Okay, it's school holidays ....

... so who let the kids loose at APN?

Climatology 101 sees students provided with locations' air pressure readings and then requires them to prepare synoptic charts that involves joining places of equal air pressure - the lines drawn are called isobars.

Seems some bright spark at APN is doing a bit of in-house child minding during the school holidays. Well, that's the conclusion this reader arrived at after reading The Daily Examiner's weather reports lately. The evidence? Look at the weather maps (below) that appeared in The Examiner this week.

Here's DEX's map for Friday it (appeared on Thursday January 9):

And here's the BOM's map:

Need more evidence?

Here are more efforts provided by APN in DEX this week.

Since when have isobars been drawn using a ruler, and thus appearing as straight lines? 

Seems someone at APN gave their kids new pencils and rulers for Christmas and headed them in the direction of the weather page.

Images from The Daily Examiner (digital edition) and Bureau Of Meteorology.

APN gets a jump-start on news events

At 6.45pm Eastern Daylight Saving Time on Monday 25th November APN websites carried tomorrow's news.

What's next? Can readers look forward to seeing tomorrow's race results today? The punters would certainly look forward to seeing them.

Read tomorrow's news today here.

Today's APN reading competition

A court report appearing in an APN newspaper today makes one wonder what was deleted from the report. Readers who work out the answer might forward it to the editor of The Northern Star The Daily Examiner.

NCV suspects the editor probably has some prizes for readers who provide the correct answer. (Hint: find ****)

NCV apologises to The Northern Star for having previously stated that it carried the blooper. Having seen its print edition NCV acknowledges that the Star doesn't carry the blooper; however, the piece which was written by a Star journalist appears in the Examiner (see below) with the colourful language.

Image credit: APN

Spot the Difference - today's grey matter testing material

NCV has had reports that versions of Ginger Meggs appearing in APN publications, including The Daily Examiner, are being used in schools and retirement villages to test the grey matter of both the young and old.

1. Ginger Meggs in today's Examiner

2. Jason Chatfield's Ginger Meggs as it appears at gocomics

 

A couple of wags have noticed that APN's version appears a day or two (or three) after the real version appears elsewhere.They suggested NCV provides an advance copy of the Ginger Meggs that is scheduled to appear in the following day's APN productions. They reckon they can work out what APN's edited version will look like. Well, that's food for thought.

Let's give APN another chance to get its house in order and fix up this dreadful situation. Over to you, APN!

'Letter from a Terrorist' sent to APN News and Media Chairman Peter Cosgrove

According to Independent Australia posting on 14 October 2013, this letter set out below was sent over a fortnight ago.

Given the relentless cost cutting that APN News and Media has undertaken in recent years, I am inclined to believe that part of this 27 year-old former journalist's complaint concerned with hours being routinely worked by staff on regional newspapers and lack of work-life balance.

This is supported by a comment under the post from another former APN employee living in the Northern Rivers region; I can testify my workplace at an APN regional newspaper was full of weary, broken down people who did a tremendous job under an uncontrollable workload that got heavier with each absence or resignation. The ones my age were counting the days to retirement. The young often returned to the office ashen-faced after being sent to a gruesome car accident or similar. Everyone’s dreams wilted.

While another remarked; Entirely validating – I want to buy former fellow employee #133,332 a beer, if he’d email me.

As for the allegations concerning company spying, I leave that for readers to evaluate.

Letter From A Journalist To APN News & Media's Board Chairman

APN Whistleblower Policy here.

Today's Spot the Difference ... another in a series

If someone at APN doesn't soon lift their game and have the publisher subscribe to the non-budget version of Ginger Meggs "Spot the Difference" at NCV will provide contact details at The Daily Examiner and The Northern Star where readers can forward entries in the competition.
Today's hint: see yesterday's hint.

Today's Examiner and Northern Star

go.comics.com

  

Credits: Thanks APN and gocomics

Yet another Spot the Difference

Thanks to APN, or at least its two dailies in northern NSW that Clarrie reads, here's another Spot the Difference.
Why are The Daily Examiner and The Northern Star providing their readers with budget versions of Ginger Meggs?
Today's hint: punctuation (perhaps a devious APN staffer was a bit mischievous with the white correction fluid)

Today's Examiner and Northern Star

gocomics.com

Credits: Thanks APN and gocomics.com

Another Spot the Difference

Clarrie Rivers is a mighty big fan of Ginger Meggs so it's with a very heavy heart that another Spot the Difference is presented.

