July 8, 2025 • 9 mins
Tonight on The Huddle Ali Jones from Red PR and former National ministerial advisor Brigitte Morton joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day - and more!
The second stage of the Covid-19 inquiry is still going on - and Labour's Chris Hipkins has suggested this gives conspiratorial views a platform. Do we think these comments are out of line?
TVNZ is set to launch an independent review of its news content to check for balance and bias. Is this a serious enough problem?
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
On the huddle tonight, Bridget Morton, Ali Jones of red
(00:02):
PR Good evening, I do good to have you here.
Let's start with the COVID inquiry, shall we, and off
to a rocking start. There are people giving submissions, I
mean some really interesting and worthwhile submissions, I think. But
Chris Hipkins, not too keen on the whole thing, says
it's platforming extremist views from memory is what he told
(00:24):
me this morning, Bridget. What do you make of that?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Oh? I think it's a bit rich for the guy
whose decisions are underscrutiny to try and undermine the outcomes
of what you know, that commission is meant to achieve.
It is meant to be a belief of people to
feedback on how it defective then how decisions could be
made differently. And for him to sort of just saying
that it's you know, conspiracy theorists and they're not worth anything,
(00:51):
this shows really that he hasn't learned a single lesson
since he made these decisions, or since he you know,
lost spectacularly the twenty twenty three election, which was resoundingly
people's saying to the government hasn't been listening it, Yeah, I.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Sort of thought that I thought it was an odd
approach when he could have just gave it nothing answer, Ellie,
what did you think?
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Yeah, look, I agree with you on that, actually, Ryan,
that he could have shouldn't have gone down that path.
I think this is a comms issue more than anything.
I have some real sympathy for his position about not
wanting to turn this into a stage for theatrics. You know,
he talked about nooses with names attached. I mean that's
just outrageous, you know, And we don't want a stage
for anti vaxxers and law breakers and others that are
(01:36):
to be perfectly frank, complete nutter loons. What I don't understand, though,
is that that first part, that phase one didn't look
at a bunch of things, but it did look at
a whole lot of stuff. And I want to know
whether there's some repetition going on here that is not needed.
So I'd really like to sort of go I haven't
gone through those terms of references yet.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
But yeah, look, I do have some sympathy for.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
Chris Tipkins on this. I mean, I don't think some
of these people should be given the time of day
to be perfectly frank. We should be listening to people
who don't get stuck down wormholes and cause the damage
and upset that these people do.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
But that's the point. By the way, the mandates, the lockdowns,
the length of the lockdowns, and the political decision making
behind them, those are the things in this chranch of
the inquiry, Elie, is what they're looking at. It's different.
But I think, Ellie, I don't care how mad you are, Like,
this is a Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID and
(02:32):
it was the biggest powers any government's had since certainly
since Muldoon, and it affected everybody's life. I just think,
I don't care how nutty you are. You deserve to
be there and have your say.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Ah.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
So look I do.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
I hear what you're saying. And in fact, I've always
said every voice should be heard, and they should be.
But you know, could we have just a button that
we could drop them there? Or there could be a
hole in the floor. And I'm not being facetious or
rude or mean Hereeriously, Look, I've sat in meetings where
there have been people, No, seriously, Ryan, there have been
people in these meetings who chant, who waive banners, who
(03:11):
distract from you know, the pest having nosis of people's
names on them. I actually would like to see those
people arrested and locked away. That's where they should be.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
I think just when you have heard of people chant
or waving banners, I mean that's pretty much a Green
Party protest. Like there's no real difference between many of
these activists, you know, and I think, you know, we
do actually have a little bit of a control here
because these people are able to have their say. That
doesn't mean the Royal Commission is going to then take
what they say and make it into recommendations that the
(03:43):
government needs to respond on. We've got some brilliant experts
on that commission that are looking at the evidence that
it's very smart. They don't hear those and they are
going to look at them through an anegal lend. I
think there's no harm in that in these people actually
feel like they have this say because lots of them
had their livelihoods absolutely destroyed during the COVID period, and
(04:05):
I think what has happened to them often gets minimized.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Allie Jones and Bridget Morton on the Huddle Tonight. The
Huddle Tonight at twelve to six Bridget Morton and Allie Jones.
