MEDIAWATCH: Tova O’Brien for TVNZ Breakfast is actually a really interesting decision
Tova O’Brien will be the new Breakfast presenter
The political journalist will replace Jenny-May Clarkson on TVNZ’s morning TV show.
Fascinating decision to appoint Tova on Breakfast, and genuinely surprising.
I had grown very fond of Jenny-May Clarkson, she had achieved that rare female broadcaster mantle of ‘Aunty’.
Tova ain’t an Aunty, she’s a bulldog off a leash.
She is a fierce Fourth Estate Journalist who once she locks her jaws on someone, doesn’t let go.
TVNZ Breakfast has been a once lightly affair with as much bite as a toothless 90 year old (which is the majority of their audience to be honest), but Tova will being an energy and aggression that m makes you wake up angry.
I will look forward to her fronting during the election year and believe it’s a really interesting call.
I didn’t expect TVNZ to surprise me, but consider me surprised.
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It’s not journalistic ferals NZ needs, but Left politicians doing more than just going through the motions.
Point scoring time wasters like Tova not so much – just another Patrick Gower with better aesthetics.
Seen Jack on the 6 o’clock news lately? Butter would melt in his mouth. Not surprising. It’s the format. But perhaps even on Q&A Jack never gets his teeth in. Q&A also not the format that permits rough and tumble? Jack, tame by name and tame by nature?
Point I’m making is will Breakfast allow Tova to rise to the occasion?
My impression with Tova O’Brien is that she’s good at locking her jaws on someone, but not a lot of thought goes into her selection of the victim. By that I mean that there seems to be no public good purpose behind the victim selection process. It can be anyone and for any reason, so it all appears to be purely predatory, rather than ethical or journalistic.