APN newspapers, including The Daily Examiner and The Northern Star, carried this version of Ginger in their Saturday editions.

This version appears at GoComics.com

 

Why is APN running budget versions of Ginger? Is it really that cash-strapped?

Credits: Images from APN publications (7/9/2013) and GoComics.com

Old news re-churnalized to fill online & print columns

This is an online article carried across various APN mastheads on 16 July 2013 and basically it is a reworking of the contents of a number of old, publicly available media releases with direct quotes inserted from two of these:

THE Queensland and New South Wales governments have a stake in the coal seam gas industry, as well as significant responsibilities when it comes to keeping the industry in line.

In Queensland the State Government has created an independent statutory body called the Queensland GasFields Commission.

Commissioner John Cotter said the commission's most important role was to ensure that both agricultural landholders and mining companies had the factual information they needed to negotiate good outcomes.

He said the State Government had identified mining and agriculture as key pillars of the state's economy.

"Come hell or high water I'm going to ensure that these two industries work to the benefit of themselves and to the benefit of the Queensland economy and community," Mr Cotter said.

Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney said the coal seam gas sector was pumping billions of dollars into the local economy and would generate significant royalty revenue, however he cautioned that it "must co-exist with the agricultural sector and better work with the rural landholders and regional communities that we depend on for food and fibre". [Seeny media release 27 November 2012]

In NSW the State Government has formed the Office of Coal Seam Gas and a website to better inform the community about coal seam gas.

It also introduced new regulations on drilling for gas within 2km of residential zones and proposed future residential zones, as well as excluding drilling from critical industrial areas.

"Once finalised, the policy will ensure CSG exploration and production activities cannot occur in country towns, suburbs, villages and critical industry clusters across NSW," Planning and Infrastructure Minister Brad Hazzard said. [Hazzard 24 March 2013 media release]

Cut and paste churnalism* in the lead up to the 2013 Australian federal election campaign

Spot the difference………

The Federal Nationals Member for Cowper Luke Hartsuyker’s media release of 8 July 2013:

Coalition’s policy to reduce regulation will give North Coast small business a break - Hartsuyker

July 8, 2013

Small business on the North Coast will be the main beneficiaries from the Federal Coalition’s commitment to cut red and green tape, Federal Member for Cowper Luke Hartsuyker said today.

Newsagents, dry cleaners, butchers, restaurants, fruit shops and small businesses across the region will benefit from the Coalition’s policy to reduce regulation.

“Small businesses across the region are really struggling because Labor has smashed consumer and investor confidence,” Mr Hartsuyker said. “Local small business owners and community groups tell me they are spending more time than ever complying with red tape.  

                         

“Small business people are expected to be the chief salesperson, the HR manager, the financial controller and the lawyer.  It’s a tough ask at the best of times, and even tougher when you are expected to comply with more and more regulation. Small businesses don’t have compliance departments – and nor should they.  We need common sense to prevail again.

“Under the Rudd-Gillard Government, 21,000 additional regulations have been added despite having promised to cap the growth of regulation.  Our policy will cut $1 billion in red and green tape costs every year – that means more jobs, more productive businesses, more efficient government and less costs to consumers and taxpayers.”

Mr Hartsuyker said the Coalition’s policy to Boost Productivity and Reduce Regulation will shift the focus from more regulation to less. 

If elected, a Coalition government will undertake a range of measures to deregulate the economy. These include:

•  Repealing Labor’s carbon tax;
•  Setting aside two Parliamentary sitting days for the repeal of legislation each year;
•  Reporting to Parliament annually on red and green tape reduction;
•  Creating a dedicated unit within each department and agency that is charged with driving red tape reduction;
•   Linking the remuneration  of senior public servants to quantified and proven reductions in red tape;
•  Establishing a  one-stop-shop for environmental approvals;
•   Allowing small  businesses to remit compulsory superannuation payments made on behalf of workers directly to the Australian Taxation Office;
•  Transferring administration of paid parental leave from business to the Family Assistance Office; and
•  Amending the Future of  Financial Advice legislation to reduce compliance costs for small business financial advisers.

