Brian Rudman: Engineered TV interview taints interrogator

Pride cometh before a fall, and didn't the formerly saintly John Campbell come a real cropper on Wednesday night.

TV3's nice, cuddly, orotund and once self-deprecating John-boy has never been quite the same since he got it into his head that he slew former National leader Jenny Shipley with a single interview. He has even taken to giving interviews about it.

This week he tried to add Prime Minister Helen Clark's scalp to his trophy cabinet. Instead, it's his own career that has been left hanging out to dry.

In the attempt, he and his team broke just about every rule in the good journalist's manual and ended up with a show that wasn't even good entertainment - unless baiting tethered bears is your kind of thing.

Of course senior politicians should be probed and interrogated. But even an accused murderer gets the right to a carefully researched case for the prosecution. Murderers also get the right to prepare an informed response. Helen Clark got neither.

Campbell's case for the prosecution appeared to consist solely of an exclusive pre-release copy of Green lobbyist Nicky Hager's book Seeds of Distrust.

Armed with this evidence, apparently unchecked or verified by TV3 journalists, his team lured Helen Clark into the studio with talk of a general interview on genetic modification.

Once she was in her seat, the interrogation spotlights were turned up, bamboo spikes applied under each fingernail and a smirking Campbell made incessant demands that she confess to the book's allegations that she covered up a GM "contamination" scandal involving the 2000 sweetcorn crop.

The Prime Minister was initially flummoxed, then got increasingly angry at this mugging. She offered to research the issue and return for an informed interview, to no avail. Campbell bashed and badgered and smirked on.

A day later, enough evidence began emerging from Government and industry about Hager's allegations to set off alarm bells in every other newsroom in the country.

But TV3 decided to screen the dated, previous night's interview anyway. Preceding it was a filmed introduction that was nothing but an uncritical promo for Hager's book.

Not surprisingly, the upcoming leaders debate on TV3 hosted by Campbell is now in jeopardy.

The PM's fall-out with him delivered her exclusively to rival Paul Holmes on Wednesday night, but the opportunity was missed. In mind and spirit Holmes, who had just staggered into the studio from a day of protest in Kaitaia, was thinking caesarean births. He bowled a few patsy questions to the PM: for example, was Hager's book "politically motivated", to which the answer was, of course, yes.



Campbell's fall from grace is a pity. Golly gosh, despite all his annoying mannerisms, his combined role of ring- and quiz-master on TV3's first leaders debate a week before - which featured the big five - was informative and entertaining.

There were just three main topics and an hour to deal with them. The leaders were on their best behaviour.

Helen Clark, for example, was admirably restrained when the quizmaster leaned forward and said, "I want you to look me in the eyes and promise me you haven't focus-grouped on this issue, not once".

That was after he had proposed that Labour was deliberately stretching out the teachers' strike because it was good for the party in the polls.

Even Winston Peters, when accused of playing the race card, joshed back that Campbell "wouldn't know a Maori if you fell over one".

I don't know if he can pick a Maori yet, but one thing is certain. He now knows what a very angry prime minister looks like.

You would though, wouldn't you, when you fell over one as heavily as Campbell did this week?

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