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Prime Minister Helen Clark has been accused of bringing state broadcaster TVNZ "almost to its knees", leading to the loss of some of its best-known presenters and plummeting ratings.
In a column in the Herald on Sunday starting today, former TVNZ head of news and current affairs Bill Ralston has broken his silence over the rocky period that saw broadcasters Paul Holmes, Judy Bailey and Susan Wood leave.
Ralston says TVNZ has been treated as a "political football", and that Clark's "aversion to paying presenters large salaries has cost the company tens of millions of dollars and has been a major factor in bringing the place almost to its knees".
In 2004, Clark commented directly on TVNZ pay negotiations, saying the broadcaster had made a "spectacular mistake" increasing Judy Bailey's pay to a reported $800,000. Clark had earlier commented on Holmes' salary.
Ralston says Clark's opinions heavily influenced contract negotiations which led to Bailey leaving. This created an environment of instability which contributed to Holmes moving to Prime, and a well-publicised scuffle over Wood's pay and her later resignation.
Since then, TVNZ has been a moveable feast of presenters and staff, with ratings falling, particularly for One News. The state broadcaster also posted a fall in revenue of $16.6 million this March, while Canwest increased its profits from TV3 and C4 by $3.5 million.
TVNZ chief executive Rick Ellis has denied Ralston's claims. He said he had never experienced any political interference during his time at the top, and did not accept that there had been political interference in the running of TVNZ.
He said responsibility for the turmoil might lie closer to home. "Bill was head of news and current affairs, it was his job to run [that department], and any executive, as far as I'm concerned, should take responsibility and be accountable for the performance and actions of the business whilst they are in charge."
But his predecessor Ian Fraser, who was chief executive from 2002 to 2005, said there was certainly government influence over TVNZ. "It's part of the difficulty of being TVNZ, with the government as a shareholder, but having to make commercial decisions which are then subject to political overview and second-guessing."
When he was told that Ellis denied any political interference, Fraser replied, "That's what I would have told you when I was chief too".
Both Ralston and Fraser believe a new model needs to make TVNZ independent of government, and it must be decided whether it is a public or a commercial network. "If you make a commercial decision, the danger is that you are going to be attacked because you are a public broadcaster; and if you make public broadcaster decisions, you end up being assaulted because you're buggering the business," said Fraser.
Craig Boyce, chairman of the TVNZ board which Ralston claims was affected by Clark's opinions on presenter salaries, did not respond to repeated calls from the Herald on Sunday. Current chairman Sir John Anderson was travelling and unavailable for comment.
Helen Clark's office referred questions to Broadcasting Minister Steve Maharey. A spokeswoman would not comment on the claims of political interference but said employment issues were a matter for the TVNZ board.
