When Whaleoil’s advertising salesperson and The Standard are singing the same tune, we have a problem.
They’re arguing that we should end the boycott of TV3 because the workers there will lose their job and there won’t be any news.
That’s pretty weak and I don’t think it respects the mana of the Campbell Live team who fought so hard for us.
Folks, this boycott is hurting TV3, and hurting them badly. Here is one of their Producers begging people to watch them…
Am I missing aspects of TV3? I certainly am…
- Paula Penfold on 3rd Degree – easily one of the best investigative Journalists in NZ, her tenacity to fight for Teina Pora’s innocence is the sort of Journalism that requires courage and guts. She went up against an alpha male Police force that can never admit they are wrong and won.
- Mike McRoberts – Quite simply one of the best news reporters in NZ. He’s not just some wooden mouthpiece, he’s actually a journalist. If Mike says it, it’s true. A great man with real integrity.
- Hillary Barry – Best news reader in NZ. Her empathy, understanding and intelligence will be missed on my screens. Michael Laws terrible slagging off of her for showing real emotion when Campbell Live was announced as dead proves once and for all what a sad little arsehole Michael Laws really is.
- Jono and Ben – I was really enjoying their show, it’s actually very funny. Guy Williams and Rose Matafeo are two of the funniest comedians on NZ screens right now.
- David Farrier – I’m really sad I won’t even be able to see his new show as he’s one of the best new broadcasters this country has.
…but the self-mutilation TV3 have done themselves by telling us they were sick of Campbell Live’s ‘crusades’ like Novopay, mass surveillance, the Pike River Mine tragedy, child poverty, the misery of Christchurch and that news for them is not a 4th estate responsibility but a mere cynical ratings money game means they must be punished.
Sure TV3 and Mediaworks Journalists have gone into overdrive trying to put out lefty issues over the last 3 weeks and The Nation pick any lefty twitter user to be part of their ‘Twitter Panel’, but management and politics rule at TV3 and the only way to beat them is to vote with your remote.
The simple truth is they the American vulture fund that now owns MediaWorks bought 100% of the company because they intend to do controversial things to the business model and wanted no resistance. It is obvious they will cut TV off from MediaWorks and sell it because it is the Radio Advertising arm of the company that makes any money (this is because radio adverts take next to no production costs where as TV advertising is crucifyingly expensive to produce). That means small business and medium business all spend on Radio leaving only very large advertisers to be able to afford TV advertising, and those large advertisers are rushing away from terrestrial TV to the internet.
Oaktree Capital know this and as a vulture fund will sell off TV, hold onto Radio, boost that up while hollowing out the costs and then on sell it for a marked up price. This is what vulture funds do, they aren’t named after a carrion bird for shits and giggles.
So the sudden howl for ‘won’t someone think of the workers’ seems optimistic. My guess will be that a Chinese media group currently relegated far down the channel rankings will leap at the chance to buy TV3.
Perversely it may be TV3’s current low ratings that keep the station alive before they sell it.
Despite the best intentions of the current Journalists, corporate foreign owned media care about one thing and one thing only, money. If TV3 continues to haemorrhage cash because the ratings are so low, that gives those who believe the Media have an obligation to the democracy they operate in to hold the powerful to account (and not just narrate inane food shows) leverage.
Here’s the deal MediaWorks management. We’ll stop boycotting TV3 when you bring back Campbell Live.
There is a moment here where Australian management can understand they have made a bad call by listening to Walden and Christie and bring the show back.
Having Campbell Live on air before it gets sold is the only way of ensuring a strong voice remains and forces the new owner to accept the value will be in Campbell Live staying.
If you want Campbell Live back and you want to fight this – not only continue to boycott TV3, but get more people to join.
It is the 5th Estate’s responsibility to take over the 4th Estate’s platforms, if that 4th Estate have walked away from their obligations to hold the powerful to account.
So say all of us.
Join Bring Back Campbell Live now.
Does John want the job back?
Who knows. He threw a wobbly because he didn’t want to share the spotlight and went home.
Really? He never came across like a petulant, ego driven, media hog. I suspect the tone of your comment is more reflective of your personality than that of John Campbell.
This line, that JC left because he was asked to share is pure Mediaworks spin, and the opposite of the truth. Campbell Live was a team show unlike the ego driven alternatives (Hoskings, Henry.) John Campbell shared the spotlight more than any other broadcaster in NZ. He routinely credited camera people, editors and other crew, turning many of them into household names. (Billy Weepu, Toby Long bottom ..) What Campbell started some others have started to imitate.
