Review: Varied menu of The Nation challenges Q&A

Duncan Garner (right) interviews Steven Joyce on TV3's new politics show. Photo / Supplied

Political junkies rejoice. Hardly anybody else may be watching, but weekend brunch-time politics has been super-sized with the arrival of TV3's The Nation.

While briefly bogged down in the politics of polytechnic funding - hardly riveting at the best of times, let alone at 11 o'clock on a Saturday morning - the new programme made an otherwise impressive debut.

It should give TV One's equivalent, Q&A, a healthy run for the pair's New Zealand on Air-provided money.

The design of the studio for The Nation is slicker. The show is less sedate, but as serious.

It may have a better mix in having just the single interview subject, with pre-recorded items of other current affairs interest, a quick look at the arts and a review of the past business week making up the remainder.

This more varied menu contrasts with the Q&A never-ending diet of talking heads, which can at times be too much to digest in one sitting.

In Stephen Parker, who has worked both on the outside and the inside of the political machine as a journalist and a ministerial press secretary, The Nation has someone who, as the show's presenter, seems to have found the role to bring out his best as a broadcaster.

On Saturday's performance, here's hoping Parker is also let loose to do the occasional interview. Here Q&A retains the edge in having Guyon Espiner, TVNZ's political editor, plus Paul Holmes.

It is very early days, though, to pass any kind of judgment on Duncan Garner, TV3's political editor.

His first-up interview subject was Cabinet Minister Steven Joyce - very much the man of the moment, but someone whose portfolios of transport, tertiary education and communications make for hard yakka, interview-wise.

Garner might have tried to cover too much ground rather than focusing on two or three specifics.

As a result, he seemed rushed, repeatedly looking at his notes and giving the impression he was already thinking about the next question before Joyce had answered the last one.

Still, there was one nugget in Garner getting virtual confirmation from Joyce that Jim Bolger will be dumped as chairman of KiwiRail.

Joyce was very much on his guard with Garner, but relaxed considerably when subsequently interviewed by The Nation's panel comprising two seasoned journalists, Vernon Small and Deborah Hill Cone.

This proved to be a more useful arrangement than that of Q&A, which does not give its panel is not given the opportunity to pose questions of the show's guests.

But too much can be made of minor differences in what are similar programmes.

It would also be a pity if what is now a double serving of serious political analysis results in the two shows trying to out-bid each other on more superfluous matters.

Ratings are not a major issue - both screen in the dead zone of morning TV - so the viewer would be better served by the programmes complementing one another. The viewer might also be better served by the two programmes' producers being more flexible.

Q&A served up three interviews yesterday on whaling, water quality and trade negotiations. All are worthy subjects, but the programme's most pertinent comment was made by Holmes at the very start.

How did three peace protesters come to be acquitted on burglary and wilful damage charges despite admitting to breaking into the Waihopai satellite communication station?

Many New Zealanders have been asking just that. A minor quibble, but neither Q&A nor The Nation saw fit to offer an answer despite being well equipped to do so.

TV Review

* What: The Nation.

* When: TV3, Saturdays, 11am-noon, repeated Sundays 8am-9am.

* What: Q&A.

* When: TV One, Sundays, 9am-10am.


* John Armstrong is the Herald's political correspondent.