Plunket resigns
June 15th, 2010 at 9:24 am by David FarrarA little birdie tells me that Sean Plunket resigned from Radio New Zealand this morning, or more correctly took up CEO Peter Cavanagh’s long standing offer to resign.
This comes ironically just after he finally got permission from Radio NZ to do the long contested column for Metro.
I guess Sean’s departure from Radio NZ means he will be a full time columnist. I am sure he will cope going from 60 hours of live broadcasting a month to one column 
Related posts:
- Plunket v RNZ
- Plunket to replace Laws
- Plunket signs off
- So why all the taxpayer dollars spent in court?
June 15th, 2010 at 9:28 am
Bugger! That just leaves us with geriatric Geoff Robinson fumbling through his lines each morning.
Looks like it is time for a new morning radio station.
Vote:June 15th, 2010 at 9:32 am
Poor Sean, probably couldn’t handle another morning of Geoff not being able to hear anything properly.
It’s an interesting turn of events, given how happy he looked on Sunday. I was driving round the bays and saw Sean and love interest arm-in-arm walking a black lab. He was the very picture of contentedness. I was left a bit less content, as while I had no difficulty getting past the black puffa vest, nobody needs to see Sean’s massive legs clad in skin tight lycra!!!
Vote:June 15th, 2010 at 10:11 am
Sean would not leave unless he had arranged other gainful employment ( Metro columns don’t count)- So it will be interesting to see where he washes up.
Vote:June 15th, 2010 at 10:27 am
Makes sense, once he had to take RNZ to court you’d really not want to hang around, though winning the case was important.
Vote:June 15th, 2010 at 10:27 am
60 hours a week from Sean ???? pluheeeese keep it accurate!!!
[DPF: If you look closely I said per month]
Vote:June 15th, 2010 at 10:35 am
We might get some balanced interviews now rather than Plunket shouting down anyone he doesn’t agree with. Any chance he could take Mary Wilson with him as no matter how bad he is, she’s ten times worse.
Vote:June 15th, 2010 at 11:00 am
he should get a telly-show…
interrogating pollies etc..(the long interview model…hold the arts-segment..!..)
that’d be watchable…
phil(whoar.co.nz)
Vote:June 15th, 2010 at 11:06 am
vinchento – absolutely agree. I will not miss Plunket and one hopes Wilson will follow. It would be good to get to some probing interviews without an agenda rather than the hackneyed questions that come from Wilson. I have lost the times I have changed stations because I got some of the interviews (during both Labour and National governments).
I remember two interviews about three years ago. Both with Barry Matthews of Corrections about some fiasco taking place. Plunket interviewed him one morning and just shouted over the top of him. Robinson interviewed him the next morning and extracted far more information than Plunket did. And it was information that was not self serving to Corrections at all, but it left me as a listener much better informed – and isn’t that the purpose.
Journalism needs to relearn that it is about informing listeners with a balanced view with probing questions rather than stroking their own ego and illusions of grandeur.
Vote:June 15th, 2010 at 11:16 am
John Key should sell Radio New Zealand to the People’s Liberation Army of China. That way it is still Government owned, just not owned by our Government.
Everybody happy
Vote:June 15th, 2010 at 12:19 pm
Oh no. Does this mean 6 months of Julian Robins?
At about 5:30pm last night they had some woman reading business news with a lisp! Lord knows what was wrong with all the people she beat for that position.
Vote:June 15th, 2010 at 1:19 pm
philu says:
I agree. Then they should reinstate Kim Hill’s axed show. The really deserving pollies could get interrogated by one immediately after the other. The mere thought should make many of the troughers and indolent Listers resign en masse
ben asks:
It’s the NZ electronic media, ben. The answer is simple: didn’t know the right people.
Vote:June 15th, 2010 at 3:00 pm
“… thus raising the IQ of both countries”.
Vote:I have never enjoyed Sean Plunket’s style. He, like Mary Wilson in the evenings, tends to confuse a hectoring interview style with incisive journalism. I personally experience it as rudeness.
June 15th, 2010 at 3:07 pm
Last night Mary Wilson was interviewing Chris Findlayson. After another interruption Chris asked her if she’d let him answer the question. She said she would. “That would be novel” he said. (He was a bit tetchy over what various people said, last night and this morning).
Maybe Wilson should interview the other Chris, Carter. She wouldn’t give him a chance to answer and he wouldn’t want to anyway.
