
LOL…A typically ignorant American view on the world…it didn’t happen in the USA…so who cares about the detail!
Journalistic integrity? Lazy reporting is the thing these days — referencing Wikipedia, of all things!
Grumpy GrantNZ – do you just hate on NZ because it is part of your name!?
They haven’t changed it to keep its integrity, but to generate publicity and to get exposure. Shame its such a mess of an article, grossly sensationalised and ‘facts’ ripped from Wikipedia. Hopefully Tom isn’t a veteran and just an intern, with the level of journalism portrayed above.
Did the Guardian name and shame the journalist ‘to preserve their journalistic integrity’? Doesn’t integrity mean taking editorial responsibility?
Isn’t this a symptom of the journalistic methods that are required now?
Isn’t another symptom that a stock image continues to illustrate the story?
I’m trying to see the funny side, I really am. After living through CHCH earthquakes and now having dear family/friends in the effected areas of Wellington/Seddon, I have found it much more…concerning, especially waiting for news from them all. This article just makes me angry because in emergencies such as this, accurate knowledge provides immeasurable comfort for everyone involved, as well as those wanting news of their loved ones.
This article, I think, causes more pain and fear than the humour. It is not truthful or accurate. It is instaneously available to the entire world increasing the potential for harm.
Mr. Ukinski, please, if you want to be a good journalist, honesty and integrity are cornerstones of your profession. Accurate and precise reporting of the facts is paramount. If you don’t know something for sure, please don’t print it just to pad out the one or two facts that are correct.
It gives far more comfort to say you don’t know yet, than say 25000 might be dead.
And I thought the Muppet Show had finished? Apparently one of it’s previous stars is now a journalist working for the Guardian.
Maybe we should start referring to Canada as apart of America also?
Fail James. Canada is a part of America. America is a continent which consists of both the USA and Canada.
What “Journalistic integrity” that’s all gone with this article. By this rag not changing the article it says it agrees with reporting lies. You make a mistake you fix it.
I also see that he isn’t actually reporting on the actual event totally he’s been lazy and listing some figures that he got from another website, how can that be reporting?
Epic Fail! Find a new job buddy…
Journalistic Integrity ahaha good one :b nice viral marketing for your local rag!
I am sorry Tom .. but since the night rocked away here in Wellington, NZ, and I am hundreds of miles away from my brother in Melbourne Australia, I have enjoyed the biggest giggles i have had all day reading the comments on your uninformed article … 🙂
Worst. Journalism. Ever.
Ohh i see now – New comments are shown at the top 😛
Must have been a slow news day in Sin City.
I bet you’re really not changing the original article so as to increase the number of hits on the website. Not that I care, this is comedic gold
Hmm i just posted this:
The US is now helping Aussie steal our earthquakes? WTF is NEXT???!!! ;D
With the name Amused Kiwi, but somehow my name got put with the comment that is above…lol
Hey don’t be too hard on this guy or the Guardian! Just imagine how safe we might be if Americans were targeting Seddon or even NZ in a missile attack. Now that’s a scary thought in itself
No they’re to busy dropping unexploded bombs on the Great Barrier Reefs at the moment trying to impress the Aussies.
Someone just googled and wikipedia’d an article, mate you are golden!!! Next time just actually read maybe more than the headline of what you google searched ahaha.
Maybe you guys needs to buy an Atlas for your office. Then you would know that Seddon is in the Northern part of New Zealand’s South Island – a very very long way from Melbourne, Australia!!!! I should know. It is only 30km south of my home town, Blenheim. By the way, Blenheim also is not a suburb of Melbourne!!
Well done to the writer for perpetuating the stereotype that Americans are ignorant to everything beyond their own borders.
Now the US is helping Aussie steal our earthquakes? WTF IS NEXT ! ! ! ! ;D
“To preserve our journalistic integrity, we have decided not to change one word of Tom Ukinski’s article.” Really?! And precisely what “journalistic integrity” would that be? It is clear you have none. Zilch.
Okay – Tom got it wrong. But please correct me if Im wrong – doesn`t it take more than one person to put a paper to bed?
So maybe there are others who could have pointed out the errors before it ended up providing lots of material for the dipstick awards.
Or are they just glad their names aren`t on the by line?
No research, no knowledge and fear mongering = inept journalist! The Guardian should be ashamed of a story going public like this… Who are you trying to impress by saying earthquakes of this size kills x amount of people?? It’s sickening and has no newsworthy merit. Boo Guardian and Boo Ukinski
I’m loving how they are keeping the article unedited.. gives everyone enough time to spread it around the world and shame The Guardian for all it’s worth. Besides, nothing wrong with a bit of Monday morning humour to lighten the mood a little!
I hope the journalist spends the rest of his day looking for a new job, preferably not one where he is in charge of reporting world news – keep idiots like this in America only thanks.
It’s probable that the reason they’re leaving the inaccurate article up is that the extra traffic will be making their advertising people happy, and for American “newspapers” that’s probably more important than actual journalism.
Spot on, Chelfyn.
“Journalistic integrity”. Yeah, nah, better look that one up in a dictionary ; I suggest the Oxford in case American dictionaries have the same level of accuracy as your atlases. Why is this moron still working as a reporter? Does he cover alien abductions too?
Apparently some guy in Seddon’s (NZ) fridge does not work after it fell over last night. Now THAT is sensational and factual. Man cannot live though a natural disaster without cold beer!
What a stupid idiot. Hope tom gets fired.
