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notices and features - Date published:
9:58 am, July 1st, 2011 - 8 comments
Categories: accountability, broadcasting, radio, tv -
Tags: cronyism
Reprinted from No Right Turn:
Back in April, Jonathan Coleman appointed Richard Griffin to chair the board of Radio New Zealand. It was a nakedly political appointment; Griffin used to be Jim Bolger’s press secretary back in the 90’s, and therefore someone who shouldn’t be allowed near our state broadcasters at any costs.
Now Coleman has done it again, appointing former NBR editor (and National party-aligned lobbyist) Saunders to the board of TVNZ. So, they’ve just appointed two nakedly partisan hacks to run our major state broadcasters in an election year. And that is dodgy as hell.
The current rise of populism challenges the way we think about people’s relationship to the economy.We seem to be entering an era of populism, in which leadership in a democracy is based on preferences of the population which do not seem entirely rational nor serving their longer interests. ...
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Griffin was always more of a politico-pragmatist, I don’t particularly have a problem with his appointment in isolation, but with Saunders, I do. And the trend is certainly ominous.
What was Saunders work with the Wellington City Mission like? Did his contribution have the respect of the management and workers there?
More Cronyism
National looking after, er, National.
And they’ve also appointed another former Nat MP, Gavan Herlihy, to the board of LandCare.
The fact that I didn’t even notice that he was a former MP I think tells you something about the sort of backbencher he was.
Idiot/Savant
I have scanned your blog and I can’t find you posting much about x-Labour party members being appointed under the previous administration. Perhaps you could post a few links showing where I missed your outrage in the comments on this blog since the MSM style of your own blog prohibits us discussing this on your own turf.
Only 6 new appointments on a board of 7 ….. theres still 1 left to go , they probably dont want to push the point tho..
like TVNZ needs anymore bias on the board with the likes of Holmes, Espiner and co at the front doing the nats good,labour bad routine day in day out. Holmes is particularly awful and as usual serving his own not the public interest.
So the guy runs a “government relations” firm? I suppose that means TVNZ will now become a “government relations” arm of some Orwellian state? As Annette Sykes said on Radio NZ a few days ago, nothing is safe from this government.