Mr Hartsuyker recognised that all modern economies need regulation, but excessive regulation results in more costs than benefits and destroys the incentive to work, or in the case of community groups, it destroys the incentive to volunteer.  The Coalition will restore the balance.

“I want to make it easier for small businesses to employ people and for community groups to do their work without worrying about red tape.  My message to North Coast small businesses is that the Coalition has a smart plan to cut red tape and costs and that starts with the removal of the carbon tax,” Mr Hartsuyker said.

The Coffs Coast Advocate’s online version of 10 July 2013 which also appeared under a number of other APN digital mastheads:

Coalition promises to cut red and green tape

SMALL business on the North Coast will be the main beneficiaries from the Federal Coalition's commitment to cut red and green tape.

That's according to Member for Cowper Luke Hartsuyker who said newsagents, dry cleaners, butchers, restaurants, fruit shops and small businesses across the region will all benefit from the Coalition's policy to reduce regulation.

"Small businesses across the region are really struggling because Labor has smashed consumer and investor confidence," Mr Hartsuyker said.

"Small business people are expected to be the chief salesperson, the HR manager, the financial controller and the lawyer. It's a tough ask at the best of times, and even tougher when you are expected to comply with more and more regulation.

"Small businesses don't have compliance departments - and nor should they. We need common sense to prevail again.

"Our policy will cut $1 billion in red and green tape costs every year - that means more jobs, more productive businesses, more efficient government and less costs to consumers and taxpayers."

Mr Hartsuyker said the Coalition's policy to boost productivity and reduce regulation will shift the focus from more regulation to less.

If elected, a Coalition government will undertake a range of measures to deregulate the economy. These include:

Repealing Labor's carbon tax;

Setting aside two Parliamentary sitting days for the repeal of legislation each year;

Reporting to Parliament annually on red and green tape reduction;

Creating a dedicated unit within each department and agency that is charged with driving red tape reduction;

Linking the remuneration of senior public servants to quantified and proven reductions in red tape;

Establishing a one-stop-shop for environmental approvals;

Allowing small businesses to remit compulsory superannuation payments made on behalf of workers directly to the Australian Taxation Office;

Transferring administration of paid parental leave from business to the Family Assistance Office; and

Amending the Future of Financial Advice legislation to reduce compliance costs for small business financial advisers.

* Churnalism is a form of journalism in which press releases, wire stories and other forms of pre-packaged material are used to create articles in newspapers and other news media in order to meet increasing pressures of time and cost without undertaking further research or checking.

Regional media in trouble on the NSW North Coast?

Independent News and Media (INM) has an estimated 29.5% investment in APN News & Media Limited which owns many of the local newspapers operating on the NSW North Coast from Coffs Harbour up to the NSW-QLD border, including The Daily Examiner and The Northern Star.

 

It is no secret that Independent News and Media (which has its own financial woes) is unhappy with the continuing lacklustre performance of APN and its latest trading update.

 

So unhappy is this major shareholder that it was calling for the sacking of APN’s current CEO Brett Chenoweth.

 

If this move is successful it would make him the second chief executive officer to go in the past two years.

 

INM’s revolt appears to be the reason for the APN trading halt announced on 15 February 2013.

 

All this would be of nothing more than passing interest to Northern Rivers residents, if it were not for the persistent speculation that APN regional media assets may be broken up and some sold-off.

UPDATE:

THE Daily Examiner and Coastal Views have restructured to ensure both publications remain the voice of our region for the long-term future.

While we'll be closing our office in Yamba on February 28, our coverage of the Lower Clarence will remain unchanged as we move towards a more mobile workforce in keeping with industry changes worldwide.

We have also re-engineered our sales structure to match our clients' needs, both large and small. In doing so, some local positions have been impacted.

Our new structure will provide higher levels of customer service and reader value than ever before and we look forward to the next chapter of our papers' evolution in this digital age.

The Daily Examiner has been an integral part of the Clarence Valley since 1859 and will continue to be so for many, many years to come. [The Daily Examiner 22 February 2013]

More belt tightening on the way for APN newspapers?

 

In recent years the number of press releases (often published almost verbatim with source unattributed) masquerading as news articles has been steadily growing in Australian mainstream media generally and in Northern Rivers media in particular.