Well it was close?!Think American’s
needs to learn WORLD GEOGRAPHY in schools not just about USA
Don’t be to harsh on the guy, gezzz if there has been one thing I have learned in my 10 years living away from New Zealand is there are a lot of precious people there. The fact is New Zealand is an obscure country in the middle of nowhere. Another shocking piece of news for you, nobody outside New Zealand cares about rugby, literally nobody.
Wow…you’re just as ignorant as the author of this article.
this is a news article. it has nothing to do with how obscure we are as a country, they purely need to get there facts before publishing anything. not to mention that photo is from the christchurch earthquake age ago
“Don’t be to harsh on the guy” – REALLY? – he is a journalist, he is not just an average joe blog, and as such he should have a higher level of knowledge, and should be harshly critisized due to not doing something as simple as checking facts. I get that we are a relatively unknown country in the middle of nowhere, but a journalist should know better than to write an article and not check basic facts. To point out the obvious, it was not just a single error but a whole paragraph that contained completely erroneous
geographical data.
Journalists here are taught to check and double check facts prior to publishing, all this hack has done is copy and paste a Wikipedia entry or two, this is not journalism, my 14 yr old could to a better job and the facts would also be accurate.
Egg!
And a better country for not having you here anymore judging by your remark!
If we can’t rely on the news to be correct then what can we rely on?. I am in a suburb north of Wellington and funnily enough felt the might jolt from Australia? Really…… Check your facts Tom – don’t just get on your computer and make unsubstantiated guesses about where little places like Seddon are. We, in little ole EnZed are quite worried about the inaccuracies of reporting and now wondering if all of your and other reporters’ work is as inaccurate.
Haven’t they lost any integrity by continuing with the article and not correcting the blunder!! Integrity my foot!!
Did reporter Tom Ukinski consult his iFone iMaps
A man using iMaps walks into a bar. Or a church. Or a library… or maybe a school?…
Really? How do you preserve our journalistic integrity with a headline that reads Australia/New Zealand when this occurred in New Zealand? Mind you, we love Oceania and regional approaches but earthquakes and first and foremost local.
Guardian Las Vegas, we’d love to help you cover Las Vegas but you have to promise not to confuse Nevada with Alberta or Chihuahua.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UT6oZqYij8U
This shows how New Zealanders feel about Aussies. That’s why your article is so funny.
Its nothing to do with how New Zealanders feel about Aussies……. its to do with the fact that the article is TOTALLY INCORRECT. And there is nothing funny about reporting on earthquakes when there were hundreds of people that were killed in the Christchurch earthquake back in 2011. We should be counting ourselves very lucky.
In the words of the fat kid off the Simpsons..”haw haw”…
shameful and should be removed… fire the “reporter”
Go home America… you’re drunk!!!
Yeah, nah, bro!
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10901290 here you go America, direct from a NZ paper, the New Zealand Herald. As funny as this article is, to comment that 25 000peoole die in earthquakes of this size is the issue I have with it, as people with family in NZ would have freaked out, no one died in our earthquake as the earthquake centre was not a main city, we were lucky, had it been closer to Wellington, there would have been more damage. There is a risk of more earthquakes so NZers are on edge, so thanks for lightening the mood. Everyone is laughing at this, don’t feel bad Tom, when we had a small volcanic eruption about 15 years ago, American media on tv said that the country of NZ had blown up, when actually only the surrounding ski fields were damaged. American news seèms to need to sensationalist things, sometimes reality is bad enough for people going through it.
You have provided us with some light relief here in middle New Zealand, after what was really quite a decent shake-up!
don’t be so harsh on Tom, don’t half of Naper live in Western Australia now?
You have got to be joking. What kind of an inept journalist is this! This article should be removed until corrected. Mr Ukinski you have just proved what the rest of the world believes about America – you have no knowledge of anything that exists beyond your own seaboards. You are ignorant sir, and your newspaper is arrogant. To leave the article as is while you actually take the time to research it properly is most inappropriate. You do your readers a great disservice and you are seriously disrespecting those of us who have been enduring these earthquakes all weekend.
Shame on you Mr Ukinski, shame on you Guardian Express.
Really!!?? Is the US that friken sheltered!! NZ is ummmm a pretty separate country from Australia!!!! and I’m pretty sure Seddon is not a suburb near Melbourne!…. a reporter who has no knowledge of basic geography = your fired!
There is a suburb in Melbourne called Seddon; just outside its boundaries is a park called Hanmer Reserve (Springs, anyone?). There is also a town called Napier (more of a crossroads, really) in Western Australia, a little north of Albany. Seems Wikipedia Tom may have simply typed the town names into Google maps, without specifying a country… My 13-y-o can do better. Perhaps she can apply for a job on this paper? No, wait; we do have some self-respect in this family.
You used Wikipedia as a source???? Someone please take away your college degree; if you have one. You make Americans look awful.
Tom needs a good swift kick in the plums people with IQs that low should not be allowed to breed.
Hey Tom, we (in New Zealand) forgive you : ) come on down and visit a place you will never again forget.
and apparently he is an attorney in state government…..
Typical American – I’m surprised you even know that there are countries in the world that aren’t America! And for the record, leaving an article this riddled with errors unedited, for the sake of “journalistic integrity”, is an insult to those who are suffering through these earthquakes. You owe the people of New Zealand an apology.
Hmm, no Pulitzer for this brain fart
I just had a thought after my last post. I’m pleased I don’t have to spend 3 hours in a plane to get to Melbourne anymore since we have suddenly moved 1500miles westward overnight….AWESOME!
How can you actually get this wrong?! Isn’t it your job to double check facts etc? Sum Ting Wong. (Name of 777 pilot, did you write that too haha?)
