KEY POINTS:
TVNZ has defended its actions in interviewing a rapist on the run, saying it only did so on condition he hand himself in to police afterwards.
Police have expressed anger that the network did not let officers know where John Clarke was before he turned up at Greymouth police station.
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This forum debate has now closed. Here is a selection of your views on the topic.
Mike
If the media facilitated the guy turning himself in to the Police, I have absolutely no problem with it and the Police should pull their heads in and be grateful the media found someone they could not.
Ron
Would not a much better story have been about how TVNZ and the Police worked together to capture a convicted criminal? TVNZ should have contacted the Police straight away as most New Zealanders would have done. TVNZ had the chance to look like a community minded organisation but missed it by a mile.
Lane Sanger
In this case TVNZ have to make a decision, which may impact on the present but could impact on the future. Some scenarios need to be considered such as: what would happen if TVNZ refused to do the interview and notified the police that they had been contacted? Quite possibly the rapist could have avoided the police and re-offended. If TVNZ agreed to do the interview but notified the police instead, then potential future similar events would be in jeopardy through the lack of trust with the media. Of course this has the potential to set a precedent but every case is different. As long as the media can see the moral aspect, potentially making the public safer as well as consider their own agenda then why not. In this case they made the right call in my opinion.
Dinesh
No way. Why should media do that?
Logan Devoy
This is symptomatic of our sick media culture of purely ratings-driven "sensationalist news as entertainment", with TVNZ being guilty of getting the sensational "story", above their social responsibility of assisting with upholding law and order. Law and order is undeniably eroding, and it is every persons responsibility to halt that erosion, including the media. To the person with the TV3 snitcher who likens this to the Asian drivers license scam, get real! I would rather have an Asian stall in front of me at the lights, than a convicted on-the-loose rapist kick my door in to get my money and car keys.
Mandar Shah
what are you on about? Thank and congratulate TVNZ for getting you the rapist. Imagine not getting either!
Ana
Regardless whether it was TV3 or TVNZ, they could have handled the situation a bit better. Has NZ become to much of a nation where the story comes first before the safety of our people? Maybe TVNZ could have conducted the interview in a controlled environment where they could have called the police, advised them of the interview time and place and had some police presence so that it could be controlled if anything should happen. And maybe the police need to talk to the media and come to some sort of agreement or understanding of where the boundary lies, regardless of what happened at least a criminal is in jail and behind bars.
Lance Uppercut
TVNZ trusted the word of a rapist. Luckily he did turn himself in but what if he had not?
Joanne Peters
Excuse me, but if TV3 did the exact same interview they would certainly not get all the attention that TVNZ has received. A perfect example of this is Campbell Live very first show featuring the Asian licence scam. TV3 did not tell the police about it until the show went to air and they did not get a telling off by the police! Hmmmm, which is worse - Asians driving without a licence and possibly putting lives at risk or an interview with a man that is going to hand himself into police! I think the police should look at themselves. When this dangerous man went to the police station, he had to wait in the reception area. The police team searching for him can not be that good if they cant even catch him in their own station.
Margaret
I think it is a really sad indictment on our society that we are -apparently - becoming so "real-ebrity"-driven, that the media feels they have a right to give precedence to a "story" rather than seeing it as their moral duty to act responsibly by informing the police of the whereabouts of a wanted criminal.
C Downs
I think that people should butt out. Remember that John Clarke contacted TVNZ. Why should they be responsible for calling the police? Many views on this page are simply people finding another way to pick at a Government-owned Department and act like children.
K Kendal
Typical that of our PC environment that TVNZ can find and interview a rapist while the police have to follow procedures and protocols that disable them in finding the loser.
Eve
Yes, they probably should have but NZ needs to catch up with the rest of the world. In such a small place how could they not have found him anyway? Why not blame the Parole Board for yet again letting someone out when they should have still been behind bars?
Tim Knight
Yes of course. In the spirit of goodwill between the media and the NZ Police, TVNZ should have told the Police they had arranged to meet and interview John Clarke at 5pm and that he would hand himself into the Greymouth Police station at the conclusion of the interview. This tip off to the Police very likely would have prompted the Police to halt the search that was in progress consequently saving a few of the taxpayers bucks.