 

With little or no critical evaluation of the contents of these releases finding its way into print and journalistic opinion frequently being substituted for investigation; sometimes by the time one reaches page five of any newspaper it almost feels as if the proprietor should be paying readers and not the other way round.

 

APN News & Media, which has an established presence in regional New South Wales, saw its shares hit a new low that immediately wiped an estimated $33 million off its market value after declaring its publishing revenue down 10 per cent in the second half of this year on 13 December.

 

With another $25 million in cost cutting scheduled for 2013, it is hard to see how regional newspapers like The Daily Examiner and The Northern Star will be able to resist the temptation to pad their daily issues even further with the viewpoint of political and industry interests churned out in cost-free publishable form by people paid to further party or corporate agendas.

 

It’s becoming harder and harder to believe that print media has a legitimate future as it begins a slow devolution in the direction of 17th Century propaganda sheets.

Anybody else smell a whiff of McDonalds 'greasy PR?

 

This was up on The Daily Examiner website on 13^th July 2012:

“Can Maccas come back?

IT WAS a Whopper of an argument that may have been solved by a Big Mac.

Police have responded to a call about a dispute over the price of a Whopper burger at a Hungry Jacks store in Rockhampton.

Initial reports indicate the issue was resolved by the aggrieved customer going to a nearby McDonald's store.”

The one thing I smell is APN head office doing a transfat-laden Clayton’s advertising deal with Maccas Australia.

 

When it comes to the crime of murder, don't believe everything you read in NSW North Coast newspapers

On 2 June 2012  The Northern Star  and The Daily Examiner online trumpeted that:

WHEN they think of the North Coast, most people think of the relaxed lifestyle, idyllic beaches and lush hinterland - not Australia's regional murder capital.
But statistics obtained from the state homicide squad have revealed the strip between Newcastle and the Queensland border had the second highest number of murders in the state last year, even as NSW topped the nation for the number of people murdered.
The Northern Star spoke to police in every state and confirmed that the NSW northern region was the regional murder capital of Australia.
Of the 84 murders across NSW in 2011, 20 were in the Northern Region police command, which runs from north of Newcastle to the border....
The state had 15 more murders than in 2010....

The Northern Region takes in Police Local Areas Commands in Brisbane Water, Central Hunter, Coffs-Clarence, Hunter Valley, Lake Macquarie, Manning-Great Lakes, Mid North Coast, Newcastle City, Port Stephens, Richmond, Tuggerah Lakes, and Tweed-Byron.

A rather wide net to cast when trying to include the Northern Rivers into a tag of regional murder capital of Australia.

The Northern Rivers where these two APN daily newspapers circulate is traditionally thought to include Bellingen, Coffs Harbour, Clarence Valley, Richmond Valley, Lismore, Ballina, Kyogle, Byron and Tweed local government areas only.

These are the actual murder victim numbers officially recorded by NSW BOSCAR for the Northern Rivers region in 2011:

Ballina 2

Byron 1

Lismore 2

Richmond Valley 2

Total: 7

Sounds a lot less alarming and probably sells less newspapers, but it was the truth about recorded murder statistics in Northern Rivers communities last year.

The discrepancies don’t end there however. These are BOSCAR official statistics for NSW murder victims: 75 in 2010 and 77 in 2011. Even if one added manslaughter victim numbers and missing persons unofficially presumed murdered to these totals, one doesn’t come up with fifteen more violent deaths in 2011 when compared with the previous year. In fact when combining all categories, the annual totals remain constant.

Later on in the article the NSW body count inexplicably rises to ninety-four for which, again, there is no logical explanation. One has to suspect that somewhere along the line these two newspapers have possibly confused the numbers of persons charged with the crime of murder* in New South Wales with the number of murder victims – which are not necessarily identical totals.

One interesting fact remains unreported entirely. Since 1990 the number of NSW murder victims has been steadily falling, so that in 2011 there were 42 fewer recorded victims compared with 1990.

* Murder is defined in s 18(1)(a) of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) in the following terms:

“Murder shall be taken to have been committed where the act of the accused, or thing by him or her omitted to be done, causing the death charged, was done or omitted with reckless indifference to human life, or with intent to kill or inflict grievous bodily harm upon some person, or done in an attempt to commit, or during or immediately after the commission, by the accused, or some accomplice with him or her, of a crime punishable by imprisonment for life or for 25 years.”