Oh America…
I think its disrespectful to new zealand to not change the article! Why keep it the same when the information is WRONG!!!???
Journalistic and integrity probably are two words that shouldn’t appear together in this instance.
Working as fast as possible? The quake happened yesterday.
How can get one the location so wrong? It’s like mistaking Virginia with Cuba…
Well the earth didn’t move over here in Melbourne………..:) 🙂 🙂 🙂 I think that journalist is going to have a red face
Mistaking NZ for Australia is the most insulting thing you can do to an NZer, but I suppose we all got a laugh out of this. How could you get it so wrong, really though.
The original report is so meaningless it needs to be rewritten
Far out you americans are idiots.
What journalistic integrity?? If you had integrity, you’d have got the more important details (like the country, for instance) correct. Typical US arrogance.
I disagee, it takes integrity to swallow pride and not try to cover-up the mistake, they’ve made an apology and posted a correction. Have a good laugh and move on. (From Nelson, top of South – felt it here.)
Some of you people are being awfully mean. I think Tourism NZ should shout Tom a holiday here. Tom, there’s a nice B&B down the road and we’d be happy to give you a tour of our lovely Wairarapa wineries should you come to stay. We make our own cheese to go with, so any retained in spray cans will be confiscated at the border.
Oh you Canadian reporters are funny, getting the geography so out! New Zealand is close to Australia, only separated by a 1400 nautical mile moat. Nothing like the land border between you Canadians and your southern neighbours the Americans.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tb2Ct3yyB4g
Why the shock & horror from readers? At least a Las Vegas “news” paper got the correct hemisphere. Keep up the great work, guys!
PS. Every heard of Google over there in …mmm…mmmmm..Ontario?
How ignorant. Typical Americans.
Haha, well said Susan. Dum Americans should have paid more attention at Geography in school they all ways get it wrong no matter what they do.
Why was Tom sitting there thinking where New Zealand was when he could have opened up google and search it in 3 seconds??
I dont get it, is this a piss take news site or a real one? We already have one of those: http://www.thecivilian.co.nz/
Is this a joke? I think it lessens Ukinski’s credibility and integrity by the second. Take it down.
Wow this article is so wrong haha. Poor Tom. If he’d got the right location this would have been a whole lot easier for him, but thinking Seddon was in Australia just led Tom way down the wrong path.
Here’s the real story for you:
Just after 5pm on Sunday (local time) a 6.5 magnitude earthquake struck near Seddon in New Zealand. There are reports that it was felt from Christchurch to Hamilton, with some damage in Wellington’s CBD.
The quake was one of over 250 shakes since a magnitude 5.7 on Friday morning.
Parts of the CBD are closed for structural checks until midday.
Journalistic integrity?????? You’re kidding, right???
Not sure how you can get this soooo wrong, even just google “Seddon Earthquake” and you get all the correct information and even history.
Thank you Tom, this article has brought a light relief to shattered nerves. Can’t stop laughing at some of the witty comments.
Just another example of Americans not knowing geography.
Meh, Australia took the pavlova, Russell Crowe, Pharlap and Evermore. If they want the earthquake-prone, previously unheard of township of Seddon…they’re welcome.
Oh Tom you made my day, i never knew i lived so close to Melbourne. Chin up, you must be having the worst day.
I have no respect whatsoever for both the writer of this article and its editors.
Do you see me sitting here calling you something you are not? No. We aren’t Australian. We are New Zealanders. Get that through your thick heads. I’m so glad I am not one of you ignorant a**ho*les.
New Zealand is a proud country. Do not disrespect us with your poor work ethic.
Tom Ukinski you need to learn geography
he needs to give up journalism i think
Worst article ever, the facts are wrong and it doesn’t read well or flow.
If Melbourne is on the SE tip of “Australia” (I think you mean the Australian mainland), how is there a town 7km east of it, and an earthquake 20km east of that?
bahahaha.
someone is going to be looking for a gig at the Weekly Word News
http://www.geonet.org.nz/quakes/felt,
Tom needs a holiday here.
The people of Seddon NZ must have been shocked this morning when they woke up after a night of earthquakes and found themselves 7km away from Melbourne Australia. We are quite used to Australia claiming anything of significance coming out of NZ as Australian, but this is taking things a little too far. New Zealand and Australia are different countries, American news always reports New Zealand being part of Australia, we are not.
Susanne – which is more damaging; a few Earthquakes or waking up and finding out you are now Australian? I would suggest the latter!
Didn’t the editor notice sum ting wong with the article. Wi tu lo on the globe to be part of Australia. Ho li fuk, here comes another earthquake, bing bang ow!
Get the point!
And Tom Ukinski does this for a living…can you believe that.
Isn’t this a satirical piss take newpaper though? Like the onion or The Civilian?
LOL This is Gold!!!
Don’t pretend to care about the rest of the world when you obviously have no knowledge of it. What an idiot! And this comes from an American who now lives in NZ. At least we can take comfort in knowing you will be laughed at for years to come. Oh, and Guardian Express, it’s not that difficult to get accurate information about the quake. Try looking to an international source for once in your life.
Did the journalist just reference wikipedia as a source!!!
well, I’ve seen plenty of journalists get news info out of twitter and facebook so wikipedia seems positively academic.
What a fool this person is, obviously he did not check his facts. What a shame he wasn’t in BLENHEIM South Island New Zealand at 5.09pm with me and my family when the earthquake hit as I am sure he would have been more careful about how he wrote his article.
I would have thought that before posting such a mistake-ridden article, that an editor would have at least checked the geography. Kara Lipski WELLINGTON N.Z. !
