Radio New Zealand

Linda Clark has very candidly said she is leaving Radio NZ not due to any dispute over editorial policies but basically because it is just such an unhappy place.

The CEO’s response that it has a challenging environment, but is not unhappy, sounds like spin for agreeing with Linda but unable to say so.

I don’t have any special knowledge of Radio NZ staff happiness beyond all the media stories about internal disputes but I do recall some years ago a Radio NZ staffer used to post to Usenet.

Now this guy was the unhappiest person I think I had ever encountered. He moaned and hated almost everything about NZ. He sneered at the people, the culture, saw inferiority complexes everywhere, and none of us could understand why he had moved here from the UK.

Now I have no idea if he still works there, but I remember once thinking that if I had to share an office with him 260 days a years I’d probably be slitting my wrists in despair!