9 April 2002
National's SOE's spokesman, Murray McCully, has called on Television New Zealand to release immediately the proposed
protocols for increased board involvement in programming.
"TVNZ chairman Dr Ross Armstrong has spent many months and tens of thousands of dollars using external legal advisors,
including an Oxford University don and a Wellington Queen's Counsel, to devise protocols for greater board involvement.
Those protocols will go to the next TVNZ directors' meeting," says Mr McCully.
"TVNZ should release the draft material immediately. A proposal for involving politically appointed directors in TVNZ
programming, particularly news and current affairs, is a matter of huge public interest. The proposals should be
released and debated.
"TVNZ is the state broadcaster, owned by the public. It should not be treated as the political plaything of the chairman
and the Minister," said Mr McCully.
"If they really have nothing to hide, they will release all of the relevant papers today," says Mr McCully.
Ends