TVNZ’s Q+A says it’s been trying unsuccessfully for a year for an interview with Christopher Luxon, while the Act Party refuses to deal with RNZ’s Morning Report and Te Pāti Māori says it is boycotting the NZ Herald. Former Prime Minister Dame Jacinda Ardern infamously cut her regular weekly slot
Media Insider: Boycotts and silent treatment: Why some MPs refuse to deal with some media as PM Christopher Luxon says he’ll break TVNZ Q+A drought
Act leader David Seymour and PM Christopher Luxon; Q+A host Jack Tame; Morning Report hosts Ingrid Hipkiss and Corin Dann. Photos / Mark Mitchell, TVNZ, RNZ
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The issue has come to the fore again this week – Q+A host Jack Tame revealed Luxon had declined “many” requests to appear on the Sunday morning political show over the past year while RNZ Morning Report host Ingrid Hipkiss said on Monday that Act’s MPs and ministers were continuing to turn down invitations to appear on the show. That particular Cold War is now in its fourth year.
Christopher Luxon and Q+A
On Sunday, Tame – the best political interviewer on television – said his show had received “many messages” in recent weeks and months “about politicians who are prepared to be interviewed on Q+A”.
“It’s now more than a year since Christopher Luxon was last on the show. He’s actually never been interviewed on Q+A in his capacity as Prime Minister. We’ve requested him many times. We’ve asked his team what dates would suit. We’ve tried to work in with what is obviously and understandably a busy schedule but so far he hasn’t appeared,” said Tame.
“Just for the sake of context, we went through our records and the last National Prime Ministers, Sir Bill English and Sir John Key, were interviewed on Q+A more than four times a year on average. During her time as Prime Minister, Dame Jacinda Ardern was interviewed on Q+A twice a year.
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“We think there’s democratic value in putting questions to politicians of all stripes and we hope the Prime Minister agrees to be interviewed soon.”
A spokesman for the Prime Minister did not specifically address Media Insider questions about any issues his office might have with the show.
However, it appears Tame’s plea has been successful.
“The Prime Minister has heavy demands on his schedule that have increased significantly since his time in Opposition,” the spokesman told Media Insider.
“He makes himself available to the media most days of the week, sometimes more than once a day. We expect the Prime Minister will be available to go on Q+A before the end of the year.”
Luxon himself told reporters at Parliament yesterday: “I’m available to media every day [and through] many different forms of media as well, but, no, looking forward to getting on Q+A sometime before the end of the year.”
He was asked by Stuff’s Tova O’Brien whether he’d appear on her podcast. “We weigh it all up, Tova, and we look at who’s talking to who and how we get to as many people as we possibly can.
“That’s why I had a good hour on talkback last Friday on commercial radio [with Newstalk ZB’s Kerre Woodham]. That’s why we’re talking to people through social media channels. We try and take as many requests and be available to the media as we possibly can.”
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Act Party and Morning Report
On Monday, RNZ Morning Report co-host Ingrid Hipkiss told listeners that Act deputy leader and Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden would not appear on the show to discuss new employment moves.
“Act Party MPs won’t be interviewed on Morning Report and that includes ministers,” Hipkiss said.
Act leader David Seymour says he and his MPs have refused to appear on the show for four years because of several issues.
“The reason why none of us are particularly interested in going on Morning Report is that they’ve shown themselves over the years to have an incredibly toxic culture, and they’ve been deeply disrespectful, and when we raised issues, they basically told us to shove it. So we said, ‘Okay, well life is short. We don’t want to deal with you’.”
Seymour listed three key examples for Act’s position:
- “Unbelievable rudeness”, off air, by producers;
- “A deep selectiveness on topics – they were only interested in having Act on if they felt we’d somehow done wrong and they could ridicule us.” A classic example of that, he said, was how Act branded its State of the Nation productivity speech in 2020 as “Make Aotearoa Great Again”. That labelling “drove them nuts – they saw it as being so contemptible”;
- The third issue was getting Act MPs on air on one pretence, but then having another – “such as asking me to comment on an issue and then just ridiculing my position in the Epsom electorate”.
“So after repeated incidents, and at that point, six years of dutifully showing up and getting up early, being in the studio on time and basically being treated rudely, I decided, actually, I don’t need them in my life. And since we made that decision, Act’s grown by about 1000% and their ratings have tanked.”
