Editorial: Holmes' remarkable contribution

Paul Holmes' departure from TVNZ ends an association that has made a remarkable contribution to this country's national life. The nightly Holmes programme was the primary contribution but not the only one. The quirky little presenter became the front man for almost every significant live broadcast on TV One, a permanent fixture, it seemed, in our political discussion and popular culture. His departure for the Prime channel is not the end of his career; he might help to make that channel a new force in news and current affairs, but this is the moment to recognise his extraordinary achievements to date.

They are achievements that have gone unnoticed by a great many of the population who insist they cannot abide him and never watch him. There is a substantial anti-Holmes camp. Raise his name in conversation and the reaction will be fairly stark. For every fan there seems to be a vocal detractor. Yet if all the nay-sayers were telling the truth Holmes' ratings would never have sustained his programme for five years, let alone 15. Agree with him or not, viewers knew him, shook their heads in wonder at some of his more outrageous and self-indulgent antics, and let the ratings tell their own story.

Holmes' professional achievements have gone unnoticed even by many in journalism who dismiss him as an entertainer rather than a serious contributor to public information. He is an entertainer but he is also a perceptive and effective interviewer. It is ironic that the first Holmes announced its arrival with a silly, provocative little interview that ended with America's Cup skipper Denis Conner walking out of the studio. That cheap technique was not to become Holmes' style. His interviews became a welcome relief from the badgering, pin-pricking, needlessly nasty manner of so many second-rate interrogators on radio and television in this country.

Holmes genuinely liked most people who appeared on his programme, and the more they were being vilified, the more he would go out of his way to understand them. It is an unorthodox instinct in journalism but not a bad one. Most people who appeared on Holmes warmed to him in return. It sounded ingratiating when seasoned politicians and business leaders addressed him as "Paul" on screen, but they were probably responding just as anyone would to an imp who had been in their living rooms every night for as long, it seemed, as they could remember.

To sustain a prime-time programme for so long by sheer force of personality is a phenomenal achievement by any measure, and Holmes has maintained the country's leading breakfast radio programme at the same time for even longer. He has set a new benchmark for broadcasting in this country and even after all this time it comes as a surprise that TVNZ would let him go. Plainly, when he was offered no more than a one-year contract, changes were afoot. Holmes may have seen the writing on the wall. If so, the channel must have something startling to replace him in the all-important post-news slot designed to lock in viewers for the rest of the evening.

Holmes is going to a channel which is an affiliate of Australia's Nine Network and chaired in New Zealand by the man who chose a little-known Paul Holmes to launch the "newstalk" format on Radio IZB all those years ago. Reunited with Brent Harman at Prime, Holmes intends to host and be co-producer of a current affairs programme that will compete head-on with his replacement. The contest will be one to relish.

Whatever the outcome, Holmes' place in the national memory is assured. Media performers of his standard contribute enormously to the shared experience that mostly enriches the life of a modern community. He has become a common acquaintance, our best-known face, the butt of endless conversation and a good deal of affection.