Heather du Plessis-Allan: Good luck convincing us of impartiality

Good luck to TVNZ.  

Good luck to TVNZ trying to convince anyone that they are unbiased, given what's just happened with them in the last week.  

I just played you the clip of the Breakfast reporter singing with the organiser of the Hikoi - which I think any right-minded person would interpret as an endorsement of the Hikoi.  

I think this should earn her some serious trouble if TVNZ takes perceptions of bias seriously.  

What is much more serious for them is that the woman who was tipped to become the top news boss has just been outed today for taking personal leave to go on the Hikoi.  

The reason we know this is because she loves a social media post, and she's put it up on her Instagram. So just flaunted it for everyone to see.  

If you are a news boss, or about to become the news boss, you should be smart enough to keep that private emphasis on private - especially if your organisation is trying to pretend that it's unbiased, which is what TVNZ is trying to do.  

Very hard at the moment in the face of falling public trust in media.  

Just a few weeks ago, TVNZ self-published its editorial guidelines for journalists.  

The point of that was to tell us that they take impartiality seriously and that they are impartial.  

Well, that's just been massively undone by finding out that the woman who will be in charge of all of the journalists actually doesn't really like the current government at all.  

So, good luck.  

You can corral those journalists into a neutral space, all you like.  

But if the lady who is their boss has views so strong about the current government that she wants to go on a protest against them, I think you've got a problem with perception of bias.  

Now, the important thing here about TVNZ to understand is that it pretends it's impartial, right?  

It is not, that is the important thing here. 

Nobody would mind if the editor of The Spinoff turned up at the Hikoi because The Spinoff wears its colours on its sleeve.  

We know what they're about and that they own it. They’re just are completely honest about it.  

TVNZ though was trying to convince us that they are neutral.  

The other important thing here is that TVNZ is the publicly owned broadcaster on television, right?  

So that also means there are standards that we expect from them that are different to what everybody else is subjected to.  

Now, TVNZ in order to convince us that they are impartial and that they demand impartiality from the people who work within the newsroom and in the editorial team, they would have to a not give that woman the news job and I doubt that's going to happen.  

They would have to discipline that woman and discipline the reporter for what happened on television and then make that public.  

Do you think that's going to happen?  

No, me neither.  

So good luck to TVNZ trying to convince us from here on that they're impartial. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Listen, good luck to TV and Z, A good luck
to TV and Z trying to convince anyone that they
are unbiased, given what's just happened with them in the
first in the last week. So I just played you
the clip of the breakfast reporter singing with the organizer
of the Hecoy, which I think any right minded person
would interpret as an endorsement of the he Cooy, which
I think should earn her some serious trouble if TV

(00:21):
and Z takes perceptions of bias seriously. But actually, what
is much more serious for them is that the woman
who was tipped to become the top news boss at
TV and Z has just been out to today for
taking personal leave to go on the he Coy. And
the reason we know this is because she loves a
social media post and she's put it up on her Instagram,
so just flaunted it for everyone to see. Now, obviously,

(00:42):
people are entitled to private political views, even if they
are newsbosses, but if you are a news boss or
about to become the news boss, you should be smart
enough to keep that private emphasis on private, especially if
your organization is trying to pretend that it's unbiased, which
is what TVNZ is trying to do very hard at
the moment in the face of paul of falling public

(01:04):
trust in media. Just a few weeks ago, TVs itself
published its editorial guidelines for journalists, and the point of
that was to tell us that they take impartiality seriously
and that they are impartial. Well, that's just been massively
undermined by finding out that the woman who will be
in charge of all of the journalists actually doesn't really
like the current government at all. So good luck. I mean,

(01:25):
you can corral those journalists into a neutral space all
you like, But if the lady who is their boss
has very strong views about the current government, so strong
that she wants to go on a protest against them,
I think you've got a problem with perception of bias. Now,
the important thing here about TV and Z to understand
is that it pretends it's impartial, right, That is the

(01:48):
important thing here. Nobody would mind if the editor of
the spinoff turned up at the hecy, because the spinoff
wears its colors on its sleeve. We know what they
are about, and they own it. They just are completely
honest it. TV and Z, though, was trying to convince
us that they are neutral. And the other important thing
here also is that TV and Z is the publicly
owned broadcaster on television, right, so that also means there

(02:12):
are standards that we expect from them that are different
to what everybody else is subjected to. Now, TV and
Z in order to convince us, because clearly they want
us to believe that they are impartial. In order to
convince us that they are impartial and that they demand
impartiality from the people who work within their newsroom and
in the order editorial team, they would have to a
not give that woman the news job, and I doubt

(02:32):
that's going to happen or be they would have to
discipline that woman and discipline the reporter for what happened
on television and then make that public. Do you think
that's going to happen? No, me, neither. So good luck
to TV and Z trying to convince us from here
on in that they are impartial. For more from Heather
Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to News Talk said B
from four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.