I don’t often disagree with you Martyn, but Hillary Barry’s fawning mouthpiece antics with the right-wing gobshite Paul Henry does grate on my nerves somewhat. I did smile at your apt description of Michael Laws as a sad little a-hole. On the button…
I have no doubt Hillary was a friend of Campbell and perhaps her tears were more of a realisation on her own part that she had hitched her wagon to the wrong star. Here’s hoping…
…and if Whaleoil is defending workers on TV3 – WTF? Since when has a right-winger EVER worried about workers’ rights???
All I can say is that the boycott is working, well done people.
Do you have any supporting information for the boycott working? The Channel share information actually seems to show an upswing since Mark Weldon took over.
Like yer name , mate – Walden is toast.
He messed with the wrong thing to mess with this time – that being dicking round with Cambell Live.
And now hes gonna pay for it.
expect to hear a lot of sound bytes of left “sounding” issues or semi conspiracy – anti keyish etc ‘headlines’ from tv 3 to give the ‘impression’ they are left friendly to attempt to get back the demographic they lost with the jc setup – dont fall for it
I sympathise with TV3’s workers and it’s a thought that crossed my mind when our household began boycotting most of TV3.
I suspect though, that Weldon, Christie, et al, think nothing of workers’ jobs at Mediaworks and certainly did not take consumers (ie, the audience) into consideration when they put the knife in ‘Campbell Live’.
Now they’re holding workers’ jobs in the firing line with a none-to-subtle threat?
Is that how it works?
to be honest if the workers had any spine they would have walked with john out the door.. and that they didnt is the answer to why NZ is now a dogs breakfast
I totally agree Lloyd and the news on channel 3 is mostly propaganda and that needs to change also. It would have been the perfect time for them to strike for a more democratic news channel that reflected the true state of affairs here, and demand that the managers resign over their stupid decision to can Campbell Live. Also the fact that Hilary Barry has hitched up with that show off Paul Henry makes her completely out of touch with the real issues. Every channel seems to have right wing nutty presenters on multiple shows at once, and no show or shows for Campbell. What has this stupid wanky country come too with wall to wall Henry/Hosking and Hilary acting cute – it is enough to make me sick.
A stupid wanky country?….why….thats easy…
It emulates its leaders who pull hair , …do dodgy deals with Chinese Immigration officials ,….who try to bluster thier way through airport security ,…
Who after a Pike River disaster that killed 29 men RELAX Health and Safety laws – not TIGHTEN THEM .
Who think its ok to let toddlers die in state houses because of THEIR VESTED INTERESTS IN BEING LANDLORDS.
Who think its ok to consistently encourage a low wage economy as this encourages foreign investment ,- and to consistently undermine unions and labour laws.
Look….the point is this :
Some WANKER has got to represent all these other WANKERS .
And that’s what in effect we now have : WANKERS representing the views of WANKERS.
Its really quite simple.
A WANKER led media who regurgitates what their political WANKER masters think with the aim of turning us all into veritable WANKERS just like themselves.
It’s the same excuse the neolibs use for everything – “we can’t give you a pay rise”,” we can’t pay a living wage”,” we can’t raise the minimum wage”- but in the end…you still lose that job.
Well why didn’t more people watch the show when it was on if it so great?
Anyway someone should get Campbell a show on TV1. He’ll get three times the ratings as he did on TV3. Not sure how he’d go down with the blue rinse and retirement home brigade though.
As for the boycott – well yes, a legitimate form a protest but even if you get the show back on air a few months later it’s ratings will be back down to where they were before and John will be back on the chopping block.
Keep spinning Kevin. As I’m sure you well know, the actual ratings of Campbell Live were much higher than what TV3 claimed in trying to justify canning the show. Certainly much higher than the ratings Police Brutality re-runs are getting in its place.
Also, John wasn’t objecting to a co-host, but to the fact that if we stayed on it would be to co-host a show with shorter stories, and more cute cat photos in place of the real current affairs journalism his show was about. If John Key was offered a co-leadership, but it involved being co-leader of the Invercargill City Council instead of Parliament, would be take it, or would be quit in fuming indignation?
Go back to your Crosby-Textor masters Kevin, and tell them their time is nearly up.
Yes Kevin – and every woman in New Zealand should boycott wearing their hair in a ponytail on a Friday every month until the next election. in protest at the PM’s hair-pulling antics.
