Hard News by Russell Brown

Plenty of action this year as you say. However, I'm saddened to see so many of the same faces being recycled at the expense of newer talent. Is the industry not training up younger journalists and presenters to take on these key roles as much any more?

Although not local I've appreciated Triange/Face's Al Jazeera, DW & PBS coverage (and more but my languages are limited).

I read an article recently in which Kevin was quoted (or similar) as saying that TVNZ didn't need to worry about PBS material as that is NZOA's responsibility. If he does believe that can you please quiz him mercilessly on the fact that the 'networks', TVNZ & TV3, totally control anything that NZOA might like to fund - if the programme doesn't have a broadcaster it doesn't get made.

Thanks.

Sadly he's right about TVNZ's responsibilities in that respect though. With no charter anymore TVNZ has only one obligation and that is profit and it's shareholder has made it clear in the past that it expect to extract the highest dividend possible.

We still tend to see TVNZ as "our broadcaster" which it sort of is, but only in the sense that we own it. It has no obligation to to give us content that we may deem of greater value than the commercially successful programs it currently offers us. In fact quite the reverse, given it's Number One position among broadcasters and the priority on returning a dividend it's even less likely to take chances on programming.

Unfortunately the CEO and board of TVNZ, to some extent, probably have less freedom than those of a purely commercial broadcaster might.

(It seems only fair to note that TVNZ news and current affairs has not exactly been a heathy editorial operation itself in recent years. It could be argued that it needed shaking up by some hand.)

So. are you suggesting Matt Heath be CEO of TVNZ?. I could think of much worse people, Kevin Kenrick for example.

if the programme doesn't have a broadcaster it doesn't get made.

When the funding rules start reflecting what 'broadcaster' can mean these days, it might not matter so much.

When the funding rules start reflecting what ‘broadcaster’ can mean these days, it might not matter so much.

You'd think, and it's wearing about the edges (music videos- maybe not the edge anymore? :)) But try bringing this up with regional broadcasters and you tend to get an earful.

More on-topic: the habit of installing generic managers is a terrible curse. I think it's based on the fallacy that because exceptional managers can be exceptional at managing almost anything, all management is generic and specific industry background and knowledge is not just unnecessary, it can mean the applicant is stuck in 'bad old ways'.
Pah! Give me a manager who knows the business backwards any day. Rick Ellis might as well have been making baked beans.

Please ask him what new digital initiatives TVNZ is planning.

And also please ask him if he thinks the request for high dividends from the shareholder equates to editorial control of news and current affairs - no long form docos, entertaining current affairs etc.

I, for one, am not about to complain

I'l just whinge a little bit then.
I wish I could look forward to Jane Campion's new made for TV Drama. But I dont have Sky.
The Holly Hunter character is apparently based on UG Krishnamurti. The person who told a certain Madame Blavatsky and a lot of others he didnt want the role they were grooming him for, a reborn kinda christ! IMO a very intelligent person. And the male characters look like unlovely cartoon versions kiwi "blokedom" Which it really is anyway.
ok Whinge over...

"Personally, I’m more interested in the fact that a pretty stale orthodoxy in the format of TV current affairs is being shaken up a little than that some of those attempts at shaking up haven’t immediately worked out."

Yes, but Seven Sharp is a new low.

More on-topic: the habit of installing generic managers is a terrible curse. I think it’s based on the fallacy that because exceptional managers can be exceptional at managing almost anything, all management is generic and specific industry background and knowledge is not just unnecessary, it can mean the applicant is stuck in ‘bad old ways’.
Pah! Give me a manager who knows the business backwards any day. Rick Ellis might as well have been making baked beans.

Such types are just modern-day earls and barons by another name. Or to put it succinctly:

McManagement.

modern-day earls and barons […]: McManagement.

That’d be a modern-day laird.
But, yeah: landed gentry
(mostly also in the sense of “fish out of water”).

Yes, but Seven Sharp is a new low.

I was wondering what that blunt instrument, that struck me on the head as I viewed by, was ...

McManagement.

Like it :)
Myles: very good questions! Be great to think Kev has good answers
Print (who are more desperate!) seem to be embracing ‘convergence’. They use video and audio clips, get photos up fast, and seem more committed to it than TV.
Are we heading for a time when print and tv look pretty similar- you browse on your tv, read a bit here, take in some interactive graphics, and watch a story that promises good pictures, or because you want to see the dude’s eyes when he says that, and assess how convincing is the body-language.
Or maybe the hipsters are already doing this? :)

Such types are just modern-day earls and barons by another name.

I was wondering... If an Earl can receive an OBE would that make him an Earlobe?
I'll get my coat...

UK television seems more inclined to promote from within now, rather than run the risk of hiring another Andy Duncan, who headed Channel 4, after a career marketing "I Can't Believe it's Not Butter". He expanded the broadcaster commercially, but ran amok with content, famously mishandling the Big Brother racism row.

It's a difficult balance to strike. Kenrick might not think television is purely a toaster with pictures, but I'm curious to see how much he understands the culture.