I love the approximate distance between Melbourne and Napier. I’ve always wanted to visit aussie, I just never knew it was so damn close! 😛 PS, I think you need to have a serious talking to your reporter Tom Ukinski, throwing together an article isn’t rocket science. Neither are facts.
Love it how Tom relies on Wikipedia as a reliable source of info!
Don’t feel too bad Tom. NZ’ers are pretty scathing when Yanks mistake their country with Australia. And the the number of Kiwi’s bleating on social media ‘where the fu@k is seddon?!’ was all too common.
How about you rewrite this article OR stop pretending to be an informed person at all!
Wow that really is breaking news, LMAO!
In Wellington and have to thank the article, was greatly amused and cheered up. The Aussies can have the earthquakes, but can we have the pavlova back please?
My thoughts exactly. Always good to have a laugh especially when you are fed up with all the shaking.
Me too!!
Tom must be thinking of the HUGE bridge that connects New Zealand and Australia to make it one…. also who references wikipedia?? This man needs some researching advice!
Duh! Homer Simpson! Shame on you…! You shoud loose your job over this as who on planet earth would believe or trust your integrity after this articale. How on earth in this day and age could you get an article so completly wrong…? Where you dropped on your head a birth… I certainly do wonder!
When you set out to belittle someone else you should really make sure your spelling is correct.
More Wikipedia facts: Seddon in Melbourne, Australia and Seddon in Marlborough, New Zealand are both named after Richard Seddon, Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1893 to 1906. He still retains the record of NZ’s longest serving PM.
Thank you very much, Tom. I’m an English teacher and you’ve just given me a BRILLIANT example to show students when saying ‘Check you sources! don’t plagiarise sentences/phrases off the net, string them together and hope no one will notice!”
The replacement article is excellent, though with a misleading picture. But thanks for keeping the original, which is provoking so much hilarity.
ha ha ha … yes it has
Just shows how stupid your reporters are. The credibility of the paper and reporter are with what he/she writes. With this dribble of confusing Australia (Australia is the 6th largest country (by area) in the world) and New Zealand it sends out that your paper is not credit and should be in the comic section.
.. we are New Zealand we maybe small but we are MIGHTY!!!!!
I would like to point out I have never made a mistake, and that only Americans are bad, and that sacking someone is reasonable response to this. Also everyone in the world should have a care about the details of Australia and it’s territories, including the holiday island of New Zealand. In other words, don’t sweat it Tom, hope your week improves.
… islands.
Because international understanding and respect doesn’t matter – not sure what kind of world you want to live in, but it’s not the one us kiwis are building in nuclear free NZ
Erm excuse me? New Zealand is NOT a “territory” of Australia, nor a “holiday island” – in fact we’re made up of three islands. We’re our own independent, unique, amazing country all on our own and it drives me crazy knowing that in this day and age, with so much information available on the internet, people still think we’re part of Australia. Get it together people, we may be small and we may be far away from everything else but we are still important and deserve respect.
Tom, I suggest that you do an article on what is required to be a credible journalist and live by that. Part of that will be a course on geography.
I seriously cannot tell if this is a troll post or the writer is just a retard
I see how he has done it as their is a suburb in Victoria called Seddon . but still he needs to get a geography lesson and a quick google would have found our first news reports .. even the us earthquake site would have shown him where ..
Doesn’t matter how stupid the story may be, dumb Americans would still believe it- as most don’t even know where another state of the U.S.A is, let alone where Australia or New Zealand is. God bless America! LOL
Please use genuine local NZ newsites to get accurate information, for example, http://www.stuff.co.nz/ or http://www.3news.co.nz/ – always best from the horses mouth, not a small online newsite. However it is providing huge hilarity amongst Wellingtonians so maybe they’ve provided a community service in the form of stress relief!
Only Volcanoes erupt. Geologically and geographically challenged journalist…
those darn aussies….is there no limit to what they try to take credit for?!? 😉
Wow bad Geography. Please get this in you heads the nearest point in Australia from New Zealand (which is where the earthquake occurred) is 1500 miles away over a very stormy sea. Oh and there are no bridges between New Zealand and Australia and no we are not the same country. Don’t get me wrong I love Australia and they are our mates. However, to give you a US reference; to say that an earthquake that occurred near Seddon New Zealand occurred in Melbourne Australia well that’s like saying an earthquake that occurred in Los Angeles California occurred in Little Rock Arkansas….?
Typical Australians, first the pavlova, then Crowded House … now our earthquakes!
Surely the correction at least is satire? “Journalistic integrity” to describe something this poorly researched? Really?
I thought it was satire… See, the media has got so dumb that I can’t tell anymore!
Tom i can understand how you got confused New Zealand has 4 Major Islands the North Island,South Island,Stewart Island and West Island (Australia)
So Tom, did you do ANY fact checking? How often do you just make things up in your stories? I hope you’re going to get in a whole lotta trouble from the real journalists ar your organization for this. Sadly, I suspect that won’t happen.
well we in New Zealand have had enough of earthquakes God Bless Australia for taking on the problem beacuase we surely have had enought. Good on you Aussie, you stole our other ideas, we want you to have this one
someone with no knowledge of NZ or Australia obviously. what a bleep
i feel sorry for this guy, everyone is being a bit underhand, surely he has suffered enough for his mistake. it would be nice if people responded the same way to important political issues, we would live in a very different world i am sure
Love how he wants to keep his original words to protect his journalistic integrity! Nothing like preserving the proof of how wrong you’ve been. Integrity plus!
Not.