Welcome back, guys, TV one News. They apparently are having
an independent auditor review their bulletin to check for balance
and bias. They've had a lot of complaints about seemingly
cuddling the left a little bit too much. Ellie, what
(04:30):
do you think watched it lately? What do you reckon?
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (04:33):
I do. I watch one every night actually, and then
I go back and watch three as well. Interested in
here is that I believe that the review is related
to a drop in the number of viewers and drop
and income. I think Paul Goldsmith has unfortunately interpreted that
as meaning that trust levels have reduced. You know, maybe
some of those complaints support that that viewers are not
(04:54):
trusting what they're saying. But I actually think he's got
it wrong. I think that TVNZ would probably be looking
at things like the lack of news local news at
the weekends. I don't know whether you've picked it up.
We basically see held or holdable stories from the Department
of Conservation that could have been shot a month ago,
or we get stuff that's pulled off the satellite. I
think if they want viewers, it's not so much the
(05:16):
trusting and the removing any perceived or real biases. They
need to actually deliver what people want to see and hear.
And I think we need to see our own people
as well, and there's not enough of that. Remember regional
news or you're probably too young, Ryan, We had days
of regional news where you know, the areas around New Zealand, Auckland, Wellington,
christ Church in Dunedin. We had our own regional news
(05:37):
and we would regularly beat in ratings, homes and network news.
People want to see themselves. They want to see good
quality news and I don't think the BIA sees really
come into.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
It, do you know. We learned about that when I
was studying broadcasting. That's how long ago we learned about it.
And it would come on before the main news, wouldn't it.
It would play before the six o'clock. But I thought
the same thing about uber local news and then all
of the local newspapers Bridget they're all going out of
(06:07):
fashion too, So I don't know. I guess they're on Facebook,
are they?
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Well? I suppose with the local newser there's a different
factors there, which is about advertising and the fact that
you know advertisers. There's so many different places to put
their advertising dollar now, so they're not going to necessarily
go for your local newspaper. They're going to go for
targets advertising on social media where they can really get
into the people that they actually want to, you know,
buy their product. I do agree though with Ali, that
(06:33):
I actually think that there's a little bit of misconception
that they think that the biases what's driving away or
flee uses what's driving away viewers is instead of actually
what is the sort of stories. I mean, frankly, I
think I'm probably like and I'm weary of calling Ali old,
but I think don't watch you know, the six o'clock
(06:54):
US anymore because it's not the agenda setting sort of place.
By the time I've got to the six o'clock news,
I've already heard the story before. And so if there
were often be something different, you know, that regional elements,
a little bit of you know, what's happening in my
local neighborhood, I probably actually would be more interested because
they'd be getting something different. I don't think it two sides.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
Yeah, I think you're absolutely right at that point about
it at not being a gender setting more. And I
see this even actually in some breakfast radio. You know,
we used to have a story that we would we
would follow, but we'd find a new angle for it.
Now there's just this repetition and cookie cutter stuff going on.
But yeah, I think the local angle is definitely the
way to go. And you could you could actually break
(07:37):
out and they did break out and run. You would
have been taught this Ryan when you were learning. They
would break out and they would run regional advertising, so
it could still be you know, focused on the regional market.
So yeah, I'm available. Actually, if there is a need
for regional news to be.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Broadcastle, will you bring it to us for free? Ellie,
We don't have to pay you for that. How do
we quickly? Because I have to go. But the Primate's story,
We've took all our audiences across this primates and it
doesn't matter whether your male or female. One can dominate
the other just as much as the other way around.
Who wears the pants at your house? Elie?
Speaker 3 (08:14):
Definitely me. But I have to say, too many stats here,
you know, and a command they say sixty percent of
the time, it works every time. There's just too many
stats here. I don't follow it, but I wear the pants.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Somehow, I couldn't see any other way. Bridget, what about.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
You look Definitely in my business with too male business partners,
you've got to wear the pants or a great skirt
and just have as much power from that. The thing
I definitely took from this primate study though, was it
would be no surprise to females, but in the situations
where males are bigger, they will have the physical dominance,
(08:49):
and where they can, they will try and control women's reproduction.