Leah
I find it very disturbing that so many people are so quick to judge when they do not know the full story. The police say that John Clarke was to be considered a very dangerous man - I doubt that very much. The corrections department would never have let him out on home detention if he were so "dangerous". I believe the only reason Mr Clarke had to "flee" to get his story heard was because the police did not want the media to get enough information that they had been holding a man who had been wrongly convicted..
Tony
Great so the national television station puts getting a story ahead of public safety. Not only that, they reward criminals with air time. No wonder the media have such a poor image.
Kevin
This is just another example of how corrupt the media is becoming.
Steve
I think the media need to identify what there role is and to feed that down to the gung ho journalists of todays news. They under no circumstances should be conducting deals with wanted criminals especially those of the criminal world that are classified as a threat to the public, Yes, "Media TVNZ," you are the public what TVNZ did was foolish and a waste of the NZ Police time and resources and I think you will see its an offence to evade police capture or play party to the act and still they have the cheek to miss report and slander the Police every chance they get.
Gavin Crew
It was totally irresponsible for TVNZ to organise an interview for TV viewing before telling the authorities the information they had on the culprits whereabouts. It is completely wrong for any one to try and steer the course of justice to suit themselves or for their own benefit. Apart from that, it appears that the police were looking in other places for this person and that is obviously allowing them to unknowingly waste their time and resources. That fellow Holmes did something similar once and got rebuked, so should these so-called news people.
Tim Spooner
1. You can not trust the Police. If they had known where and when an interview was to take place, you can bet they would have been there first, grabbed the guy and prevented the interview
2. This nonsense from the Police is to obscure the fact that the guy turned up at the counter and had to hang around for 10 minutes before anybody turned up. This is typical of counter service at any Police Station, in fact it was bloody quick compared with many! The public are treated like rubbish at Police counters.
Louise M
Absolutely disgusting. Imagine how his victims felt when they discovered their attacker getting his 15 minutes of fame to "reason" his actions while TVNZ turn their backs on our police efforts to put him back behind bars, all for a so-called great scoop. I for one would rather never hear or see people like that again instead of having to listen to his weak attempt to defend himself.
Ian T
TVNZ thinks journalism is above the law. They should be slammed! The fact they made a "deal" with him shows how twisted their priorities are. They do not care about the safety of NZ. They only care about getting another story.
Lisa
TVNZ only agreed to talk to the rapist if he agreed to hand himself in. If they had called the police he might have gone into hiding and who knows what he would have done? If they refused to meet with/ interview him and he got angry and did something stupid, then the police would be blaming the reporters for doing that. They can not win. They delivered a good story and helped get a crim back behind bars. I say good on them.
Sez
Yes, TVNZ was wrong but does anyone think for one second that TV3 would have acted differently? I do not think so!
Albert
Can this be considered harboring? Is harboring a criminal an offence? TVNZ covering of this is stupid. Are they not aware that taxpayers money is spent on hunting criminals down? The police should send them a bill to cover the costs of hunting the rapist from the time they knew where he is to the time he surrendered.
Andrew Montgomery
Should have called the family of the victims and put them all together in a locked room. It would have made much more interesting Tele watching. TVNZ are clearly a bit slow.
Sunil
No, When TV NZ can track a criminal why cant the police ? NZ police always sleeps, either busy issuing speeding tickets or trying to poke in useless stuffs. Whenever there is a crime they appeal to the general public and comments "we cannot do anything unless the public helps". Understands this to a certain extent but largely this is a practice and that is why all criminals move freely. The department should start taking more initiative and be more active in handling crimes.
Debbie
Question: Why does the NZ "justice system" continually offer violent offenders "home detention"? They should be locked up and the key thrown away. As a taxpayer I still pay for their food and accommodation, but I would rather that than have them pray on more innocent people.
James Azad
Of course they should have called the police. If it was me I would have called him and beat the s*** out of him and then hand him over to the police but we cant do that in NZ. Shame.
Thom Grey
Let us look at the facts here. He said he would turn himself in. He did turn himself in. What ifs are unnecessary. The police are just angry they could not call off the search sooner and get back to what they do best. Issuing pedantic speeding tickets and gang raping. It is a hard life.