There is no integrity in a so called journalist that can’t even be bothered to check Google maps…
Completely agree with previous comments…. How has this article by such an uncredible journalist even remained online? Our best wishes to the people in NEW ZEALAND who have been affected
It’s Okay Tom,
How on earth is leaving an article which is riddled with errors up online preserving your journalistic integrity? That makes absolutely no sense….. Correcting it would show acceptance that the numerous errors have been made and that reporting with accuracy is important to the Guardian Express. Wouldnt that be preserving your journalistic integrity? What stupid reasoning…
check for airport delays at myAirportStatus
Fail!!! At least correct the headline.
You just reinforced the stereotype of Americans being the most ethnocentric ignorant race.
I might add, maybe this article from so-called reporter Tom Ubinski, should be used, in perpetuity, on how NOT to report the news!
Haha, you corrected the heading but not any of the content?! Oh this is Gold!
Bloody hilarious.
wow what a complete moron. Tom Ukinski, do your home work ya idiot!
Thanks for the light entertainment to relieve the monotonous earthquakes, had me in stitches!
Omg what an idiot- i do hope he gets the sack- that is just embarrasing- going on about seddon where it is located population etc- and its not evan the right place. Should really read ya facts before google searching and then copy paste. Dick
Nice to see such accurate reporting! Just another sad example of the demise of journalism.
Bit of a fail here. The only part the reporter got right seems to be he got the correct hemisphere! Don’t think he did a lot of research or even reading other media reports. Not likely to get a Pulzer prize for his work anytime soon.
And what about all those earthquakes that happen in the Canadian suburb of California, terrible isn’t it
Tom Udunski, not enough to put/correction New Zealand.!! And your Editor needs firing too!
So, Guardian, this reporter still has a job? How wrong can you be! New Zealand and Australia are two different countries, with separate governments! There is at least 4,000km of ocean that separate the two countries! New Zealand has two main islands: the North and the South Islands. Seddon is a small town at the top of the South Island, (in a province called Marlborough), and our capital city, Wellington is situated at the bottom of the North Island, (the province here is called Wellington). This earthquake has disrupted the lives of many citizens of both provinces and has also be widely felt throughout many other parts of the country, which, again for your information and education, is called NEW ZEALAND. Get it right, please!
Not only are the facts wrong but the article lacks any substance at all. As someone else said…nice use of google. People could die but did the reporter even think to find out! What genius employed him?
I don’t find this article offensive, I find it hilarious. Lets hope they keep in up so we can all get a good laugh.
DearTom Ukinski.
You are a Dickhead. time for another day job.
Yours sincerely
Seddon
New Zealand
Someone sack this moron
REMOVE THE ARTICLE FROM FB< and then remove so called REPORTER !!!!!
I think this shouldn’t be corrected and left here in perpetuity as a lesson for budding journalists
You had ONE job!
You freakin moron! This seems typical of American media. you have your head stuck too far up your arse, to research your topic let alone correct it when your wrong.
I think Tom needs to go to the Guardian Express Writers Bootcamp that is advertised on this page!
what an absolute idiot… let me guess, he is from ‘MERICA’…! what a loser and what is wrong with the reporters from that country????
There is a Seddon near Melbourne and the may be a Napier there somewhere too. But there is no Excuse for this.
1:(Seddon is a suburb 7 km west of Melbourne, Australia, with a population of about 4,851 people). It is located in the state of Victoria on the southeast tip of Australia. The shock effects of the quake have been felt as far away as 2 (Napier), in Western Australia,3 (3,302 kilometers (2,066 miles) from Melbourne. ) This suggests that the path of the quake is along the southern part of Australia.
1 Seddon in in the south island on New Zealand 16 km from Blenheim pop1000 approx
2 Napier eastern coast of the North Island of New Zealand
3 seddon to napier 463 km
What an idiot – very irresponsible article – what an insult to our beautiful country NEW ZEALAND – and I totally agree with the comments above that are wondering why on earth this offensive article is still on line – sort it out and take it down and don’t forget to apologise!
What a wanker.
you still have a job??? pity you didn’t research your work first….. nothing is correct .
Tommy… I don’t think you are cut out for journalism
Seddon is in the South Island of New Zealand, Napier is eastern North Island of New Zealand. Australia and New Zealand are different countries and this earthquake happened in New Zealand. Terrible reporting. Get it together
This is the problem with media… go in all guns blazing without checking the facts.
ok you corrected the title, how about the whole article now?
You could at least edit the article properly and delete Australia, it doesnt make it better putting the / in there. NZ is a whole different country to Australia not just a little Island of it.
Nice use of google there, buddy. It’s offensive that this is still up.
Can you fix this article, correction NZ! in the heading is not enough
Tommy….Tommy….Tommy….lets all be thankful your not a heart surgeon aye?!!!!
Australia takes our race horses, pavlovas, musicians and actors, and now they’re taking our suburbs and earthquakes. Typical!
It’s things like this that reinforce the stereotype of Americans as lazy, insular and ignorant. Might want to take a look at a globe mate.
i have zero idea as to why this was even allowed to be published and why it still exists it clearly is wrong so do something about it
Mmmmm someone obviously did not learn geography of the world when they went to school. Unless you can get your facts right, get the article proof read by someone who did take geography. We are not part of Australia, wake up and smell the roses
Geography……. Fail!
You do know Autralia is 2000 km away from New Zealand, where the earthquake actually happened, don’t you!?
Time this journalist should give up his job and travel the world!! Thought this was a jokebut it seems not! 🙂
Lazy journalism at its worst. I suppose to you, New Zealand is simply a place where Hobbits live.