That is, you know, just common knowledge that every female
out there, well, you go good.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Okay, guys, thank you very much for being with me
Ellie Jones and Bridget Morton on the Huddle tonight.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
For more from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to
news talks it'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
On the huddle tonight, Bridget Morton, Ali Jones of red
(00:02):
PR Good evening, I do good to have you here.
Let's start with the COVID inquiry, shall we, and off
to a rocking start. There are people giving submissions, I
mean some really interesting and worthwhile submissions, I think. But
Chris Hipkins, not too keen on the whole thing, says
it's platforming extremist views from memory is what he told
(00:24):
me this morning, Bridget. What do you make of that?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Oh? I think it's a bit rich for the guy
whose decisions are underscrutiny to try and undermine the outcomes
of what you know, that commission is meant to achieve.
It is meant to be a belief of people to
feedback on how it defective then how decisions could be
made differently. And for him to sort of just saying
that it's you know, conspiracy theorists and they're not worth anything,
(00:51):
this shows really that he hasn't learned a single lesson
since he made these decisions, or since he you know,
lost spectacularly the twenty twenty three election, which was resoundingly
people's saying to the government hasn't been listening it, Yeah, I.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Sort of thought that I thought it was an odd
approach when he could have just gave it nothing answer, Ellie,
what did you think?
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Yeah, look, I agree with you on that, actually, Ryan,
that he could have shouldn't have gone down that path.
I think this is a comms issue more than anything.
I have some real sympathy for his position about not
wanting to turn this into a stage for theatrics. You know,
he talked about nooses with names attached. I mean that's
just outrageous, you know, And we don't want a stage
for anti vaxxers and law breakers and others that are
(01:36):
to be perfectly frank, complete nutter loons. What I don't understand, though,
is that that first part, that phase one didn't look
at a bunch of things, but it did look at
a whole lot of stuff. And I want to know
whether there's some repetition going on here that is not needed.
So I'd really like to sort of go I haven't
gone through those terms of references yet.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
But yeah, look, I do have some sympathy for.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
Chris Tipkins on this. I mean, I don't think some
of these people should be given the time of day
to be perfectly frank. We should be listening to people
who don't get stuck down wormholes and cause the damage
and upset that these people do.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
But that's the point. By the way, the mandates, the lockdowns,
the length of the lockdowns, and the political decision making
behind them, those are the things in this chranch of
the inquiry, Elie, is what they're looking at. It's different.
But I think, Ellie, I don't care how mad you are, Like,
this is a Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID and
(02:32):
it was the biggest powers any government's had since certainly
since Muldoon, and it affected everybody's life. I just think,
I don't care how nutty you are. You deserve to
be there and have your say.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Ah.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
So look I do.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
I hear what you're saying. And in fact, I've always
said every voice should be heard, and they should be.
But you know, could we have just a button that
we could drop them there? Or there could be a
hole in the floor. And I'm not being facetious or
rude or mean Hereeriously, Look, I've sat in meetings where
there have been people, No, seriously, Ryan, there have been
people in these meetings who chant, who waive banners, who
(03:11):
distract from you know, the pest having nosis of people's
names on them. I actually would like to see those
people arrested and locked away. That's where they should be.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
I think just when you have heard of people chant
or waving banners, I mean that's pretty much a Green
Party protest. Like there's no real difference between many of
these activists, you know, and I think, you know, we
do actually have a little bit of a control here
because these people are able to have their say. That
doesn't mean the Royal Commission is going to then take
what they say and make it into recommendations that the
(03:43):
government needs to respond on. We've got some brilliant experts
on that commission that are looking at the evidence that
it's very smart. They don't hear those and they are
going to look at them through an anegal lend. I
think there's no harm in that in these people actually
feel like they have this say because lots of them
had their livelihoods absolutely destroyed during the COVID period, and
(04:05):
I think what has happened to them often gets minimized.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Allie Jones and Bridget Morton on the Huddle Tonight. The
Huddle Tonight at twelve to six Bridget Morton and Allie Jones.
Welcome back, guys, TV one News. They apparently are having
an independent auditor review their bulletin to check for balance
and bias. They've had a lot of complaints about seemingly
cuddling the left a little bit too much. Ellie, what
(04:30):
do you think watched it lately? What do you reckon?
