TVNZ has lost its way and the public deserves better

Of the two news bulletins on offer, one has become so low-budget as to be irrelevant. The other has the budget but, in my view, not the talent. Both feature too many stories about fishing and animals. Much of the hour resembles a magazine programme rather than a news hour. It’s no exaggeration to suggest that the sports news is the highlight.

My first night of reconnecting with 1News coincided with a story on the growth of gangs in our communities. It talked of crime trends without acknowledging the government announcement of that same day that crime levels and victim numbers had dropped significantly under the current Government.

Given the timing, the oversight made TVNZ look bad. The news item generated a conversation between shareholding minister Paul Goldsmith and TVNZ chair Andrew Barclay. That’s not meant to happen, but both had every right to be frustrated.

Last week’s release of the latest Curia poll was bad news for the Government. It broke on a Friday and gave life to a weekend of rumours that a Prime Minister might be rolled as a result. That didn’t happen.

None of that excuses the behaviour of a TVNZ reporter or the company’s decision to show her report on Monday evening’s 6pm news hour. Armed with a camera crew, the reporter met Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and other MPs at Wellington airport as they travelled to the city for the start to the week.

The reporter walked alongside the PM, interrupting him as he walked from the plane, her tone unfriendly and the questions ferocious.

“How safe is your leadership, Prime Minister?

“Do you have the loyal support of your caucus?

“Have you considered resigning, Prime Minister?”

The TVNZ reporter was rude and disrespectful to the highest office in the land. Her tone was not polite. As has happened before with this particular reporter, her enthusiasm for the poll result was difficult to hide. It wasn’t just the PM. Judith Collins copped it too.

The report did acknowledge that the PM’s Monday media conference went well. But they couldn’t resist replaying last week’s one, which didn’t go well.

Remember, we are talking about a poll result. Please note that the PM hadn’t done anything untoward, illegal or even wrong. No errors. No omissions. No financial impropriety. Just a poll result and a stumble at the microphone. And you get treated like that by a government-owned media organisation.

A day later, and following the now obligatory Iran war update, Tuesday’s 1News bulletin featured the outcome of the second Royal Commission into the Covid-19 response. Most would agree that the commissioners’ report was fair and balanced, although it will have made difficult reading for those former members of government now in opposition.

Among the findings was the fact that health officials knew, and government ministers should have known, that the recommendation of two doses of the Covid vaccine was not appropriate for people under the age of 18 because it unnecessarily increased the risk of myocarditis. Our Government stipulated two doses despite the advice.

We also learned that Treasury had warned the Government that Covid spending needed to be cautiously managed, advice that was ignored. Furthermore, the commission made it clear that, of the $60 billion allocated for our Covid response, just half of that amount was spent on that response. The other half was spent, but not directly related to the pandemic.

There was also an acknowledgement that Auckland was kept in lockdown for far too long. We heard that the Government received advice that the Auckland boundary was unnecessary before Christmas 2020. They ignored that too.

Errors. Omissions. Financial impropriety.

Tuesday’s story on 1News shared the findings of the commission’s report and featured a response from the Leader of the Opposition, Chris Hipkins, who defended his Government’s record. Referring to the myocarditis risk, he said: “Had that advice been presented to ministers, then we may well have made changes, but the reality is that the Royal Commission has found that advice was never presented to ministers.”

There was one patsy question, to which he repeated the comment above, and that was it.

It’s important to note that, alongside his former government colleagues, Hipkins refused to testify in person at the Royal Commission. Remember, he was variously the Health Minister and the Minister for Covid-19 during that Government’s tenure.

By Wednesday, during question time in Parliament, NZ First Leader Winston Peters had established that the Royal Commission found that both Hipkins and his successor as Health Minister, Ayesha Verrall, were advised by the Ministry of Health in December 2021, of concerns about mandating the Covid-19 double-dose vaccine for 12- to 17-year-olds. He went on to prove that they took no action on the advice, and the mandate remained in place for up to four more months.

Hipkins’ statement that the advice was not presented to ministers appears to be inaccurate.

Wednesday evening’s 1News bulletin made no mention of Peters’ parliamentary exchange. They did manage a lengthy item about Hipkins’ shadow cabinet reshuffle, however.

So, there was no camera crew shadowing the Opposition leader’s footsteps. No questions. No journalist calling for his resignation or asking how safe his leadership was. In fact, at the time of writing, we are yet to see the oft-failed Opposition leader put through the sort of scrutiny by 1News, that on Monday they demanded of our existing Prime Minister, over a poll result.

And yet the commission’s report has it all. Errors, omissions. Financial impropriety.

Accountability? No thanks. Not for Chippy.

TVNZ chief executive Jodi O’Donnell was featured on Heather du Plessis Allan’s radio show on Newstalk ZB last Friday afternoon. Before the poll result. Before the Royal Commission. Commenting on the gang crime story, she said, “I’m CEO of TVNZ, but also I’m editor in chief. So my role is to maintain editorial standards.” She went on to say that “there is no bias in our newsroom, to be clear”.

I think she needs to watch the news.

When the Barclay – Goldsmith telephone conversation came to light, the national broadcaster was quick to wheel out the tired old refrain about interference in editorial independence.

But we don’t have editorial independence any more. At TVNZ, that ship has long since sailed.

It’s often said that a free press is critical for a functioning democracy. But an independent press is equally important. When the people inside TVNZ, including their own “editor in chief”, can’t see the issue, the problem is bigger than we think it is.

I have no doubt that the people at TVNZ, and at 1News in particular, are well-intentioned. I am certain that they would say they are balanced. But sometimes, you get too close to things. Step back. Watch the news. It’s not good.

The reality is that many media organisations are led by people who are afraid of the newsroom. Some leaders refuse to enter the hallowed space. They are worried about what the journalists will call the threat to “editorial independence”.

But the best news organisations direct their editorial efforts all the time. Murdoch, Packer, and O’Reilly were never shy about taking on the newsroom. Packer famously once phoned Channel 9 and demanded that they “get that garbage off my television channel”.

In this country, we don’t need bully-boy tactics of large media owners dictating what we should and shouldn’t watch. But we should demand television news from the government-owned broadcaster that is accurate, balanced and impartial. This column doesn’t seek TV news that favours either side of the political spectrum. But we would simply like to see independence.

We should remember that 1News consistently ranks as New Zealand’s top-rated TV programme. With that lofty position comes massive responsibility. The bulletin should be the safe place we can go when we need accurate information. In a crisis, they should be the ones we turn to whom we can trust. They played that role before. The Christchurch earthquakes come to mind. September 11 too. Under the last Government, they lost their way and participated in delivering a “truth” that wasn’t. That time has now passed. We need them back. And they need to change.

The Government and its citizens need a national broadcaster that understands editorial neutrality, objectivity and true independence. If they can’t do that, we should sell TVNZ to someone who knows what those things mean!