Ha ha. Love it
So silly this happened in new zealand not in aussie, also there would be the entire length of new zealand be tween seddon and napier if they were that far apart.
Tom just lost his job. Hahaha idiot
“Tom Ukinski has been a mime, actor, mailman, chimney sweep, doorman, factory worker and advertising copywriter. He has written novels, poetry, stories, screenplays and musicals. His novel, Divine Play: An Epic with Commercials was recently published by iUniverse.”
Maybe he should go back to his old profession… Must of got his degree in journo from a cereal box! Nice one!
Hahahaha, “…as far away as Napier, in Western Australia…”
Or maybe my hometown of Napier, New Zealand, a little closer to the actual quake. Brilliant.
Tom, if I ever meet you, I’m going to backhand you SO hard…
And hehehe, Fox News.
LOL!!!!! This just made my morning.
Wow,.. Seriously get your facts right!!
Um New Zealand not Australia. Major journalistic fail
You call yourself a reporter? You could at least get the country right, it really isn’t that hard to do is it??
And it was in New Zealand not Australia. The Seddon which is the epicenter of this and lots of other quakes since Friday at the top of the South Island of New Zealand not in Victoria. Fabulous reporting there when you can’t get your facts right.
oops u got the wrong country
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seddon,_New_Zealand
Here’s a prime example of false information on the internet “Seddon is a small town in Marlorough, New Zealand” Well look at that, The Internet! Wrong! No! Yes! Bet everyone’s freaking out now? So stop picking on Tom.
Most journalists do not depend on Wikipedia when doing research.
But Seddon is a small town in Marlborough New Zealand.
No wonder America couldn’t find Bin Laden …sheeeeet!
It was also 6.5 NOT 6.2.
Yeah Tom, this is a terrible article. You should have checked your facts. This is incredibly sloppy journalism. If I was your boss you’d be getting a warning for this major mistake.
Awesome Tom… You made this Kiwi smile. I feel sorry for all the people of Seddon Australia who wake up to read that they just went through an earthquake and will walk around trying to find proof of it.
Considering the effect this has had on the capital city of our country, and our govt. buildings, they should surely be able to get the right country?
Even an American.. Shocking.
Wow what an idiot. Get a new job or at least do you research before you publish an article. Fool.
omg Tom, epic blunder about this epicentre…………back to school for you mate!
But then again, your ex president Bush jnr didn’t know where New Zealand was either…
Haha just a further person to say the Seddon you mean is in New Zealand..
may pay to fact check before publishing your article!
Hmmm. You need to educate yourself. The earthquake was in New Zealand!
in the words of a great, Tom, you’re fired. maybe journalisms not for you buddy 😉 Thanks though for giving us Wellingtonians (thats Wellington, New Zealand) a good laugh in a pretty stressful time
Tom Ukinski, you are a retard.
A quick google search reveals that there is indeed a Seddon, 7km west of Melbourne. A quick google search would also reveal that this Seddon is not the same Seddon close to the earthquake epicentre. But I am picking that many NZ Seddonites may in fact prefer to be in Melbourne Seddon at this time.
Do American media not fact check their stories prior to publication. Earthquakes mainly arround the Seddon area which is the top of the South Island having major impact on Wellington.
Hey Tom Ukinsky,
Get out of the office a bit huh!
Fox News are on the phone with a job ofer right about now.
Ha ha ha breakfastTV are going to love this
Americans eh, not smart
Typical you need to get your facts right it is New Zealand. How about checking,
Leave poor Tom alone as everyone in the know knows that Australia is really New Zealand’s West Island….. lmao
Dear Reporter, An atlas would not go astray at the moment. Seddon is located in the South Island of New Zealand where the earthquake occurred. It was felt in Napier, in the North Island of New Zealand. This is like saying LA is in Canada. Goes to show aometime a wee bit of reserach and education in geography would not go astray!
Geography lesson needed here Tom
FFS the Aussies pinched our Nat Anthem the other week now they want to pinch our towns and limelight
I wonder if this was Tom’s first piece?
Lacks fact-checking and common sense. I mean, a 6M quake 20km below the surface and felt 3000km away? No more beersies for you, Tom.
One earthquake a year???? Pppft, try over 10,000 in two years in Christchurch (NZ, not England) alone!
Tom…do a geography lesson! As a Jurno…number one rule. Get facts right
New Zealand thinks your dumb Tom…
spacehead lol
Awww, I don’t think you should write, eh. You’re too wasted!
Idiot, being in Adelaide, AU, I was just about to ring Family and Friends that live in Seddon in Melb, @ 1am, what a Goose
Seriously this Is so stupid 1 get your facts right before posting anything this is a prof that you cannot believe everything you read or hear in the media cause it’s probably a lie !!!
Oh oh oh can I have a job as the FACT CHECKER? Clearly there’s a vacancy or soon will be…
His Geography is worse than mine
fire this idiot..
LOL… What a joke. Don’t people know the difference between New Zealand and Australian geography??? What happened to proof reading text before reporting it. Just shows you Australians think they are superior to us New Zealanders….
If you bothered to check your facts Pamela about where the Guardian Express is actually based you will find that it has nothing to do with Australia or Australians… we are just the unfortunate recipients of poor fact checking.
You’re all missing the point! Seddon started off in New Zealand but it was such a shake that by the time it finished, Seddon had MOVED to Australia.
No more beersies for you Tom
I don’t get the joke. Why is this referencing Australia?
It’s not a joke…..Someone here actually has really bad geography skills.
