Tag: NZME board

A grunt is worth a thousand words

Like a picture, a grunt can be worth a thousand words. The Minister for Media and Communications needed to do no more than make an annoyed sound to convince the chairman of Television New Zealand that the government was, well, annoyed.

Paul Goldsmith would surely have known that he needed to do no more than grunt when TVNZ board chair Andrew Barclay inexplicably raised a contentious One News item in a call he initiated with the minister. A low, short guttural sound said it all.

When interviewed about the call, Goldsmith pressed ‘play’ and stated: “He brought up the story in question, I did not make any comment, as it would be inappropriate for us to discuss editorial matters.”

It would not only be inappropriate, but it would also be unlawful. Section 28 of the Television New Zealand Act states that no shareholding minister (in this case Goldsmith) may give a direction in respect of the gathering or presentation of news or the preparation or presentation of any current affairs programme or content.

A grunt is not a direction. But it speaks volumes.

By now you’ll know what prompted it. A story, stating gang members now slightly outnumbered police, ran before a piece that might be seen as proof that the government’s ‘tough on crime’ policy was working. The later story said there were fewer victims of violent crime and serious repeat youth offending had fallen.

Police Minister Mark Mitchell did not like that – ‘annoyed’ is probably not strong enough – and took to Facebook to say so. A contrite TVNZ news executive rang Mitchell after seeing the post and a second, more positive story followed.

The post was not a direction. But it spoke volumes. Continue reading “A grunt is worth a thousand words” →

Steven Joyce may be just what NZME needs

The impending appointment of Steven Joyce as chair of NZME may be the best thing that has happened to the media company in quite some time.

The former National government minister has a background that is eminently suited to recharging a board that has been at a strategic low ebb.

Joyce’s political past will doubtless give rise to criticism from the Left that he is a Capital-C-Conservative ‘plant’. He is certainly no Keir Hardie but nor is he hard right.

I admit that my perceptions of Steven Joyce changed after he left politics. Like many, my view of him had been based largely on media reports. I thought he was hardline, doctrinaire and sometimes brutal. That changed after I had read his autobiography On the Record and had a long conversation with him over lunch.

Joyce is not the man I had imagined. And his political leanings are more small-c-conservative than I had thought. Witness this line from his book when he is deciding which party he might join at the start of his political career: “While I was attracted to some of ACT’s policies, it could be a little uncompromising and doctrinaire, and in my experience the world was a little more complicated and nuanced”. So is Steven Joyce.

I do not expect a Joyce chairmanship of the NZME board to be defined by his political past. I expect it will without doubt be defined by his knowledge of the media scene and his strategic and governance skills. Continue reading “Steven Joyce may be just what NZME needs” →