Seymour reiterated that he was making his comments as Act leader, not as a shareholding minister of RNZ.
“In that respect, I work well with them.
“Myself and all Act MPs continue to have a very strong working relationship with [other] shows and people across RNZ. We regularly appear on Charlotte Cook’s Midday Report, I love going on the drive show with Lisa [Owen] on Checkpoint, and we continue to work constructively on an almost daily basis with the RNZ press gallery.”
On the Morning Report issue, he said: “We have humbly and respectfully tried to raise issues with them over the years, and they’ve basically told us to get stuffed: ‘We’re a big show and you need us’. So after that sort of treatment, I believe there’s a toxic culture there.”
For many years, former Prime Minister John Key and his National Government also avoided regular Morning Report appearances.
An RNZ spokeswoman said: “It is not uncommon for political or high-profile figures to take a stance against a particular media programme or show and Act leader David Seymour is entitled to his views. This particular stance has been in place for several years.
“RNZ is committed to interviewing the people most relevant to stories and will continue to seek comment from Act Party representatives where appropriate.”
The spokeswoman did not directly address comments and claims by Seymour about a toxic culture at Morning Report.
“As an independent public media organisation, RNZ is guided by a rigorous editorial policy that we stand behind. We offer recourse to a robust complaints system and RNZ is also subject to the New Zealand Media Council and the Broadcasting Standards Authority.”
Te Pāti Māori and NZ Herald
In August, Te Pāti Māori said it would boycott the NZ Herald after the publication of a front-page advertisement by lobby group Hobson’s Pledge calling to restore “the foreshore and seabed to public ownership”.
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi said the Herald had been “bought off by a well-resourced anti-Māori collective”.
“We will not tolerate the spread of anti-Māori propaganda in Aotearoa. The front-page advertisement was full of deceitful misinformation designed to sow resentment of our people,” Waititi said in a statement.
Te Pāti Māori said it wouldn’t engage with the Herald unless it and its owner NZME apologised to tangata whenua in all publications and on its radio stations. The company’s stations include Newstalk ZB and a suite of entertainment brands.
Co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer said: “This is not about Hobson’s Pledge. Their racism is well-known. It’s about the integrity of the media and their moral obligation to the indigenous people of this land. It’s about their obligation to do their due diligence and uphold the truth.”
NZME has said it is reviewing its advocacy advertising policy. It has not yet announced an outcome.
NZME editor-in-chief Murray Kirkness said: “Te Pāti Māori’s decision not to engage with our journalists is a matter for them. We treat all political parties and politicians equally and will continue to do so.”
Jacinda Ardern and Newstalk ZB
Dame Jacinda Ardern ended her weekly interview slot on the Mike Hosking Breakfast show in March 2021, after decades of prime ministers appearing on the Newstalk ZB show, first with Sir Paul Holmes and then Hosking.
Ardern’s move followed a tumultuous year in New Zealand - she had led Labour to a strong election victory in 2020 but by early 2021 the Government’s Covid response was coming under intense scrutiny from the likes of Hosking.
At the same time, Ardern retained a weekly appearance on RNZ’s Morning Report.
“She’s running for the hills,” Hosking said at the time.
“She no longer wants to be on this programme each week. The somewhat tragic conclusion that is drawn is that the questions she gets – the demand for a level of accountability – is a little bit tough.”
At the time, political commentator and public relations consultant Ben Thomas told The Guardian that Ardern already had a powerful social media following.
“If you’re a politician, of course you’re going to choose that over an interview, even if it’s not adversarial.
“There’s nothing unusual about politicians picking and choosing their venue. What’s changed is the balance between how much they feel they need the media, in the social media age.”
But he was still surprised by Ardern’s decision to end her weekly slot on Newstalk ZB, a station, he said, that would have reached a lot of National voters. Many of them would have backed Labour at the 2020 election.
“It does seem strange to give up that channel unless you’ve decided that, politically, it’s better for you to just cut it and not face the questions.
“It’s both a show of strength, in that you show ‘We don’t need the biggest commercial news channel in the country’, and it’s a show of weakness: ‘I don’t think that I can get or maintain votes better by engaging with Mike Hosking and his audience’.”
Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand’s most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor and has a small shareholding in NZME.