Vote:June 15th, 2010 at 3:19 pm
I have never enjoyed Sean Plunket’s style. He, like Mary Wilson in the evenings, tends to confuse a hectoring interview style with incisive journalism. I personally experience it as rudeness.
Politicians use two basic techniques to avoid answering a question: they answer the question they WISH they were asked or they spin to talk out the clock because they know their interview has a very short time allowance. Plunket and Wilson are both experts at spotting those techniques and cutting them short. Sometimes it looks like rudeness but it’s forced upon them by their interview subjects.
Vote:June 15th, 2010 at 3:33 pm
C’mon, these people are not real broadcasters. They’re propagandists. They only have a one way view on politics and that’s all they’ll ever work from. When it comes to real questions, real issues, real information, they never have a clue. They don’t talk about the right things, they don’t talk to the right people and they don’t ask the right questions. When was the last time you heard (for example) Owen McShane on RNZ? Muriel Newman? Stephen Franks?
When was the last time you heard a question asked that wasn’t founded in mainstream leftist fantasy? When was the last time you heard any kind of solution proposed that strayed from the big government high taxing strictly regulating model that has brought Europe to a sorry end??
RNZ is a sick farce. A sop to Progressive politics. Not a broadcaster but a Goebellian propaganda outfit. The shame here is that Plunket is the only one leaving. These left wing troglodytes are twenty years behind the times and if we had a government true to its stated principles, this crummy bunch of posturing charlatans would have been sold off or wound up the last time the Nats were in government.
Vote:June 15th, 2010 at 3:38 pm
“..they don’t talk about the right things, they don’t talk to the right people and they don’t ask the right questions..”
always with the ‘right’….eh…?
and don’t you really mean right-wing’…?
and..’mcshane..?..’newman’..?..(snort/snigger..!
phil(whoar.co.nz)
Vote:June 15th, 2010 at 6:58 pm
They should bring Hosking back – I’ve always liked him.
At least he’s smart.
Vote:June 15th, 2010 at 8:29 pm
Sean Plunket doing work for Metro on contract.
Vote:The good thing about this is that he will be able to bring to the attention of people the unfair manner in that a Provision for Doubtful Debts is not a tax deductible expense. He will probably find this out about next May or June when Metro finally fold, and he has not been paid for his February and March contributions.
June 15th, 2010 at 10:17 pm
Franks was on April 8.
Vote:June 15th, 2010 at 10:33 pm
NatRad is to NZ broadcasting as ‘The Womens Hour’ show is to BBC Radio 4.
i.e. boring, self indulgent and out of touch.
Vote:June 15th, 2010 at 10:54 pm
I wonder if I should apply for the job, since I am currently unemployed.
Pros: Did jazz radio (with interviews) at two stations while a grad student in the US. Have been known to ask hard questions of people, particularly those who lie. Have a fair bit of knowledge about current affairs and have a fair bit of experience with various media. Read voraciously the traditional and new media on NZ and world affairs. Can sting together a sentence or two without saying “y’know, ” “like,” or “uh.” Already write (fore free) on issues of current affairs on a blog and an op ed on-line column. Like to work mornings and will give up the sidebar activities to get the job.
Cons: American accent and, according to RB, an unreconstructed commie. Plus I do not know anybody important in the biz and have pissed off both major parties with what I have already said in public. Could be a PR disaster for the PC crowd at RNZ.
But then I look at it this way: if RNZ really want to break the mould, I am their guy. After all, they hired that Irish lassie on account of her voice and in spite of her, um, lapses in professional ethics.
Given the proliferation of academics pontificating on TV as of late, I surely fit the bill!**
**Less people take this literally, I am simply taking the mickey out of what will be the “selection” process for Plunkett’s successor.
Vote:June 15th, 2010 at 10:58 pm
Chris Carter would be an ideal candidate for the role.
Vote:June 15th, 2010 at 11:08 pm
“I am simply taking the mickey out of what will be the “selection” process for Plunkett’s successor”
Shame, it would be interesting to hear you and Geoff cover both sides of a relevant topic instead of just the usual one.
Vote:June 16th, 2010 at 6:01 pm
“..Can sting together a sentence or two without saying “y’know, ” “like,” or “uh.” Already write (fore free) ..”
heh..!..a double-ender…!
y’know…!
phil(whoar.co.nz)
Vote:June 16th, 2010 at 6:06 pm
Going by the (wide angle) photo of Sean I saw in the media today perhaps he is considering a new job where you don’t spend all day sitting on your arse waffling.
((Take note: Magpie. (Delete “job” in your case
)).
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