Gordon Bick reviews his association with Television in New Zealand, originally published in the New Zealand TV Weekly. November 14, 1966
I suppose my Compass needle was set on collision course the moment I decided to come to New Zealand.
It's asking a lot to be uprooted from. one of the most sophisticated capitals of the world, London, to be transplanted in Wellington.
From the cut-and-thrust of Fleet Street to the stultifying carpeted cloisters of Head Office Television, with its silver teapots, is a shock to anyone's system.
Here, news and public affairs information is not something the public has a right to; it is a commodity which has to be filtered through the minds of the NZBC top brass before being passed on.
These men—former accountants, technicians, and agricultural officers —finally decide what YOU see on the screen. They have to consider:
Is the programme or item going to embarrass anyone (particularly the National Government); is it balanced
or is it sufficiently pre-digested. to pass on to the public.
They don't want any trouble. That's the last thing any controversial programme should cause. It might awaken something in the politicians Or public which starts them thinking. That would never do.
The over-riding fear expressed by the top public affairs officers is that if a programme is too controversial the corporation might be taken over
—and become a government broadcasting service again.
In my three years with the corporation and while producer for the Compass programme this and other phrases were flung at me:
Don't rock the boat.
This is a year of entrenchment.
Remember, this is Election year —we have to be careful.
If you don't cut that out, we'll have the ministers on to us on Friday.
My attitude to that last remark (which wasn't appreciated by the NZBC heads) was: If they don't ring us we'll ring them—and ask them why they haven't 'phoned!
The pussy-footing attitude is obviously a hand down from the old NZBS days. There are still a good many loyal and trusted government servants working under the banner of an‘ independent corporation.
Don't offend the government is the attitude. Don't bite the hand that feeds you. It could be worse under Labour. Better to bend our integrity a little.
Of course there is government pressure on the corporation. It is good political tactics to try to prevent an item going on air if it is likely to damage the Party—or give the opposing Party ammunition
in Election year.
What the politicians fail to realise fully is that it is the responsibility of journalists and producers of Public Affairs programmes, like myself, to frustrate this pressure.
The British Minister of Labour, Mr Gunter, was quoted in a New Zealand paper recently: Newspapers have a tremendous role to play in safeguarding ordinary people against the power of employers, the power of the trade unions and indeed the power of government.
It.is a remark equally applicable to NZBC news and Public Affairs. I wonder how many of our politicians agree?
In Britain, if there is any heated controversy it is given a good airing in the newspapers or on television. Competitive channels vie for contestants.
As an example, in the Compass dispute in which I was involved recently, British TV would have thrashed the whole thing out in a studio discussion the same night.
Why couldn't we do the same thing here?
Wouldn't it be adult to have the Director-General (Mr Stringer), Mr Muldoon, Austin Mitchell, and myself answering some of the unanswered questions about the whole affair? Wouldn't it make good TV?
I am quite sure the public of this country could withstand a lot more controversial TV material—rather than the wishy-washy stuff which is being dished out.
It is no use the NZBC denying that they are under political and commercial pressure. These pressures exist everywhere.
Since I became a journalist 20 years ago, later an assistant editor in Fleet Street, and a television producer, I have seen these pressures working.
The Ministers have a right to ring
up. The NZBC must be polite—but it must be made clear that politicians cannot dictate or decide the policy of an independent
corporation.
The more these pressures are resisted, the more the government and the public will learn to respect the NZBC. A puppet corporation is useless, | In his recent visit to New Zealand, the BBC Director of Sound Broadcasting, Fnank Gillard, said: It is the duty of a public service to question and probe and analyse whatever is proposed by a government or public authority. If if doesn't do this job it is merely a parasite upon society.
In the interests of impartiality we [NZTV Weekly] invited an NZBC reply to the above article and received the following from the chairman of the Corporation:
My comments on the circumstances of Mr Bick's resignation have already been substantially reported in the Press.
Mr Bick's own confessions are more eloquent than anything I can say.
Signed: C. A. McFarlane
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