Who has power in New Zealand society? This question is central to the debate sparked by broadcaster Rachel Smalley in her criticism of John Campbell's appointment to Radio New Zealand last week. See her controversial column here: Campbell's new role 'extremely disappointing'. Her critique is essentially an "identity politics" argument, which sees those in leading media roles as being characterised by their gender and ethnicity. She argues the media can correct this imbalance of power by appointing fewer white males like John Campbell and more non-white males, or women, to these top roles.
Smalley has followed up with another column, I've been called sexist and sour but I won't back down: we need more women on prime-time radio. She reiterates that "prime time radio, which achieves the greatest audiences, should not be straight, white and male either. It must reflect diversity of perspective, gender and culture".
Such identity politics arguments are increasingly important in New Zealand politics and debate and, unsurprisingly, they always create a storm of debate. As usual, much of this has occurred on Twitter, and for some of the more interesting reactions - for and against - see my blog post Top tweets about Rachel Smalley's white-male critique of NZ media.
The debate has been particularly interesting because of the central focus on John Campbell. Normally identity politics critiques of the media would focus their firepower on "white male" broadcasters such as Paul Henry or Mike Hosking, who are seen as rightwing or conservative. But because Smalley's message was targeted at one of the more progressive "white male" broadcasters, this produced something of a dilemma for many on the liberal left who might normally be receptive to a critique of male pakeha power. Some have been uncomfortable with the notion of having to choose whether to defend Campbell, or side with Smalley's critique of white-male dominance.
Supporting Smalley
Smalley's campaign has won support from an array of figures in the media, politics and society. Fellow Newstalk ZB broadcaster Jack Tame has spoken out publicly in her defence - see Stuff's Rachel Smalley not unreasonable to want more, Jack Tame says.
One of Smalley's more surprising allies has been National MP Judith Collins ?(@JudithCollinsMP), who tweeted to Smalley to say, "Well done for stating the obvious yesterday. Shame some can't take the truth".
Of course, identity politics is increasingly being utilised by the right as well as the left. And every institution of power is being critiqued for representational imbalances. So, it's no longer just an objective of the left, but also the Establishment, to break the glass ceiling for women in business and bring other traditionally marginalised or oppressed groups into powerful positions and institutions.
One of the more interesting defences of Smalley's argument has come from the Herald's Lee Suckling, who says that he's "the only gay columnist writing regularly for a mainstream media outlet about the issues that affect the LGBT community" - see: Why we need diversity in NZ media.
Suckling raises plenty of interesting arguments about identity politics, some of which appear to challenge Smalley's position. For example, he heralds the role played by US broadcaster Jon Stewart, who "proved to be one of the greatest straight allies we've ever had. He argued for LGBT causes better than most of us ever could". The point being, that a person's ability to empathise with minorities is more important than being a minority. Nonetheless, he agrees with Smalley's call for more diversity (although it's not clear that anyone actually disagrees with Smalley's call). But he calls for diversity to go beyond what Smalley demands: "New Zealand can do better than switching out straight white men with straight white women".
It's important that women are fronting broadcast programmes, according to Deborah Russell who dismisses those who point to women being powerful behind the scenes of radio and television: "when you have white men as the front person for so many shows, it helps to create a mindset about who is worthy of presenting the news, who is entitled to comment on it, whose opinions matter, who are the serious people that we ought to listen to and trust" - see: A couple of points about Rachel Smalley and diversity in prime time news. See also her earlier blog post, Talking about male privilege.
Blogger Martyn Bradbury has come out in Smalley's defence, saying that respect for John Campbell should not "blind us to the validity of Rachel's point, that we desperately lack a diverse media", and he explains why he has made the Daily Blog "the most diverse blog in NZ" - see: Why Rachel Smalley is right.
