Let Campbell Live entertain you

Written By: - Date published: 12:35 pm, April 18th, 2015 - 35 comments
Categories: Abuse of power, broadcasting, john key, Media, Politics, the praiseworthy and the pitiful, tv - Tags: ,

John-Campbell-1200

The fight back against the canning of Campbell Live show has been marvellous to watch.  The show’s previously muted viewing statistics have surged as many progressives have made sure that they watch.

It was not as if they/we did not like the show before.  It is just that so many of us choose how and when we access media and sitting down and watching it live does not appeal.

The latest show (which I was not able to watch) sounds like it was perfectly formed.  Starting off with the song “let me entertain you” and finishing with his request “we hope we have entertained you” the show was designed to extend the middle digit of Campbell’s hand in John Key’s direction with his palm facing himself.

I would now give Campbell a fighting chance of surviving.  With lawyers floating around and court proceedings in the air Mediaworks will find it difficult to explain how it has been keeping an open mind on the matter when it persuaded Mazda, one of the show’s main sponsors, to extend its sponsorship of the show for only three months to May 2015 rather than the usual twelve months.  I hope Campbell succeeds.

But to be frank Campbell Live is on the wrong channel.  It should be on a State Channel where there is respect for the need for quality journalism unaffected by corporate interests.  

That we have Campbell on TV3 and Mike Hosking on TVOne is utterly ridiculous. Campbell should not be on a private television channel because you can expect a privately owned organisation whose current chair of the board is an old mate of John Key’s to try and tilt the scrum National’s way.  But Television New Zealand is state owned with what is meant to be a strong charter and it ought to reflect some notion of balance.  I cannot think of anyone less balanced than Mike Hosking and I cannot think of anyone at Television New Zealand who is providing a counter to his odious views.

The silencing of progressive voices is not a new thing.  Back in the 1930s the liberal voice of Colin Scrimgeour was silenced by a tory government who refused to allow dissent or contrary views.  And there has always been an urge to have a left wing alternative to the Herald.  It has always been the way of things which is why Campbell’s show is so refreshing.

The other aspect of current media that always disturbs me is the presentation of most issues as a one dimensional left verses right argument.  Why don’t the media allow strong green voices to develop and be heard.  Outside of the Green MPs the only person I can think of who even starts to fulfil this role is Rod Oram and he does so through and sophisticated understanding of not only economics but also the forces that shape our planet.

It is bizarre that TV3 is willing to seek public money through New Zealand on Air for some sort of idiot reality show at the same time as canning the best regular news show currently on television.  There should be a quality requirement so that those sorts of shows do not receive public money.

35 comments on “Let Campbell Live entertain you ”

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  1. Stickler 1
    18 April 2015 at 12:45 pm

    The trouble with screwing the scrum is that TV also screws its viewers.

    No wonder a slew of us say to hell with them, and seek our news and current affairs online.

    Current management have ensured that TV exists only to deliver eye balls to advertisers, and naive young eye balls at that. So they can have their balls, and I’ll take my ball and seek a different playing field.

    And where John Campbell goes, this household will follow.

  2. Chooky 2
    18 April 2015 at 12:52 pm

    We should not be using America as a role model for television journalism and the media:

    … as ‘Campbell Live’ is put under the axe by John Key’s mates because they don’t like the best New Zealand investigative television journalism programme …and they want an emphasis on infotainment….Naom Chomsky has this to say about the quality of American media:

    ‘‘Any reader of Orwell would be perfectly familiar’ with US maneuvers – Chomsky to RT’

    http://rt.com/usa/250717-chomsky-media-ukraine-cuba/

    “Major American media organizations diligently parrot what US officials want the public to know about global affairs, historian Noam Chomsky told RT. To US leaders, any news outlet that “does not repeat the US propaganda system is intolerable,” he said.

    The culpability of the West – namely the United States – for world affairs, such as the Ukrainian conflict or tensions with Iran, is another idea that is not permissible in leading American media, Chomsky said, adding that world opinion does not matter when that opinion counters US strategy”…

    …and Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton wants to up the USA propaganda information war…as if it had not got the world into enough wars, especially the Middle East

    …does this mean that Hillary Clinton wants to censor or restrict the internet?