By crikey some tee shirt maker could make a killing with all the ‘ shirt ‘ we have on FJK John XKEYSCORE – what happened to former days when us KIWIS knew how to doss out the shit on jerks like Key by wearing just a tee shirt ?
C’mon all you tee shirt printers – times a wastin’ , summers coming and there sure isn’t any lack of ammo with Joyce and co giving orders to Waldon and Christie –
Picture a few big rats bullying two smaller rats, …that’s it..you got it…now just let those creative juices start to flow…
Wouldn’t work Winnie. How many men notice a womans hair style? Maybe donkey is a is a hologram of a previous pM with similar preferences. After all his electorate is Helensville!
^ L0L!!!
Well it’s coming to my third week without TV3 and only a little of TV1 so I now search other sources of news and don’t miss their tripe anymore but feel as I now have control again.
It is empowering Martyn. but hope to see John Campbell on another network some day.
Gower has lost his mana and is now another toothless past wonder and now key’s lap dog.
Lots of others have switched off also we hear.
“It is the 5th Estate’s responsibility to take over the 4th Estate’s platforms, if that 4th Estate have walked away from their obligations to hold the powerful to account. So say all of us. Join Bring Back Campbell Live now.”
Acident -, my bad.
As you said Martyn, if TV3 executives really care about the journalist’s jobs, they just have to give the customers what they want. Needless to say, if the station fails to make enough advertising revenue to keep it afloat, the executives who made the decision to axe Campbell Live in the first place, will also find themselves unemployed. They may not care about the jobs of “the little people”, but I bet they sure as hell care about their own. I see Prime’s ratings have gone through the roof since the boycott. They would do really well to seek out John. I would plug back in my dusty free to air decoder if that happened, on sheer principal.
The hell with em !!! – let em rot !!!
They made their beds – so let em lay down in their world of shit they made for themselves – and when they’ve skulked off to some other dark recess in some slimy sewer – lets bring John Cambell back and reinstate him with even greater capacity.
Great article, and I would add to “Bring back Campbell Live”, but first get rid of Weldon & Christie.
From the NZ Herald on Tuesday –
Prime News out-rated its TV3 competitor last night, as the MediaWorks’ channel lost nearly half its audience in two weeks.
3 News drew an audience of 166,000 viewers last night – 13,000 less than Prime News, which screens half an hour earlier at 5.30pm.
Two weeks ago, 3 News attracted nearly double that figure, with 314,000 viewers tuning in.
Media commentator Martin Gillman says the numbers are surprising and will be the cause of serious concern at MediaWorks, which is currently examining its news and current affairs programming in a bid to maximize revenue.
“News makes up a significant part of the schedule and is too important for them to lose out so badly,” he said.
Between this and MediaWorks insisting on creating platforms for Paul Henry to continue with his cheer leading of, and permitting regular guest appearances for his beloved JK to continue his lies and deceit , it is looking more than self mutilation. It is becoming more comparable to Hara-Kiri.
Let em burn . Let them feel that heat.
Don’t rescue them . They wouldn’t rescue you .
Their just getting whats been coming to them for a long time.
They want Paul Henry and slimy little sycophantic interviews with Key instead of John Cambell making sure Keys honest ? – let them have that.
They can have it…but no ones gonna watch it or give a damn what Key or Henry have to say.
Let them rot . We don’t need them anyhow.
Agree WK. Even though the remote was busy changing channels, it could not stop the gag reflex & outrage that sheeple actually believe the orchestrated litany of lies that passes for news. So from now on tv has gone & I may choose to waste my time being a mfr blogger.
Knowing Weldon and Christie’s partnership, they’ll get rid of the news and invent a new reality show for the slot, or copy a successful format reality show from overseas.
What about an NZ version of “Holmes makes it right!”, where a marauding good builder, goes around houses in Christchurch fixing up EQC and Southern No Response stuff-ups?
I don’t see why anyone should be obliged to watch anything in particular. Nobody owes TV3 to watch TV3, whether it’s jobs at stake -or not. There is,or should be, Freedom of Speech … and there is Freedom to Watch or Read or Listen to Anything You Like.
Time to boycott The Standard even?
They are going through their own crisis of ideology at the moment but the piece encouraging the end of protest action was really a ridiculous abandonment of what protest action is all about.
This is how “Think of the workers” works.
Don’t blame me Mark Welldone and Julie Chrissy for our Natsi decisions and putting on low-low-brow shows.
Blame the viewers for not watching that crap.
