Appointing Simon Bridges to run RNZ/TVNZ Merger is smartest move Labour has made in 5 years

ByMartyn Bradbury

The leaks circulating that Labour are looking to appoint Simon Bridges to head the new  RNZ/TVNZ merger is the smartest tactical move Labour have made in 5 years.

After being attacked mercilessly over the merger by a National Party that sees no value in public broadcasting, Labour’s appointment of Bridges would inoculate Labour from attacks and remove the entire issue off the political agenda.

To not only get the merger through, but remove it altogether as an election threat is genius level strategy from Labour who have looked flat footed at times in defending and promoting the RNZ/TVNZ merger.

Labour pulled the same trick when they appointed Jim Bolger to head Kiwibank and the same thing happened, the Rights attacks against Kiwibank dried up.

Appointing someone as talented as Simon Bridges to head the merger means National and ACT have no where to go in criticising the new public broadcasting entity.

It removes the criticism that the organisation will be politically biased.

It removes the criticism that the merger should be revoked if National win.

It shows cross party support.

It is such a stunningly smart move you have to give Jacinda, Grant and Willie Jackson a standing ovation for its strategic brilliance.

Finally, Labour start playing politics superbly well just when they need to start stepping up if they want to win 2023.

As for the Spinoff woke who are bitching that it’s wrong Simon Bridges should get this role and claiming it’s a political capitulation, you people are so inept and stupid you have no comprehension of how politics actually works and should keep quiet, this is a very smart move and the cheap twitter seats shouldn’t be allowed to ruin it.

More of these genius master strokes by Labour please.

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36 Comments

  1. Is it though? Really? He failed at leading the National Party, he failed at lawyering and he failed to be an honorable MP (fucking useless Maureen Pugh, Ross saga and the rest). What’s he going to do for the merger apart from enjoy a ridiculous tax payer paid salary and perks? AND fail at that too. He’s not even a nice person.

    1. Simon had his faults but is far better than the current National Party leadership & while I tend to agree about the ridiculous tax payer paid salary and perks part you get those problems when the fox is in charge of the hen house.

    2. How did he fail at lawyering? and didn’t he come out a winner in the Ross saga. Do I detect Little bit of racism there?

      1. Perhaps Rodel, Sinic was employing the Simon Bridges exchange rate mechanism. From memory, at the close of trading, the ethnicity conversion had one Chinese individual equivalent to two Indian individuals.

  2. Quite frankly if this is the price I am willing to pay to get this merger through, then Im paying up. We need this merger to purge our screens of MasterChef and Celeb Treasure Island.

    2. What exactly does a merger achieve? Will it return RNZ to its former capacity (funding constraint and LCD mediocrity for the Auckland market)? Will it involve a “public broadcaster” approach at TVNZ?

      Simon Bridges has no expertise in this field to offer. And nor did Simon Power.

    3. There is no talk of programming or quality, just some kind of enforced culture content. But if it’s a non profit low audience model then I guess it will probably muddle along. Kind of.

      1. There’s been no talk of enforced culture content, where does TDB get these idiots from?

    4. No if only all the crap could go off our screens, all that reality junk.
      How about some real documentaries about the situation in Aotearoa.

    1. J S Bark Loading with right-wingers could keep Nat supporters happy with Labour, but whether it will keep Labour supporters happy is a different story. Simon not being a flat old white man might help, with that being the IP lens so much is viewed through now.

    1. RosieLee. Yep, he’s talented alright. His own wife said he’s like a little gutter fighter in court, and he can teach them how to mutilate their vowel sounds even more than they do now, and with a bit of luck could provide new job opportunities for failed politicians who can’t cut it as estate agents, gigolos, Uber drivers, or advisors to Aussie businesses importing slave-labour crap into New Zealand.

  7. If it takes Soymun’s involvement to get the merger underway, and the filth pump turned down a bit, then so be it!

  8. Simon Bridges and Simon Power would happily preside over the continued decline of RNZ and TVNZ.

    It’s similar to Labour’s move to include religion in hate speech law – as a replacement for the old blasphemy law they removed (just one more including religions other than Christianity), of a design to get support from social conservatives. Their campaign to imply a woke threat to free speech has paid off big time.

  9. I’ve little confidence is a good result here.
    I’ll never forget Bridges trying to ape his hero John Key’s earlier bombast in a subsequent interview with J Campbell. A real pillock.

  10. Bridges couldn’t run a bath.
    Negotiated a deal with Anardako where NZ got 40% of the profits!
    They can’t even pull that stunt in Africa…these days.

    1. I dont support Simon and he was a useless finance spokesperson (but better than Willis). As long as he doesn’t turn it into another National Party political tory talk radio/tv.

    2. Smart move by Labour, very intelligent, rid Bridges once and for all by showing how useless he is. Then Labour can install any one of their talented candidates.

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