NZ on Air Spooked by Political InterferenceBy Tom Frewen
A move to censor television programmes likely to embarrass the government during election campaigns is being considered
by the broadcasting funding agency, NZ on Air.
The minutes of the NZ on Air board’s December meeting reveals a decision “to seek legal advice on whether NZ on Air
could require an additional clause in the broadcast covenant requiring broadcasters not to screen programmes likely to
be an election issue within the Election Period as defined in the Broadcasting Act”.
A reaction to TV3’s screening of Bryan Bruce’s documentary on child poverty four days before the general election on
Saturday 26 November, the proposed ban on television programmes “discussing topics likely to be an election issue”
during an election campaign would be an extraordinary first for a western democracy, giving total control over
television current affairs to a government agency run by political appointees and bureaucrats.
The alarm at TV3’s decision to screen the documentary on Tuesday 22 November at 7.30pm, a slot normally occupied by
“reality” genre programmes such as “Drug Bust” and “Kalgoorlie Cops”, was first raised by a board member, Stephen
McElrea, who also happens to be John Key’s electorate chairman and the National Party’s northern region deputy chairman.
“Was NZOA aware that this doco was to be scheduled 4 days before the election?” he queried on Thursday 17 November to NZ
on Air board chairman, Neil Walter, and chief executive, Jane Wrightson.
“If not, should we have been? To me, it falls into the area of caution we show about political satire near elections.”
After 20 years with TVNZ as a producer, director and manager, McElrea should be able to distinguish the difference
between documentary and satire. Or is there a more sinister interpretation of his admission, as the reason for the
disappearance of political satire from out screens in recent years?
Certainly, the panic his email sparked at NZ on Air would make a good script for “Yes Minister”.
Next day, Neil Walters, a former secretary of Foreign Affairs appointed by Labour, emails his fellow board members,
informing them that, to avoid the delay in canvassing their opinions, he’s already given the minister (Jonathan Coleman)
“a heads-up [and] decided after talking with Jane (Wrightson) that we should register our strong disappointment with TV3
and put that in front of the Minister today.”
Warning them that “we could attract some flak”, he says “Time will tell how badly we have been dropped in it.”
The chairman’s fear of being “dropped in it” was echoed in his chief executive’s email to the Minister’s Beehive office
and fellow broadcasting bureaucrats at the Ministry for Culture and Heritage. “We consider that we have been dropped in
it on this occasion” Jane Wrightson told them, attaching a copy of a letter she’d written that day to Sussan Turner,
managing director of TV3’s owner MediaWorks.
Complaining that TV3’s scheduling of “Inside Child Poverty: A Special Report” in the week before the election had placed
NZ on Air “in a difficult position”, Wrightson wrote:
“We are jealous of our reputation as a politically neutral and impartial agency and put considerable effort into
protecting that reputation. We take pains to ensure that we do not put ourselves in a position where we can be accused
of political bias.”
Wrightson told TV3 that NZ on Air was “deeply disappointed” by the scheduling decision which risked “damaging NZ on
Air’s reputation and calls into question our political impartiality.”
Fears of having caused embarrassment to themselves and their political masters, evident as the main concern for Walters
and Wrightson in their emails, proved groundless. NZ on Air didn’t rate a mention in comment on the programme in the
days after it was screened. Wrightson’s relief is evident in an email to McElrea and other board members on Thursday 24
November. Noting that public debate had been confined to the views on the appropriate political response to child
poverty “rather than party-specific”, she added: “And thus far, no serious criticism of NZ on Air thankfully. Mainstream
press more interested in tea party.”
McElrea, however, believed his fellow board members should read a blog by Karl du Fresne who saw the documentary as
further evidence in support of his belief in TV3’s editorial bias against Key’s National-led government.
Apart from a passing reference to NZ on Air in du Fresne’s blog, the only other criticism appears to have been in one
email from Alastair Bell. Although not included with documents requested under the Official Information Act, a response
to it from the chairman says: “I categorically reject the suggestion that New Zealand on Air was in any way involved in
the broadcaster’s decision to screen the programme at that time.”
Alastair Bell’s email was sent on Tuesday 6 December, two days before the NZ on Air’s board meeting on Thursday 8
December to which Sussun Turner was summonsed to “discuss” the scheduling of documentary. “Although we were not party to
the scheduling decision, we now stand accused of political bias,” she was informed in a letter from Wrightson.
In fact, the only accusation against NZ on Air arising from the scheduling was in the one email which, if it was from
the same Alastair Bell who is on the National Party’s board, manages media and public relations for political
conferences and was a senior adviser to Jenny Shipley, would confirm just how little respect the Key government has for
its broadcast funding agency’s supposed political neutrality and independence.
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