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Nelson, New Zealand
Wednesday, 28 January 2004-Focus Media Ltd,

ACT MP says TVNZ has allowed quality journalism to be superseded by 'soap opera stuff'

Gerry Eckhoff ACT party Fisheries Portfolio holder has joined the National Deputy leader, Gerry Brownlee, in expressing his disgust of the standard of TVNZ journalism. Their comments have risen over the way TVNZ have handled the Peters' Kermadec Restaurant dining habits and Assignments coverage of the ongoing scampi industry saga.

Eckhoff said that while he acknowledged that it is the Medias role to draw out the allegations against Mr Peters he warned TVNZ had better be "damn certain that they have actual facts to back up their allegations". The ACT Fisheries portfolio holder and scampi select committee representative went on to say "Television New Zealand's standard of Journalism is not what it used to be, TVNZ are now involved in more populous, less than serious journalism."

The ACT MP said that the TVNZ assignment program on the Scampi industry housed a lot of accusations against many people in the fishing industry most of which have been so far totally unsubstantiated. Mr Eckhoff however did say that the integrity of the Scampi enquiry and the QMS system needs to be protected. The ACT MP said that a good way for this to occur would be for Mr. Peters to prove emphatically that the TVNZ allegations are false. Mr Eckhoff went on to suggest that it would be good idea for Mr Peters to prove that the TVNZ allegation that he regularly dined for free, at the restaurant part-owned by the owner of a fishing company at the centre of a parliamentary inquiry he sat on into allegations of corruption in the scampi industry, to be incorrect.

For more information: http://www.portfocus.co.nz or Contact: Liam Butler editor www.Portfocus.co.nz Liam@PortFocus.co.nz

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