So the viewers are the real villains in this piece and the workers are the victims?
Typical Natsis, holding up a baby to shield themselves.
Hate to tag it all to a popular, mindless trend but it’s a bit like the milo recipe – if TV 3 cared to listen to what their AUDIENCE wants they might not be getting the backlash. There is still a lot of captive (older, no recording function) who don’t want to watch bloody The Batchelor or Biggest Loser – or The Dinner Party so -since generally there is bugger all difference in news content nowadays – you’ll be watching what has the least annoying program before and get – in there own past words – settled in for the evening (particularly if there’s something just stupid after it on the other channel) . If ratings are hurting it’s not just from those they believe are ‘politically motivated’.
I question why front line journos and backroom workers at TV3 haven’t stood up and protested about the state of journalistic affairs (of their own workplace), rather than passive aggressively blaming the public via their respective social media accounts.
The public / viewers have done nothing wrong. We’ve simply responded to their bosses’ fishy wrong doing.
A collective protest would go a long way. Its not like MediaWorks are going to fire their entire talent pool.
Lol !….those idiots would fire themselves if Joyce and Key gave the order.
That’s how much these 1 dimensional types like Walden and Christie are capable of thinking for themselves.
So yeah – stuff them – let them squirm and suffer.
It is divide and rule, that is what we have. I have witnessed some of the Campbell Live team having resurfaced as TV3 news reporters, as reporters elsewhere, and one of the staff that used to work with Paul Henry on his former late night show, she is now with TVNZ.
There is NO sense of collective spirit, of solidarity, it may be in emotion with some, but NOT in action.
The day I see a revolution and workers unite to stand up for each other, I will have a party, spend up big and have champagne for breakfast!
I cannot see that happen any time soon, in this country and society, that has been so manipulated into lone fighters for each and every one’s own cause, and no unity. It is shocking, really.
I do not boycott TV3 as a whole, I boycott MOST of the crap they produce and present. I still watch ‘The Nation’ with Lisa Owen, despite of that not so pleasant man that pops up at times, to do interviews or “contribute” to the panel (Gower or Cower is his name, I think).
I also have watched the new 3D program on Sunday evening, but only once. It is not as bad as I feared.
But what else is there? Jono and Ben are not my preferred viewing, nor that new late show, replacing their news, called “newsworthy” or so. It is a bit like a youth mag or rag on film, too superficial and fad and emotion following.
3News is not what it used to be, certainly not that brief summary squeezed into 10 minutes now on Sunday, the rest being sports and weather, and of course the endless commercials.
I am sick of most TV in New Zealand, as it is not that great at all. It may not be the worst when compared internationally, but it does not meet better standards and quality in some European countries. And we know there is almost NO investigative journalism, neither on 3News, nor on One News, certainly not on Prime News.
As a Freeview consumer, I tend to rather get my international news through Al Jazeera now, available here. I used to watch the BBC also late at nights, when it was still on TVNZ’s One channel. But we know they could not bother paying a humble price for that, so canned it and brought some repeats and “infomercials”.
There is no other place I know where so much of potential broadcasting time is used for “infomercials”, for advertising and silly stuff. It is a disgrace, really, and that Paul Henry on the mornings, give me a break, he is an idiot, most the times, and tries to appeal to teens and those in their twenties, to get better ratings, but no matter how hard a guy like him at his age may try to “appeal”, he only looks and sounds like a dick doing so.
Better be honest and deliver straight forward broadcasting. Bring back TV7 and such channels, or turn TVNZ back into a real public broadcaster, like the ABC in Australia, and forget the rest.
Those that boycott TV3, you are not missing much. As for Campbell, I have a feeling he will be back, with something new, for another broadcaster, some time not too distant in the future.
All mainstream media leave to be desired though, they are at best mediocre, and are not informing enough, rather part of the grand manipulation and brainwashing agenda that we also get fed from government, the present one, I mean.
Get rid of all this crap, and we may have something to look forward to, but given the massive indifference, apathy and distraction that abounds in the minds of the populace, I cannot see much improvements soon.
“Joyce and Key gave the order”
1000% bang on Wild Katipo
This whole arrogant TV3 mess has Joyce’s style of arrogance written all over it doesn’t it?
So this like the Winnie’s Northland election trouncing from the badly planned display from the supreme arrogant Joyce campaign has again shown Joyce is now becoming a risky player in media meddling as he is indeed now a liability to the nasty NatZ. Best get shod of him alright before he shits on NatZ further.
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