This. Is. Madness.
TVNZ eyes staff crackdown
TVNZ chief executive Kevin Kenrick says employees may have to declare any links with a political party as a result of Labour hopeful Shane Taurima’s actions while general manager of its Maori and Pacific unit.
Thank God the State Services Commissioner has stepped in and shot it down.
The NZ Bill of Rights provides the right of freedom of thought, conscience, religion and belief and promises no discrimination because of the political views you believe. For TVNZ to hold the voting habits and political affiliations of their Journalists is a dark day for journalism and civil rights.
This is a deplorable idea that is not only unethical, it is totally unnecessary. The fault for the Shane Taurima fiasco lies with the management who took him back into a senior role after he had unsuccessfully run for the Labour Party nomination in Ikaroa-Rawhiti. To take a mistake by management and twist that into the need to register all journalists political affiliations is an over reaction bordering on the zealous.
The true irony in all of this is that the Right have farcically been able to claim that there is a left wing bias at TVNZ when any such bias died soon after Brian Edwards left it.
This might seem a bit radical but I’m going to agree with you again Martyn, althought this should be a no-brainer. It’s totally wrong to make employees disclose political inclinations. Or involvement in anything else that’s outside work.
It’s different having professional requirements for high profile broadcasters, that can be covered by their contracts. But compulsory disclosure of political preferences for everyone is just wrong.
Ideological is an English word. I have no idea what idealogical is. I do know what a pedant is 🙂
Good to see this piece of McCarthyism stopped before it got in the door.
Does Rennie’s “censure” mean that Shane Taurima will have a PG pending, or be reinstated?
Will the right-wing journos such as Mike Hosking, Corrin Dann be pilloried and hung, drawn and quartered as Taurima was?
Loved the Thought Police allusion, links well with NACT’s vision of the future for New Zealand, ‘a boot stamping on a human face forever.’…and a new Ingsoc flag to salute to.
Good point . Good spotting too . Fuckers .
And isnt this lunacy just a continuation of national eroding democratic and constitutional rights in this country? and isn’t that what dictators do, to garner ( pun intended) complete control over state media which is the intention anyway?
From a technical point of view I was trying to envisage how TVNZ was going to record employees past, present and future polical affiliations and past, present and future voting details and voting intensions. Along with the resulting publication of data to remain “transparent”. At which point the whole thing begain to move from being plain silly, to absolutely crazy.
I can just envisage the scenario;
A hapless TVNZ employee is seated at a table, with a microphone on it.
In front of him is a long, curving high-bench table, with Kevin Kenrick and other TVNZ “executives”, plus other un-named suited individuals, facing the employee.
Kenrick – his voice amplified by his own microphone – demands,
Watching by secret CCTV, Dear Leader nods and smiles approvingly…
Comments are closed.