    • Colonial Rawshark 2.1
      18 April 2015 at 1:08 pm

      Martin Sieff on the disintegration on US journalism

      Sieff is a three time Pulitzer nominee, has reported 12 wars and currently teaches at Moscow State University. He spoke at the World Russia Forum sponsored by a few Congressmen and held in DC a few weeks ago.

      He mentions:

      – How avoidable the UK’s entry into WWI was, and how a single media baron Alfred Northcliff ran the propaganda campaign for the Brits convincing the public that the British leadership running WWI are military geniuses. 2M British women ended up as spinsters and widows as a result of the war.

      – How major media like the NYTs missed reporting or under reported various genocides around WWII.

      – The journalistic culture of the west has collapsed:

      1) We now have a generation of reporters used to unbridled western hyper-power.
      2) Journalists used to only get respect if they had lived the daily grind and ugliness in the places they were reporting on.
      3) Inexperienced stringers keep getting killed in war zones because all the mentors are gone and the poor kids (amateur aspiring journalists) walk into death traps and never come back out.
      4) The collapse of the American education system and particularly the inability to question: the ignorant products of this system end up working in Congress and working in big media.
      5) No one is interested in or believes in the risks of serious, nuclear war any more.
      6) All of the western media’s foreign bureaus have been liquidated. No one competent from the west covers Russia any more.
      7) Media upstarts which question the MSM may give us a hope.

  3. Stephanie Rodgers 3
    18 April 2015 at 1:21 pm

    If you miss the show, you can always watch it on the TV3 website (if you can find the link to it on their front page. I’m sure the fact it doesn’t get banner or wraparound advertising is a total coincidence.) Those ratings count too!

    http://www.tv3.co.nz/CAMPBELL-LIVE-Friday-April-17-2015/tabid/3692/articleID/111170/MCat/2908/Default.aspx

  4. fisiani 4
    18 April 2015 at 1:55 pm

    I hope that enough viewers watch Campbell Live to keep it viable

    • felix 4.1
      18 April 2015 at 3:48 pm

      Really? I hope Mediaworks carry on fucking with him and he takes them to the cleaners in court before taking his show to tvnz.

      • infused 4.1.1
        19 April 2015 at 11:16 pm

        If no one watches him on TV3, TVNZ ain’t going to pick him up. But your thinking pretty much sums up left wing business.

        • felix 4.1.1.1
          20 April 2015 at 2:52 am

          um, heaps of people watch him on tv3 but they want to get rid of him anyway, because right-wing bullshit. That’s kinda the point.

    • Stephanie Rodgers 4.2
      18 April 2015 at 8:52 pm

      Campbell Live returns a profit to Mediaworks. It’s rating far higher that any of Paul Henry’s offerings despite PH getting unavoidable blanket advertising for weeks. It’s already viable.

      • infused 4.2.1
        19 April 2015 at 11:17 pm

        Paul Henry, 3 weeks, Campbell, 10+ years?

        Yeah ok.

        Campbell also carries a prime spot.

        • felix 4.2.1.1
          20 April 2015 at 3:52 am

          3 weeks? lol.

          Henry has been peddling the same sneering clown routine for ever.

  5. Sacha 5
    18 April 2015 at 2:30 pm

    NZ’s only non-commercial broadcasters are Maori TV and Radio NZ.

    This government removed TVNZ’s charter, allowed TVNZ 6 and 7 to expire, and handed over its archive to SkyTV to sell access to. The previous Labour government made it far too easy to undo the minimal changes they had made.

    Like many other policy areas, we need smart, strong arrangements that will survive. That means more than just a change of government.

    • Chooky 5.1
      18 April 2015 at 2:45 pm

      +100

    • Hateatea 5.2
      18 April 2015 at 6:50 pm

      Sadly, Maori Television is not truly non-commercial but it does have some of the best current affairs and New Zealand content on its roster.

      I am sure that there will be many non Maori who will be watching their excellent ANZAC Day coverage.