Richard
Of course a television company who has a budget they can blow on finding someone will find them quicker than the police who have a very tight budget, who are understaffed, and over worked. TVNZ should be held accountable to the same standards of all Kiwis. They protected a wanted criminal, withholding that information from the police until they had done what they wanted to do.
Andrew
I think that TVNZ should have told police and been true NZ citizens. Instead they went for the story and gambled that he would turn himself in afterwards in my opinion TVNZ are resorting to gutter news tactics you would expect of reporters working for glossy magazines. You have let New Zealand down and the people this guy has raped this I find sickening. TVNZ should be making public apologies to the New Zealand public and people this guy has affected.
Rossnz
If TV1 is so proud of their behaviour they should give the public the names, phone numbers and email addresses of all the staff involved. Dont tell me, this is another, no-one was responsible government agency scandal.
John Paul
What a disgraceful act allowing an interview of a prisoner on the run after committing serious sexual offences. When are the people responsible for these outrageous escapes , parole decisions with serious outcomes and soft sentences going to realise the impact of their decisions on NZ society. Its time to get the Thai people in NZ to run our prisons. I dont think we would have the same level of incompetence, corruption, organised crime,assaults or murders happening on parole. Follow Singapores example to clean our country up.
Grant
There is no question that TVNZ should have informed the police about their contact with Clarke beforehand. TVNZ news has a morbid fascination with crime; over and above what is normal. Crime stories frequently dominate their news offerings - the more dramatic the film footage of the crime event is, the more likely it is that that story will be their "top" story that evening. TVNZ takes this approach to "news" even when there are clearly more important real news events happening either locally or globally. By way of comparison I notice that the print media often buries crime stories in the body of their papers that TVNZ has used as their top story the night before.
It seems to me that two things come into play for TVNZ in compiling their news stories - do we have "dramatic" footage that we can show; and will the lowest common denominator be interested. Crime events frequently fit this bill. It is a short descent down the slippery slope for TVNZ to make contact with criminals wanted by the police as in the Clarke case.Is TVNZ serious about news? Not in my opinion.
Susan Perry
They should definitely have informed police of his whereabouts. He may not have given himself up and the media could not have controlled him.
Carl Halvorsen
Where are we heading when a major media organisation stages the surrender of a convicted rapist. I for one will be limiting my viewing of TV1 even further.
Caryl
Should have informed Police as soon as they heard from him.
Mathew Nicho
TVNZ acted irresponsibly in not letting the p[police know. They should be prosecuted and punished severely.
Denise Haagh
OF course they should have contacted the police since they knew he was a convicted rapist on the run! The police have every right to get angry.
Andy
It is s a bit rough expecting the police to protect us if they are not given the opportunity to do their job. And it is a bit rough to expect TVNZ to keep us informed -- if they are going to either get flack from the police or miss out on an interview scoop. Nobody wins in the "TVNZ vs rapist vs Cops" scenario. Both were doing their jobs properly: unfortunately, the legitimate interests of TVNZ and the police collided. The police and TVNZ need to sit down and agree a protocol whereby this sort of scenario can be made to work for everybody. Otherwise the crims will just stay underground.
S.Pongi
I think that TV1 should have called the police and telling them that they have struck a deal with Clark to show himself up on conditions. Police should have the confidence not to interfere but lay back and watch from the background just incase he decided to get away. TV1 should also think of other NZlanders that have been waiting for a policeman to show up on other crime scene. TVI takes their pride too far but not for the good of all New Zealanders.
Paul Campbell
The TVNZ rapist interview highlights plummeting journalistic standards sparked by electronic media rating battles and abysmal craft training regimes. The premise that the media has a responsibility to the public that actually circumvents public responsibility is a product of television infotainment. It is one that should swiftly be hammered out of any EIT graduate who has compressed a four year traditional journalistic cadetship into a few months tuition in a classroom. The cracks show up very early. When I tune in to TV news of "searchers walked into the area on foot" or "the car collided with a power pole'" .it indicates that simple editing and story judgment have gone out the newsroom window in the 21st century. Oh well - back to the rocking chair.
