I know many of my fellow comrades on the Left view Paul Henry the way they view cancer, and I am certainly someone who has been critical of him in the past and I utterly disagree with his right wing economic perspective.
However.
I also appreciate he is probably one of the best broadcasters in New Zealand.
His weeknight Current Affairs show ‘Rebuilding Paradise’ is redefining TV current affairs in a way only Henry can pull off.
With Mediaworks cutting back, the future is Paul Henry-esk broadcasters with the talent to pull off an entire show because it is 100 times cheaper than a hot mess like The Project.
Most NZ broadcasters have the saccharine charisma of a private school glee club in that you wouldn’t mind beating half of them to death with a fur seal cub, Henry however is fast on his feet, knows how to spin a narrative and is one of the best counter question broadcasters in the game.
Here’s what is most important about it, Henry has understood that after this shared sacrifice, NZers desperately feel like they need a sense of solidarity. Henry’s right wing politics are always at the surface, but his attempt to reach out and bring in people from across the spectrum over the first week of his 4 week show is evidence of how he gets what the audience are yearning for.
The economic fallout from this unprecedented moment is the second tsunami of this pandemic and how that is handled is as important as the public health threat.
Henry has shrewdly understood the market before anyone else has, expect this show to build and become a future format of MediaWorks as we move from expensive news production to cheaper in studio talent.
The struggle for Broadcasters will be finding talent who have the ability to carry a show for 30minutes so as to avoid making Spinoff TV.
Gosh Martyn, I chuckled with this statement Martyn,
so in these stressful times thanks for the giggle it was very welcome; – please keep them coming.
“With Mediaworks cutting back, the future is Paul Henry-esk broadcasters with the talent to pull off an entire show because it is 100 times cheaper than a hot mess like The Project”.
Its looking like the Bloodfest has arrived!
Employers threatening massive layoffs and redundancies for shitloads of cash and ‘favours’ from Grant & Jacinda or else. I did say it was Class War and its on its way, didnt I?
So, will Jacinda & Grant sellout the Workforce and cave into the Capitalists demands or get the CTU to do that?
No more time for holding hands and singing kumbyah and smiling at the camera. That wont cut it with the butcherous right wing ideologue! They can sense blood!
Level 3 is the starting gun for them. They will go on a sacking spree!
Then labour will plead with them to be ‘nice!’ ffs! That wont cut it.
There is no mongrel in labour anymore, they ‘quota’d’ them out!
Will Grant dole out the money and agree to a slaughtering of the NZ workforce or borrow some balls from someone and stick it to them?
I’m guessing they’ll bendover and get the CTU to sell it to the workers, “we’ll look after you, just like we’ve done before, back in ….”
I welcome all points of view so….good luck to him.
I just want the hard questions put to our public servants answered!
No spin…no party political broadcast….just a f***ing honest answer for once.
Well, I would be far more concerned about what is happening in the media re conservative media launching an all out attack on the current government. It is clear that the money and powers behind the conservative movement and the National party is exploring indirect ways to discredit the government as direct attacks from National has had the opposite effect.
John Key ordered the end to current affairs programs as their exposure of his government failings had not only an adverse effect on their “capitalist agenda” but also eroded their support, especially John Campbell’s covering of poverty. Henry’s mission is to slowly grow acceptance and then closer to the election launch an all out attack on the government. The very reason his contract runs till December, then his used by date to achieve their objective have been achieved. They would not want current affairs to continue if they win the election.
Newstalk ZB, Magic Talk, Three Now and The Herald, Spinoff and other media test attack ideas frequently on air and in print to explore what criticism will stick. Note Heather, Mike, Sean and others with specific topics to discredit and sow discontent. Do and analysis of the content and you will note a well orchestrated effort to build an attack strategy that will be further deployed later in this year. Even Kiwiblog is mining for attack ideas.
You will also note the use of Johnkey, Bill, Steven Joyce, to criticize the government. Using them place National at arms length. THis is only but a few. Many other actors, such as business executives, are being used with similar messages, carefully crafted to built credence to their criticism. You only have to repeat it so many times before some starts to believe it. For example, look as Key’s comments on the PM, she is a good communicator, but clearly not capable of anything beyond that. In fact if you look at how she managed the Covid crisis by integrating all interest groups with excellent participatory management, her ability to command detail on any subject and to communicate all intricacies with clarity and detail required, Their is no other politician or business executive that could match her abilities in NZ.
If you do an analysis across all media in NZ, you will note how they run their smear strategy. It is so obvious to us that we have office bets on what the attack messages will be run the Herald and other media on Monday. And up to now we were never wrong.
It is also sad that the government has to endure attacks from the progressive media on their failure to achieve certain objectives re poverty and other issues. That is a critical mistake, it is crucial to realize the constraints they have to work withing. Rome was not built in 3 years, it will take them 9 or more years to achieve meaningful change.
Just sit back and think what would have happened with a National government in this time, many more deaths for the sake of their business supporters. It is of utmost importance that the progressive media keep exposing and reminding NZ of the previous governments failures, heaps of them, scandal upon scandal. Lest nobody forget their failure to take care of all Kiwi’s.
To conclude, Henry has no place on air, as well as many other who sow discord on air or in print. Nothing better can happen in NZ if the Herald, Newstalk ZB, Threenow and others go bankrupt as a result of Covid. They are an instrument for dark powers at work. They make no positive contribution to NZ society. If progressive’s are not going to actively counter this media onslaught, they can only blame themselves for sleeping in the midst of it all!
Why not just reinstate the broadcasting charter that was abolished as one of Key’s first initiatives.
Not the same one obviously, but surely we can have independent broadcasting (with views from all sides) with a charter that makes sense.
People still watch TV?
The news is full of crap, the tv shows are crap, the movies are repeats and the rest is just boring.
Online streaming is where its at, no more bullshit.
Comments are closed.