Media: Holmes free to dream of mayoralty, says TVNZ

Television New Zealand is entirely relaxed that Paul Holmes, the host of its political current affairs show Q&A, is not ruling out standing to be Mayor of the planned Auckland Super City.

As Q&A producers decide this week how to cover the huge overhaul of Auckland politics, one of the mayoral candidates may well be queuing up at the office water cooler.

Holmes will be scrupulously careful about his handling of the controversy over the Super City as it unfolds. Speculation about Holmes' political ambitions has been around for ages, but ensconced in his new role, he is believed to be still deciding whether to seek the leadership of the city and its 1.3 million souls.

TVNZ says it's no big deal. The possibility of the Q&A host standing was not yet an issue, said spokeswoman Megan Richards.

"The local government elections are not until October next year. At this stage Paul's thinking on the matter is his own business," said Richards.

"If and when he or anyone else puts their name forward as a candidate for political office then our protocols come into play. We require those in news and current affairs positions to stand down for the duration. End of story."

Holmes was quoted on March 29 as saying the new Mayor's increased powers to "get things done" were attractive.

"I'll be talking about it with friends, and running it past she who must be obeyed," he told the Herald, presumably referring to his wife Deborah.

On last week's Q&A, panelist and former Prime Minister Mike Moore told Holmes: "I look forward to Sir Paul Holmes announcing his candidature as Lord Mayor of Auckland." Holmes replied: "Not ready, far too early" - an exchange which Richards dismissed as tongue-in-cheek.

Holmes could not be reached for comment this week.

But as PR consultant and former TVNZ interviewer Linda Clarke pointed out on Radio NZ this week, celebrity candidates would have an advantage winning financial and voter support because they would be recognised Auckland-wide.

In the 2007 local body elections, broadcasters Willie Jackson and John Tamihere stood for the Manukau and Waitakere mayoralties, while presenting a show on Radio Live. Both missed out.

PICKING WINNERS

TV3 is working with the former producer of Agenda, Richard Harman, to resurrect the show, this time featuring TV3 political editor Duncan Garner and Morning Report host Sean Plunket.

But TV3 has acknowledged that the show will depend on taxpayer support from New Zealand On Air - and that NZ On Air will not back both its show and Q&A.

The upshot is that the government-appointed funding agency may get to choose whether the country's politicians are interviewed by TVNZ's Guyon Espiner and Paul Holmes, or TV3's Sean Plunket and Duncan Garner.

NZ On Air cannot get involved in editorial issues, so presumably it comes down to how the programme looks on screen - and how many viewers it reaches.

There is no indication of bias - but it's an example of the dangers posed by government funding of news and current affairs.

COUNTRY CLASH

TVNZ is refusing to sell-on the back catalogue for Country Calendar to the Country Channel, an independent channel that runs on Sky.

The decision raises questions about the extent to which Broadcasting Minister Jonathan Coleman will allow TVNZ to keep exclusive content, while meeting its much-vaunted obligation to "Inspire New Zealanders on Every Screen".

Coleman pressed TVNZ to put Freeview channels TVNZ6 and TVNZ7 on the Sky platform. Now the independently owned, subscription-based Country Channel says it cannot even buy the back catalogue for New Zealand's longest running TV series.

Country Channel spokesman Andy Tyler told Coleman he was keen: "The one continual request we receive is, 'why can't we see more local programming, and why can't we see old Country Calendar episodes?"' He said the channel would be interested in the back catalogue going a long way back in time.

"We were quite happy to pay [TVNZ] commercial rates for this material [and] as a specialist farming channel we are not in direct competition with TVNZ," said Tyler.

TVNZ spokeswoman Megan Richards said Country Calendar was extremely strongly associated with the TV One brand, was still in production and may be for some time. "If any content is still under licence to TVNZ or the brand is still being commissioned - programmes like The Zoo - we would not sell it to a competing channel in this market."

She said Country Calendar had not yet been sold overseas. "However, we are actively pitching it offshore."

She said several episodes had just been sold to Air NZ inflight, generating revenue "which is appropriately returned to NZ on Air".

LONG-TERM VALUE

Veteran financial writer Peter V. (for Vincent) O'Brien died at his home in Wellington this week, aged 69. O'Brien had written for the National Business Review for almost 40 years - starting three weeks after NBR was formed in 1970.

The editor-in-chief of NBR, Nevil Gibson, paid tribute to its longest-serving writer, who he said was famous for never missing a deadline, and said O'Brien had provided a foundation for investment reporting in New Zealand.

The newsmagazine alerted family when his regular column did not turn up.