Willie shows us why the merger is a terrible idea

Thomas Coughlan writes at NZ Herald:

Broadcasting Minister Willie Jackson would do well to heed the advice of Adrian Orr and cool his jets after this morning’s trainwreck interview on TVNZ’s Q+A with Jack Tame. …

He then decided to give Tame tips on how to conduct a good interview.

“You’re doing such a negative interview today – I’m very disappointed in you,” Jackson said.

Jackson, as the co-author of one of New Zealand’s worst ever broadcast interviews (a bizarre grilling of a friend of an alleged victim of the Roast Busters group), is in no position to be dispensing tips on tradecraft, but nevertheless felt himself qualified to do so.

“You’re hammering every part of this entity,” Jackson complained – and of course Tame was – that’s the whole point. Heaven forbid the new entity prohibits its employees from “hammering” it.

It is very clear that Willie sees the role of TVNZ as being to not challenge the Government. This makes the merger an even worse idea, as the motivating factor appears to be having a large Government controlled media entity dominating the reporting landscape.