Friday, July 10, 2009

Eye to Eye poked with sharpstick

I'm a fan of the type of debate Willie Jackson promoted through Eye to Eye. And i think it is a shocker that it is going/gone. We need more opportunities to discuss the issues that affect us all. And discuss these issues we must.

"Willie Jackson claims there is "no room for opinionated Maori" at TVNZ after the state broadcaster scrapped his current affairs show Eye to Eye.

"If you want to be a Maori presenter at TVNZ you have to be apolitical but it is a different rule if you are...Paul Holmes or Paul Henry," Jackson said.

"I just think rules are different for people like myself and [outspoken former Maori broadcaster] Derek Fox."


"TVNZ won widespread plaudits for Eye to Eye with Jackson chairing a confrontation between four guests, often with two pairs representing Maori and Pakeha interests."

TVNZ that's the group who indicated increased maori presence on TV by showing stats from Crimewatch.

Sometimes the discussions around maori and pakeha issues drops down to the 'conversation' level. Lets cut the crap and not pretend we are having 'conversations'. That word insinuates a two way discussion, and is really used to denote a one-way discussion. In other words, "lets work as a team and do it my way."

Lets have less conversations and more debate and discussions.

Free 'conversations' - this word has been highjacked by the Human Resource and management industries.


Hat tip - Tumeke

3 comments:

Marty Mars said...

Boy after watching Q and A we need Willie back yesterday. Having both sides debating face to face is the way to go. We have to debate these issues - no ones going anywhere - and the debate has to be real. Willie was able to get his guests to speak freely and outline different views. that is/was valuable and is missing from the media at the moment.

Country Lane said...

I was really interested in this point of view. http://nzagainstthecurrent.blogspot.com/2009/07/wille-jackson-talks-nonsense.html.
I didn't much like Eye to Eye because I didn't see that much actual debate on that programme. It really relied on the quality of the guests. Too many of them were ego driven blowhards like Willie himself. Then again is SOME bate better than NO debate? Either way I really do not trust any of our commercial media outlets to provide any debate of value and their Willie Away move reinforces my distrust.

Marty Mars said...

Kia ora Country Lane, I agree that there is a disconnect between an elite and other maori. And I agree that TV1 should be public. I personally don't like the talkback persona Willie has on the radio, let alone some of the things he says, but I did like him on the telly. The quality of the guests was high and varied and that was the show. Willie played a pretty good ringmaster - and it was always easy to tell what he believed in.

And I'm with you again, in your distrust in commercial media - I'm finding the net and blogs to be less biased (because the bias is upfront and can then be taken into account) and much more immediate.