      I cannot imagine john Campbell sitting comfortably there but if Judy Bailey and Carol Hirschfeld can work there, I am sure that he would be given every opportunity :-). Of course, he might have to wear a drop in income 😉

    • Once was+Tim 5.3
      19 April 2015 at 1:26 am

      +100 as well.
      The only way out of this it seems to me is a change of government and a co-ordinated effort by opposition ‘support’ parties to make it a bottom line in giving support to a Labour led government.
      Again, though I support CBB, crying out for a (i.e. a single) non-commercial channel I find a little unambitious.
      We are entitled to more than that.
      We are entitled to a completely shook up NZoA, and along with a PSB channel providing a platform for journalism, a public sphere and a functional 4th Estate, WE’RE ALSO entitled to have a Kidzone tyoe operation, and reclamation of our publicly paid for television archives. As far as radio goes, not only National and Concert, but also a ‘The Wireless’ type station on air.
      We’re also entitled to reclaim the technical facilities for PUBLIC use as a priority (transmission facilities/Kordia et al).
      These are our airwaves and our ether.
      As you allude to @Chooky -Peter Thompson has provided a viable mechanism to fund a non-commercial channel (in fact more than one option) and that now goes back a few years.
      There are actually a couple of REALLY simple things an incoming opposition coud to do break the back of a commercial monopoly (and incidentally on terms a complete ‘free marketeer’ ideologue couldn’t object to without being an utter hypocrite – but then I guess corporate welfare has always been ok in their minds).
      A change of government
      A coordinated effort by opposition support parties

      We’d get back an electronic 4th estate and PSB, go a long way to breaking the back of the digital divide
      WHILST the corporate media could be allowed to stand on the principles they so loudly espouse.
      Seems a fair deal to me

  6. Grantoc 6
    18 April 2015 at 2:33 pm

    I agree with your point re the Mazda sponsorship deal. This revelation (if true) strongly suggests that TV3’s bosses have predetermined the outcome, prior to consultation – which is contrary to the intent of employment law relating to restructuring.

    Until the consultation process has been completed and feedback has been genuinely reviewed, every thing is just a proposal.

    TV3 have created a legal problem for themselves because of the Mazda ‘deal’. Linda Clark will be all over this I would think.

  7. Karen 7
    18 April 2015 at 2:55 pm

    “But to be frank Campbell Live is on the wrong channel. It should be on a State Channel where there is respect for the need for quality journalism unaffected by corporate interests.”

    Really Mickey? Where have you been? Thanks to Rogernomics TVNZ was made a SOE and had to make a profit. The whole concept of “quality journalism unaffected by corporate interests” began to be eroded from that day onwards. The last Labour Government did very little to restore any concept of public service broadcasting to TVNZ, and what they did do (the charter and TVNZ7) was easily discarded when National got back in. The Labour Party need to start taking broadcasting seriously.

    The Board of TVNZ have been appointed by Nats and reflect their political biases. Same with Maori TV unfortunately, which is why Paora Maxwell was installed and people like Julian Wilcox and Carol Hirschfeld have been driven out.

  8. Clemgeopin 8
    18 April 2015 at 4:10 pm

    As a matter of interest, I compared the % retention rates of TV1 One News to Seven Sharp -VS- the % retention rates of TV3 News to Campbell Live.

    Here are the results for the last 5 days

    TV1:
    Mon13April :TV1, 6 pm News, 806,740 : Seven Sharp, 504,790, % Retention Rate =62.6
    Tue14 April : TV1, 6 pm News, 730,610 : Seven Sharp, 451,050, %Retention Rate =61.7
    Wed15April : TV1, 6 pm News, 701,920 : Seven Sharp, 437,460, %Retention Rate =62.3
    Thu16 April : TV1, 6 pm News, 700,350 : Seven Sharp, 501,290, %Retention Rate =71.6
    Fri 17 April : TV1, 6 pm News, 680,420 : Seven Sharp, 416,600, %Retention Rate =61.2

