April 2nd, 2008 at 9:20 am
IMVHO, TVONE and Espiner set this up for a new series of “We ask the hard questions” adverts for election year in a desperate effort to reclaim some lost audience. Just watch the ads for CloseUp for a vomit inducing example of the self agrandising promotions from Mark Sainsbury for a clue into the strategy of TVNZ trying to set themselves up as the distributor of fact based news and as the only organisation willing to face the dragon and “ask the hard questions”.

I prefer to judge on performance rather than rhetoric so TV3 may have just gained one more viewer.

TVNZ’s lovely concrete wall needs some new spray can decor, 2 minutes is the limit on watching Close-up, before changing channels or reaching for the bucket. If Sainsbury is the answer, was the question something to do with Lord of the Rings?

Conor: does cabinet responsibility extend to ministers like Winston Peters? There is a saying about those in glass houses.

Other than that, this is just a usual media beat up. The main point is that there is a spectrum of journalists in NZ, some left, some right (I would argue a bias to the left, but that isn’t especially relevant to my point). If you are going to be a competent opposition and/or government, you have to be prepared to deal with questions like this, all politicians get them. It would appear that National don’t really have the toughness to handle it at present, and they better learn it damn fast.

I’m not sure it really goes to fitness to govern – ability to answer the question you wanted to answer instead of the question you were asked (a skill that many of the Labour ministers have developed) isn’t actually relevant to governing the country. And to some extent it is a skill that you develop after carrying the scars of lots of interviews that went wrong – which of course the Labour govt do after 9 years in power, and the National MPs whom are comparatively younger have less of.

Nonetheless, I believe National could do a hell of a lot better, and they should do so. All the MPs should have answers to questions like this drilled into them so they come out automatically: Q. “What is your personal position on ?”. A. “There are a range of views on that, and it is a complex issue. Having weighed all the opposing positions, the National Party has agreed that our policy is……”. When they push, the answer is “My personal opinion is irrelevant, what matters is what we will do in government. We have made a policy commitment and we will honour that commitment.” Not that bloody hard.

Journalism in NZ is a lot like the legendary “little girl”: when it’s good it’s very, very good but when it’s bad it’s horrid. And much of the worst is served up to the masses by both TV channels. In fact TV3 is winning the battle through much the same strategy as National currently is – by being less obviously awful than their opponents.

Bemoan it all you like but it won’t change. The answer is to break the virtual monopoly as has been done in other countries by vastly broadening the choices available to viewers (and no, TVNZ 7 having Russell and DPF talk to one another’s navels, entertaining though that may be, isn’t nearly enough – I’m talking another FTA channel with the resources to generate its own programming).

So perhaps the next time you’re out gargling Moet with your BRT friends, DPF, you might suggest that they switch to a decent NZ sav blanc and put the money they save towards something that’d benefit the country while at the same time advancing what’s supposed to be their agenda, by investing in alternative media.

And the rest of you complaining – have a talk to anyone you know who has the money and/or contacts. Despite the impression TVNZ might give, there are journalists and producers capable of balanced programming – they just don’t get hired. What they need is an outlet for their reporting.

There, I’ve had my choleric lecture for the day, I’ll go lie down now

phil(whoar.co.nz)

but do listen to him..!..eh..?

he’s feckin’ good..!

Conor (10:50am) and Philu (12:06pm) – the “Aussie” folk legend you both so breathlessly dribble on about (Bonnie Prince Billy) was born in …..Louisville, Kentucky, USA. He’s about as Australian as….”The Star Spangled Banner”!

Do either of you know anything about the topics you lecture us all on, or can we just all stop wasting our time reading your drivel and safely assume that it is ALL bullshit?

word.

I suspected that you really knew he was a yank, but pretended he wasn’t so you wouldn’t be ostracised by all your comrades!

Do either of you know anything about the topics you lecture us all on, or can we just all stop wasting our time reading your drivel and safely assume that it is ALL bullshit?

i have bonnie prince billy on the whoar fm one playlist..

(if i lived there..you’d almost get my vote..on purely good musical taste grounds..)

get lockwood to front up with his ‘playlist..eh..?

have a dj-off..!

let the punters decide..

phil(whoar.co.nz)

The political reporting in this country is an affront to our intelligence.

Personally if I do have the rare misfortune to have to watch either TV1 or 3 news I go out of my way to ensure I never buy a product that is advertised during the 30 minutes of commercials that they wrap around the “news”

To bring you up to speed, I’ve just checked this current week and from my reckoning, yes it’s a single solitary UK drama or comedy, Corrie St. That’s a famine, not a feast.

“Cosy British niche”. You miss the point. It’s the challenging, cutting edge programming from anywhere that just doesn’t make our screens anymore. All our TV is simply “too cosy”.

Dame Edna, I rest my case. Why would TVNZ take this UK comedy and neglect the likes of Shameless and Extras. Thank god for Prime in both those cases.

Yes that Espiner beatup was bollocks last night. TV3 here I come

Oh, you’re in for a disappointment. Most nights I watch both six o’clock bulletins, along with Campbell Brain-Dead and Throw-Up, for work. I see in the not too distant future a very large ACC payout for psychic trauma and the disability caused by gouging my own eyes out.

I had to dig through the paper recycling bin to locate an old copy of TV Guide (wife is given a free out-of-date one occasionally for the Sudoku). Let’s look through a week’s prime-time evening (8:30 – 11:00pm) listings for TV1 shall we……

Saturday – 8:30 Kingdom: British drama starring Stephen Fry. 9:30 – The Dame Edna Treatment: British talk show starring….

Sunday – 8:30-10:30 Sunday Theatre: Persuasion, Jane Austen. Say no more.

Monday – 8:30 Spooks: British drama. 9:30 Murder Squad: Reality series following London’s homicide squad (okay that’s your ‘reality’ series but probably not the ‘crap’ of Castaway and so)

Tuesday – No British drama or comedy

Wednesday – No British drama or comedy, although there is a British documentary on the Jonestown mass suicide.

Thursday – US dramas “Without A Trace” and “The Sopranos”

Friday – 8:30, Waterloo Road: BBC drama. 9:35 Fear, Stress and Anger: BBC comedy. 10:10 The Kumar’s at No. 42: BBC talk/comedy.

TV2 appears to be more US-based – youth audience target attempt I guess, although there to have been shifts of US dramas like “The Closer” and “The Sopranos” to TV1.

So – 4 nights out of seven had a solid diet of British drama and comedy in my sample. Of course that was for August 2007. Maybe they’ve reformed and you can return to your cosy British niche – not much point being a socialist screaming about the need for public broadcasting if you’re watching stuff via the Internet!