For murder and manslaughter only, the counting units used are victims. Under the definition of a criminal incident (same parties, same time, same place, same offence and same incident type) one murder or manslaughter incident could involve two or more persons being killed. Because of the seriousness of these offences and their relatively small numbers, it is considered to be more appropriate to count the number of victims, rather than the number of criminal incidents. Hence, where one murder incident involves a person killing six people, six murder victims are counted.

APN's Peter Chapman turns even nastier than usual on the Fraser Coast

Excerpt from the Fraser Coast Chronicle on 13 April 2012:

Which...

...high-profile candidate is so worried about Election Gossip that he has been digging for some dirt of his own?

This man has even gone so far as to make calls to certain people in Grafton, New South Wales, in a desperate attempt to find anything at all he thinks he could use as a shield.

If this candidate believes he can spare himself the scrutiny of the Chronicle, he had better think again.

Stay tuned...

...the Stealth Reporter hears all...

It doesn’t take a genius to see the visage of Fraser Coast Chronicle Editor, Peter Chapman, behind this ‘column’ which appears dedicated to anonymous and scurrilous gossip concerning mayoral and councillor candidates in the Fraser Coast Regional Council Election called for 28 April 2012.

The Clarence Valley would not tolerate the ugly side of Mr. Chapman’s editorship of Grafton’s The Daily Examiner and told him so early and often. He left the Valley after less than fifteen months at the newspaper and went north into Queensland – sped on his way by widespread community dislike of his divisive journalistic personality.

I suspect that the Fraser Coast is now paying the price for not following the Valley’s example.

* Graphic from The Fraser Coast Chronicle

Tweed News going to Saturday only, Coffs Advocate being stripped down to giveaway - which APN masthead is next?

About the only advantage coming out of APN’s surgical strike on its NSW North Coast newspapers is that the online presence still remains for those pale print ghosts, the Tweed Daily News and Coffs Coast Advocate.

mUmBRELLA 21^st November 2011:

“Tweed’s 123-year-old Daily News and the 104-year-old Coffs Coast Advocate will both move to reduced frequency, while free titles the Gold Coast Mail and Robina Mail will be closed in a move that will lead to 35 redundancies.

In the latest set of Audit Bureau of Circulations figures, the Daily News was selling just 3,689 copies. The paper started life in 1888 as the Tweed and Brunswick Advocate. It became The Tweed Daily in 1914. At one point it was one of only two daily newspapers in Australia to have an offset printing press.

Instead the Daily News will sell a print edition only at the weekends with a cover price of 50 cents instead of the current $1.30. It will go on offering readers online updates via the mydailynews across the week….

the free weekly Tweed Border Mail will continue to be distributed during the week to 30,000 households in the Tweed/ Coolangatta/ Murwillumbah region.

APN has also swung the axe in the Coffs Coast market with the 104-year-old daily Coffs Coast Advocate, which covers the NSW mid north coast, becoming a twice weekly freesheet, circulating on Wednesdays and Saturdays. On its paid for days it had been averaging 2,959 sales.

In a statement, Warren Bright, CEO of APN Australian Regional Media said: “In each of these markets, although the audience for paid daily newspapers has been declining there remains very strong demand from both advertisers and the community for the twice weekly newspapers that we are retaining.

“We also have strong digital audiences in each market so it makes sense to combine a constantly updated digital news service with this modified print offering.”

APN said there were no further plans to make closures in its other markets.”

Granny Herald on 22^nd November 2011:

“APN recorded a $98 million loss in September.

The Coffs Harbour mayor, Keith Rhoades, said the job losses would be felt in communities already reeling from hundreds of job losses in Grafton.

''The disappointing part would be for … particularly the elderly community who may not be fully conversant with online.''

APN proofreaders asleep at the wheel

As if the matter covered by the item wasn't bad enough, APN's online report about the fire in a Sydney nursing home carried more pain for victims, their families and friends when APN stuffed up big time with the name of the alleged killer.

Many Australian journalists appear to think their work is below par

The recently released LIFE IN THE CLICKSTREAM: THE FUTURE OF JOURNALISM (December 2010) makes some interesting observations concerning mainstream media.

Including this chart based on an Essential Media survey question asked of the profession: How do you rate the quality of Australian journalism compared with 5 years ago?