    TV3 :
    Mon13April : TV3 6 pm News, 335,410 : Campbell Live, 333,960, % Retention Rate =99.6
    Tue14 April : TV3 6 pm News, 271,000 : Campbell Live, 327,920, % Retention Rate =121.5
    Wed15April : TV3 6 pm News, 313,800 : Campbell Live, 285,930, : % Retention Rate =91.1
    Thu16 April : TV3 6 pm News, 264,530 : Campbell Live, 265,220, : % Retention Rate =100.3
    Fri 17 April : TV3 6 pm News, 225,260 : Campbell Live, 264,570, : % Retention Rate =117.5

    What this shows is that the Campbell Live show has a much higher retention rate than Seven Sharp. A lot of viewers are moving away from Mike Hosking to John Campbell.

    TV1 news retains a lot of its audience from the 5:30pm-6 pm Millionaire Hot Seat show onto TV1 News at 6.

    So the problem is NOT Campbell Live, but the programme managers and bosses at TV3. So, instead of messing up with Campbell Live, what they need to do are:

    (1) Have an exciting show from 5:30 pm to 6 pm just before their TV3 News at 6.
    (2) Improve TV3 News at 6pm to compete with TV1 News.

    You can find the ratings here:
    http://www.throng.co.nz/

      • Rodel 8.1.1
        18 April 2015 at 9:21 pm

        Easy solution. Swap Campbell and Hoskings for a month..then reverse and look at the ratings. Oh wait …who gives a sh*t about the ratings except the bean counters who know all about quantity and nothing about quality.

    • Stephanie Rodgers 8.2
      19 April 2015 at 10:10 am

      Given that Campbell Live is frequently getting >100% of 3 News’ viewers, it also proves that a lot of people who don’t watch 3 News are changing channel to watch Campbell Live. I can’t think that there are many people going “oh, it’s 7 o’clock, better switch on Seven Sharp!”

      • Clemgeopin 8.2.1
        19 April 2015 at 10:47 am

        You are right.

      • North 8.2.2
        20 April 2015 at 7:26 am

        Exactly. It’s a physical ritual in this household to fly at the remote at 7.00 pm to switch to TV3 for Campbell Live. Which would not be necessary were it not for TV3 News being a no-look zone principally because of the odious “I am the story” Gower. Sorry TV One……your snarky, puffed-up, empty vessel Hoskings fellow is just rubbish. A prime time imitation of those two ‘style’ performers Trinny and Susannah or whatever they’re called.

        This facile rationalisation that Campbell does not rate is a cover for the Mushroom Principle – keep them in the dark and feed them shit – ‘them’ being us the public and ‘the dark’ being where dirty political machinations are advisedly calculated to take us.

    • Foreign waka 8.3
      19 April 2015 at 11:47 am

      What is needed is a better format for the news on TV 3 so that people switch. Perhaps the ratio of international/domestic news plus regional news (farms, business etc) instead of so much sport. Sport could be put into a separate program between 5:30 and 6pm. The weather is better presented on one and influences many people in their trade and hobbies. So this might need a look into it. 3D anyone?

  9. saveNZ 9
    18 April 2015 at 9:22 pm

    John Campbell and Rod Oram, reasons to be hopeful in NZ media landscape.

    There are few who have not had to sell out, so maybe they should be considered survivors.

    Oh no, Julie Christies new reality show, put old school journalists in an abandoned TVNZ desert Island and they have to entertain X factor style for wages. Each day a journo is cut.

    Maybe it is already happening…. in real life.

  10. Morrissey 10
    19 April 2015 at 10:49 am

    “…a State Channel where there is respect for the need for quality journalism unaffected by corporate interests.”

    Quality journalism as provided by this fellow?….

    http://www.listener.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Hosking1.jpg?1ecd2e

  11. burt 11
    19 April 2015 at 12:40 pm

    You are right – he is on the wrong channel. TV3 can’t just push the agenda of the government subsidised by tax payers money in marvellous socialist la la no accountability land.

  12. Sable 12
    19 April 2015 at 5:09 pm

    If there is a future for objective journalism it lies outside the so called state owned and private MSM. Both have been co opted by malignant right wing interests. I simply no longer watch, its such a revolting experience.