Editorial: Not even ex-All Blacks should commandeer TV

<i>Close Up</i> opted to uninvite John Key on the day of his big speech to Parliament and replace him with former All Black Robin Brooke. Photo / Supplied

It is reassuring, in its way, that the Prime Minister could not commandeer the airwaves on state television on Tuesday to tell the nation about income tax cuts and a rise in GST. It speaks of TVNZ independence and editorial freedoms that should be valued, however questionable the actual judgment of those exercising them.

The Close Up show opted, instead, to uninvite John Key on the day of his big speech to Parliament and replace him with former All Black Robin Brooke, who would talk about his drunken buttock-grabbing on New Year's night in Fiji.

Mr Key may be popular, as evidenced again in the Herald Digipoll published today, where he is the preferred Prime Minister of 58 per cent of those surveyed. But that does not mean he is populist enough to grab the attention of Close Up viewers. It has been said before that we get the television we deserve, and the ratings will no doubt show that the buttock-grabbing apology - complete with commitments to go to counselling - transfixed the nation.

But what of Brooke's ability to commandeer the airwaves for what was, really, a personal statement negotiated with a teenage girl? Perhaps the most troubling aspect of the show was that he could have made a part of his settlement the very fact that he would be able to go on national television and meet - or exceed - the teenager's requirements for a public apology. It seems those broadcast rights were assumed.

Close Up is a popular show, with method to its madness. It must have weighed its using of Brooke against his using of the show and its audience. But no one should be able to assume access to our living rooms, no matter how exalted they may be. Just ask Mr Key.