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (04:33):
I do. I watch one every night actually, and then
I go back and watch three as well. Interested in
here is that I believe that the review is related
to a drop in the number of viewers and drop
and income. I think Paul Goldsmith has unfortunately interpreted that
as meaning that trust levels have reduced. You know, maybe
some of those complaints support that that viewers are not
(04:54):
trusting what they're saying. But I actually think he's got
it wrong. I think that TVNZ would probably be looking
at things like the lack of news local news at
the weekends. I don't know whether you've picked it up.
We basically see held or holdable stories from the Department
of Conservation that could have been shot a month ago,
or we get stuff that's pulled off the satellite. I
think if they want viewers, it's not so much the
(05:16):
trusting and the removing any perceived or real biases. They
need to actually deliver what people want to see and hear.
And I think we need to see our own people
as well, and there's not enough of that. Remember regional
news or you're probably too young, Ryan, We had days
of regional news where you know, the areas around New Zealand, Auckland, Wellington,
christ Church in Dunedin. We had our own regional news
(05:37):
and we would regularly beat in ratings, homes and network news.
People want to see themselves. They want to see good
quality news and I don't think the BIA sees really
come into.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
It, do you know. We learned about that when I
was studying broadcasting. That's how long ago we learned about it.
And it would come on before the main news, wouldn't it.
It would play before the six o'clock. But I thought
the same thing about uber local news and then all
of the local newspapers Bridget they're all going out of
(06:07):
fashion too, So I don't know. I guess they're on Facebook,
are they?
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Well? I suppose with the local newser there's a different
factors there, which is about advertising and the fact that
you know advertisers. There's so many different places to put
their advertising dollar now, so they're not going to necessarily
go for your local newspaper. They're going to go for
targets advertising on social media where they can really get
into the people that they actually want to, you know,
buy their product. I do agree though with Ali, that
(06:33):
I actually think that there's a little bit of misconception
that they think that the biases what's driving away or
flee uses what's driving away viewers is instead of actually
what is the sort of stories. I mean, frankly, I
think I'm probably like and I'm weary of calling Ali old,
but I think don't watch you know, the six o'clock
(06:54):
US anymore because it's not the agenda setting sort of place.
By the time I've got to the six o'clock news,
I've already heard the story before. And so if there
were often be something different, you know, that regional elements,
a little bit of you know, what's happening in my
local neighborhood, I probably actually would be more interested because
they'd be getting something different. I don't think it two sides.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
Yeah, I think you're absolutely right at that point about
it at not being a gender setting more. And I
see this even actually in some breakfast radio. You know,
we used to have a story that we would we
would follow, but we'd find a new angle for it.
Now there's just this repetition and cookie cutter stuff going on.
But yeah, I think the local angle is definitely the
way to go. And you could you could actually break
(07:37):
out and they did break out and run. You would
have been taught this Ryan when you were learning. They
would break out and they would run regional advertising, so
it could still be you know, focused on the regional market.
So yeah, I'm available. Actually, if there is a need
for regional news to be.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Broadcastle, will you bring it to us for free? Ellie,
We don't have to pay you for that. How do
we quickly? Because I have to go. But the Primate's story,
We've took all our audiences across this primates and it
doesn't matter whether your male or female. One can dominate
the other just as much as the other way around.
Who wears the pants at your house? Elie?
Speaker 3 (08:14):
Definitely me. But I have to say, too many stats here,
you know, and a command they say sixty percent of
the time, it works every time. There's just too many
stats here. I don't follow it, but I wear the pants.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Somehow, I couldn't see any other way. Bridget, what about.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
You look Definitely in my business with too male business partners,
you've got to wear the pants or a great skirt
and just have as much power from that. The thing
I definitely took from this primate study though, was it
would be no surprise to females, but in the situations
where males are bigger, they will have the physical dominance,
(08:49):
and where they can, they will try and control women's reproduction.
That is, you know, just common knowledge that every female
out there, well, you go good.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Okay, guys, thank you very much for being with me
Ellie Jones and Bridget Morton on the Huddle tonight.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
For more from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to
news talks it'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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