An assessment from within the profession which is harsher than that of readers when asked a similar question about news journalism:

Asked whether the quality of news journalism had improved or deteriorated over the past five years, 30 per cent of people said they thought it was better or much better, while 33 per cent thought it was worse or much worse.

Unsurprisingly Life in the Clickstream additionally observes that readers remain unwillingly to pay for news online and notes a disparity in how journalists and readers view the same profession:

Not surprisingly, journalists overwhelmingly believe that what they are doing provides a public good and that without their work, society would be worse off. Our survey of journalists found that 93 per cent agreed with that statement, 66 per cent of them strongly.
But when we asked the same question in a survey of the general public about their attitudes to journalism and their news consumption habits, only 63 per cent agreed, only 16 per cent saying they “strongly agree”. Some 8 per cent either “disagree” or “strongly disagree”.

The report also helps explains why APN newspapers on the NSW North Coast sometimes publish shocking bloopers when reporting on local identities and well-known Northern Rivers families:

Similarly, APN formed a centralised subbing unit known as Centro in late 2008, with subbing of their 14 daily papers in NSW and Queensland being centralised on the Sunshine Coast….

Local sub-editing based on local knowledge is apparently a thing of the past for this newspaper group.

* Media Alliance commissioned Essential Media to conduct two surveys. One was a public poll of attitudes towards journalism in Australia and examined how and why people access news, their levels of trust in various platforms and their willingness to pay for news content online.
The other survey was of journalist members of the Media Alliance and asked about working conditions, pay, levels of training and morale.
[LIFE IN THE CLICKSTREAM: THE FUTURE OF JOURNALISM,Introduction,p4]

Juxtaposition - who said it was a lost art?

The Tweed Daily News website provided a wonderful example of how not to advertise a product in its reporting.

Tweed Daily News, along with other APN publications, is conducting a competition for its readers with 26 BlackBerry Smart Phones to be won. The phones have a recommended retail price $649.

Someone should have told TDN that running an item about security fears over the smartphones on the same page as the competition isn't a good look.

APN Media threatens ABC with possible future ACCC complaints. Plans to put NSW North Coast newspapers behind paywalls?

There is little truly independent mainstream media when it comes to daily local newspapers on the NSW North Coast, with the print media dominated as it is by the APN News and Media corporation.

In recent times APN has begun to lift its game with regard to its one-size-fits-all online media presence and, it was noted by alert local residents that the sudden interest in providing more timely (if limited) online news co-incided with the Rupert Murdoch and News Ltd push to introduce paywalls for news on the Internet.

Now we see that APN is definitely aligning itself with both the effort to monetise news and perhaps even with the attack on public broadcasting providing free online news and current events.

Here is an excerpt from ABC TV Media Watch on 19 October 2009:

In fact, the funds are flowing the ABC's way. In the last budget, it received 15 million dollars to create whiz-bang multi-media websites serving regional Australia.

But media company APN, which owns fourteen regional daily newspapers in New South Wales and Queensland, argues that it's risked a lot of its shareholders' money already, trying to do the same thing.

Brendan Hopkins: Of course we're looking to monetise those sites going forward but we've taken, I think, a very brave decision on behalf of our board and behalf of our shareholders that we want to invest ahead of that curve.

Jonathan Holmes: So when you see the government giving the ABC tens of millions of dollars...

Brendan Hopkins: I think it's got to be questioned... I can't believe that the government itself wants to pursue a business model for the ABC, or a model - there's no business involved - a model for the ABC where the cost of the ABC goes up and up and up and up, with all of the public outcry that that will bring, when bona fide commercial operators like ourselves have been investing ahead of the curve in those centres... and if we feel the ABC are competing or trying to compete with us unfairly then we'll go and talk to Mr Samuels at the ACCC and we'll maybe hold them to account.

Jonathan Holmes: In this world of media plenty, that's so different from what it was seventy years ago, is there really a reason for the ABC to exist at all?

Brendan Hopkins: I think now is a good time to have that debate.

— Media Watch interview with Brendan Hopkins (CEO, APN), 16th October, 2009

Once more the APN business model shows just how far removed it is from the idea of a just and fair society with equality of information access which public broadcasting in Australia represents.

Visit the Media Watch video page to watch the extended version of Media Watch's interview with Brendan Hopkins