Sitting In the Wellington Region, New Zealand and wondering why the hell my house was shaking and furniture moving, if the earthquake was in Seddon Australia…Idiot!
You really are a special kind of stupid huh Tom. smh
Go Home Tom… you’re drunk!!
Lol! There goes his career… Hes probably locked himself in his room now.
OMG… Geographically challenged much?? Google-maps-illiterate?? The dumbing down process is a complete success with this clown!!!
not a clown…he used to be a mime… read his bio on the Team page…lol… should have stayed a mime and kept his mouth shut
I hope this mistake gets blasted all over the New Zealand news. We need a good laugh to an otherwise very serious topic.
Settle down, Kiwis. Educated and traveled people know who you are. The rest, including this journalist, just don’t count.
Well said! (regards, a kiwi living in the UK)
Isn’t the USA like. a province of Canada dude?
ha ha ha wrong Seddon
Did the earth move for me??? No it did not and I’m here in downtown Melbourne.
My thoughts go out to friends and distant relatives living near Wellington, New Zealand for whom the earth shake quite a bit.
hahaha that is shame az lol
Is this some kind of joke or more bad journalism from South Canada?
It does read like a joke, but I suspect that’s not the intention. (If this was from Australia, that might make make sense, but it seems unlikely for a reportage from Las Vegas.)
The piece is more-or-less entirely cut-n-pastes from on-line sources (try googling each sentence or pair of sentences). Clearly, having latched onto one word “Seddon” the guy has failed to check that the factoid cut-n-pastes he’s strung together actually relate to the event in question.
Read all of the above
Using the description “journalist” is stretching reality almost as far as this article
Wrong country mate! :)))
You sir, are an idiot. Educate yourself on basic geography, fool!
Tom are you trying to make New Zealand “baldly inclusive” in to Australia???
Tom Ukinski you sir are a bloody halfwit did you check any of the facts about this story ??? you may Find a Napier in Western Australia but more likely in the North Island of New Zealand Seddon if you throw a dart at the British Iles with your Aim you may hit it is in The north of the South Island of New Zealand but no you seem to find it in New Zealands West Island called Australia so you bright little dufuss year 3 at school must have been the best 10 years of your life did you really eat your lunch or just throw it in the bin you silly boy
Hmm – wrong country (missed it by about 1600 Miles), and generic information about earthquakes that bears no relevance to this one – congrats, most sloppy, inaccurate journalism I have seen in a long time.
Wow, Seddon is in New Zealand dude…do you have fact checkers there? “Doh!”
oh dear, Tom Tom, how are you going to get out of this oopsie… lol. If you haven’t got a map, you can always google it 😉
he got the wrong seddon!
This is the worst article I have EVER read.
Thank you to the people of New Zealand for educating Americans about the Earthquake because someone in Nevada needs a geography lesson :/
Is this the civilian or something?
That was my first thought, that or the Onion. Seddon is my hometown. It has a population of about 500 people and is found at the top of the South Island, New Zealand. That photo, however, was taken in Wellington, New Zealand, the capital. The earthquake was actually 6.5
when was last time you look at map of new zealand and australia going by this never
Worst journalist ever!!! Tom Ukinski needs a lesson in geography!
Close idiot. Almost got the country correct. Imbecile.
Tom Udunceski-The journalistic FAIL of the year. And the Editor just as ignorant.
He must be drunk.
PUBLIC APOLOGY TO ALL THE PEOPLE OF NEW ZEALAND YOU KNOB JOCKEY!!!!!!
I dont know who the bigger idiot is. The so called journalist or the Editor. I see the education system hasn’t improved since my sister was an exchange student. In her school the students thought she was from the East Coast. New York, New England… At least he got the right hemisphere.
Boldly inclusive of idiots
I can’t believe this article is still here! For such a huge stuff-up you’d think they’d want to rectify it immediately.
Just came back from Vegas myself and have waxed lyrical to my fellow Kiwis about how not ALL Americans are stupid. Tom, you are doing your countrymen NO favours.
It’d be awesome if the earthquake was in Aus. However, it was in the Cook Strait, 20km from Seddon which is in the South Island of NZ. Napier is in our North Island. So I’m guessing the reporters IQ was 20, like the distance?
I think its a joke or something….
New Zealand, Moron… NEW ZEALAND.
Please stop spreading misinformation. The Channel Tunnel is still open and traffic is flowing freely
Oh my goodness…get your facts right…Seddon is part of the province Marlborough in NEW ZEALAND!!!!!…and it was 6.5….what an idiot.
LOL 🙂
Can someone fire this guy? this has to be one of the worst bits of journalism i’ve ever read. Honestly did he do any research?
Apart from the fact you got it wrong badly, why is the story still up and running? It needs to be pulled from your website NOW!!!!
Seems like the whole North Island of New Zealand has split into W.A and VIC of Aussie. Fail of epic magnitude!
What a moron of a reporter you have.Go to http://geonet.org.nz/ to get the correct information.
Calm down folks. So a guy is rubbish at his job he didn’t actually cause the earthquake.
What the heck? I’m in Wellington, New Zealand. Australia’s a four hour plane ride away and different country. Is this guy an actual reporter?
You’re a retard Tom! If you don’t know your facts what the hell are you reporting???
Pretty sure this guy is a troll. Or an idiot. Or both.
Professors tell us not to use Wikipedia as a source due to its unreliability. Well, even wiki got their info right and you didn’t. Good job on your researching!
Were you absent for the geography lessons at school, Tom?
You are an idiot. What kind of research did you do for this? And just for the record, I love in Darwin, Australia, and there’s been two earthquakes that were felt here this year.
