From 'Fair Go' to 'Tame Blow' - is Brian Edwards right?

The Godfather of NZ Broadcasting, Brian Edwards, has done what he does best, throw grenades amongst the pigeons.

He's claimed that Fair Go has become a vicious beast that roasts the reputations of people without any hint of fairness.

My beef with Fair Go is that they've been tethered to the small goldfish pond and told to fish there rather than go after the real big fish in society.

This weeks hot topic for example was fast food burgers that don't look like they do in the advert.

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Cutting fucking edge. What was far more interesting was what Clare Curran revealed about Fair Go in March...

Fair Go told don't target advertisers: claim

Reporters and other staff at TVNZ's long running and popular consumer affairs show Fair Go were recently instructed not to produce items that would offend advertisers, Labour claims.

TVNZ chairman Sir John Anderson and management appeared before Parliament's commerce committee this morning where Labour broadcasting spokeswoman Clare Curran sought and received assurances that the state owned commercial broadcaster placed high value on the integrity of its news and current affairs programming.

"How then can you explain reports that TVNZ head of programming called a meeting of Fair Go staff, including all reporters together in the last couple of weeks and instructed them not to produce programmes that would upset advertisers?" she asked.

When the Standard aren't bullying her for being a few class streams down from hanging out with them at the Kingslander, Curran is continuing to cause the Government grief over the Public Broadcasting front and she is landing some real blows now. From the appalling NZ on Air fiasco involving Key's electorate chair wanting censorship of political doco's that embarrass the Government over poverty (while funding doco's that make slow passionate love to Government reforms in education, health and Whanau Ora) to busting Craig Foss, Curran is one of the few in Labour who are even fighting at the moment.

Public broadcasting in NZ looks grimmer and grimmer. Telling Fair Go Journalists that they must be mindful of targeting clients is a dirty look for a show that has a special place in NZ media. Fair Go is considered the highest court in the land and limiting their scope to small fish cowboys and not any large corporate interests of the network is the type of influence you never want in the news room.

TVNZ's attempt at an explanation is as lead footed as their initial response to calls that Paul Henry was racist. Attempting to assure the public that such discussions were merely to enforce a sense of 'balance' is pressure regardless of how much candy TVNZ want to dump on this clear breach of editorial autonomy.

The dumber the media, the number the electorate.

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