Good luck with the job hunt Tom.
Ha, you all got trolled HARD!
lol, hope he gets fired. Google is not his friend. im a kiwi, really insulted.
Not cool mate. What happened tonight here in NZ was truly scary. If this quake was centered under a town rather than being in the Cook Strait would have had devastating consequences and I don’t think that it’s something to joke about, in any context, especially after Christchuch. Shame on you.
Tom Ukinski – Time you looked for a new job. You should fired for this you stupid Canadian.
canadians are just like us here in new zealand ,nice people but living next to a huge country that is absolutely full of itself.
Oh DEAR! Got that a bit wrong, hey!
Totally insulted by your idiotic journalism. I hope your boss reads all these comments then fires your sorry arse and shows you the door, hey maybe if he’s smart he will suggest you go back to school, or at least recommend you take some computer courses so you can learn to actually use the net to research PROPERLY!! I’m a kiwi (new zealander) who lives in Australia, but no bloody way does this make me an Australian!! Two separate countries you moron!!
What a moron. I hope somebody gets fired for this. He should have just said it was felt as far away as Wellington, England. What a muppet.
A severe fault has been discovered in Journalism, a suburb of the city of Los Angeles in Canada. The fault, which developed a few hours ago has caused reportage to sink to an all-time low. Seismologists say the hole in Journalism is so big you could drive a truck into it, and it would probably emerge on the opposite side of the world in a small town called Seddon… Which is in New Zealand.
You went full retard Tom. Never go full retard.
Full retard! Best comment
HAAAAHAAAAAAAA and that’s why Americans have GUNS! Highly unintelligent !! You might like to look up New Zealand thats the country where Lord Of the Rings comes from. Australia is another country. Oh shame on you Tom. Look up Wikipedia you seem good at that. The coolest little Capital in the world (Wellington) has been well shaken.
Ha ha Karen, Tolkien was actually a Brit and TLOTR was written in Britain and represented a British struggle
; still New Zealand can claim dramatic landscapes for fantasy films,
Me thinks Tom failed geography in skool
lol sharing this with my US mates the next time they bang on how great the US is….
This earthquake caused some substantial damage to the Auckland/Sydney harbour bridge. It’s estimated that the damage to the bridge could take a long time to repair, and as a result cars will not be able to drive between the two continents any more.
Go back too school I feel incredibly insalted of being named an Australian its like calling you a Canadian but worse because we are a free country and not a prison colony
No more beersies for you!
I used Tom’s journalism technique and googled ‘Tom Ukinski’. Got this site: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6492275.Tom_Ukinski, and read, “is a lifelong seeker and scrutinizer of truth.” I knew I had the wrong guy.
Tom Ukinski, you are a big dumb dumbie.
Bloody idiot, goes to show you cant fix stupid!!!!!!
Actually, New Zealand (where the earthquake occurred) is as close to Australia as Moscow is to London. Nice try though.
Quality in journalism has fallen too far.
And this is the country that is supposed to be leaders in technology?? cant even get the right country… may I suggest you go back to school and learn some Geography
Fail, fail, failX0r. Better luck next time, Tom.
I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because, uh, some, uh, people out there in our nation don’t have maps and, uh, I believe that our education like such as in South Africa and, uh, the Iraq, everywhere like such as, and, I believe that they should, our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S., uh, or, uh, should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries, so we will be able to build up our future.
Gold!
You’re in for a rough night
Great Journalism. Did you fail Geography?
ಠ_ಠ
Seriously…
ಠ_ಠ
idiotic seddon is one km away from me and it DID NOT HAPPEN
Lol, wrong country ya numpty.
Did we get colonised by Australia while I was trying to save the china cabinet?
hahaha best comment ive seen here so far hahahahaha
Oh, this isn’t The Onion?
We suggest you quickly change your copy before you get swamped by angry comments. Australia to New Zealand is like Hawaii to Oahu (except we are separate countries).
Tom, Tom, Tom…. Are you using Apple Maps again?
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/least-one-injured-severe-quake-strikes-5515737
I’m sorry, where? May I offer you a world map. I mean, you are only off by a WHOLE COUNTRY
Stupid yanks…
I hope this “article” is a school project, from a kindergarten student.
Go home Tom, you’re drunk.
Spot the guy that Googled “Seddon” and took the first result.
You moron. You should hand in your journalism card immediately.
Looking up some basic facts too difficult there buddy?
Where is this Newspaper based? Must be Canada since this site says Las Vegas Guardian Express….
Please tell me this is a joke, I’d like to think it’s funny-hilarious and not funny-tragic.
Knob!!!!
Geez – youre a Dork tom. And lazy too, obviously. Egg.
Oh Tom…*tsk tsk*… Saying the earthquakes were in Australia would be like saying Trayvon Martin was shot in Mexico… Do your research!
Tom Ukinski get a new job.
typical aussies, claiming credit for anything us kiwis do, go australia 🙂
NEW ZEALAND TOP OF THE SOUTH ISLAND
Lol, where is this guy!! Think he needs a geography lesson!! I know most of what you read in newspapers you take with a grain of salt, but really??!!!
Get a new journalist.
When all Seddon done, this just sums up the quality of today’s journalism, to a fault.
Someone got paid to write this story, using google maps & having no clue…?
I hear cut and paste journalism can affect up to 25,000 people but I am not sure, because I am relying on Wikipedia for my facts
not the smartest cookie on the planet are you? Seddon is in New Zealand. A country that gets lots of Earthquakes.
The earthquake was in New Zealand, not Australia. It was felt strongly in Wellington, the capital city.