Ollie
Of course they should have let the police know! What if the rapist had not turned himself in, fled the scene, and raped someone else before he could get recaptured? Then how would TVNZ feel, perhaps they would not be in such a hurry to break the story? And for every second a policeman has to work on a case looking for someone, more taxpayers money gets poured into it...just as it gets poured by the bucketload into TVNZ. Moral of the story is: watch TV3.
Charlie Mills
You bet TVNZ should be hung, drawn and quartered. What next - some murderer selling his story to the press prior to the cops nabbing him. We are becoming more like the American trash tabloids everyday. Next there will be helicopters via for position on car chases.
Karlene Rhind-Sutherland
Whilst watching last night I felt some anger that a man convicted of such serious sexual offending was given prime time tv viewing to express his reasoning for his terrible crimes. He certainly came across as a intelligent man, who I felt was using one of those catch phrases, i.e "post traumatic stress syndrome" (not saying at all that I dont believe there is such a disorder, but that it may be quite convenient to use this as reasoning for bad behaviour in his case) in order to give reasoning for his disgusting behaviour. And how apt that so soon after all the Rickard, Schollum etc. goings on that he comes out with his "reasoning" for his rape, sexual violation etc of his victims. My thoughts there is that he gives himself up at a time when the NZ public is still digesting the abovementioned case, could potentially be a good time for him to come forward with his case & reasonings. Yes I dont know all the facts but it did piss me off that a man like this was given prime "news breaking" air time to have his case heard. To top things off the TVNZ crew saw it pertinent to inform NZ viewers that the Greymouth station didnt have a Police officer in the station at the time Clarke gave himself up. If the police were informed of what was going to be happening they would have ensured that an officer (at least) would have been present, instead of out on routine duties. The NZ Police has got enough bad publicity of late, and by the media continually pointing out these things without trying to balance their view, it is continually eating away at the NZ publics trust of our Police, and more so of each other. I do assume this but I would guess a lot of people out there wonder who is trustworthy anymore. On the whole the NZ Police would be very trustworthy I am sure, but like any organisation there are aspects or employees that let you down.
I most definitely think that the TVNZ reporter should have informed the Police about Clarke, so that they were not wasting time and resources continuing with any investigating/searching for Clarke. Also the heads up would of given the Greymouth station the opportunity to ensure a Police officer was available at the station to process Clarke. The media still would have gotten their interview/story for TV and the police would have come across better too.I know this went on a bit, first time I have ever responded/written in my comments but I felt compelled. Thank you for the opportunity.
Tim Hope
Criminals should not be given press time! It is recognised that many crimes are committed in order to gain notoriety!! This interview is totally contrary to maintaining peace and order!
Arunjeev Singh
I am amazed at the comments of Gary that TVNZ should have given them a call about the convict coming to the Police station to surrender. Actually the police in NZ have become so lazy and cool minded that they just don't think a wee bit before wasting public money and valuable police time in doing unnecessary exercise. What TVNZ reporters did in few minutes, the "decent sized police team" was unable to achieve in many days. Is not it a good case for the NZ public to demand explanation from the NZ Police? In my view, medias responsibility towards public in reporting unbiased and without any influence is more sacrosanct than its duty as "a good citizen" towards police. I would rather demand deduction of the salaries of the "decent sized team head" for all the hours he allegedly spent for tracing the convict.
Tui Speight
You should have alerted police. I think you are extremely close to being guilty of 'aiding and abetting' and/or 'wasting police resources'. While it would not be sensible for the police to test either of these theories, I strongly think you had an obligation to inform the police - out of human decency (in addition to it being a decent and professional thing to do). You might recall that may a lawyer has done the same thing
John
Police should arrest TVNZ staff and charge with obstruction and any other offence.
Mike
The media and journalists are too concerned with getting the newest or best story and their ratings. Do they not care about the public or feel any responsibility for public safety? The media have such a large influence over peoples lives that they need to do more to promote public responsibility. I think a good question to pose to either the news crew involved or the "bigwigs"' of TVNZ is, "If your daughter was the victim of this guy, would you still have conducted the interview, or would you have handed him over straight away?" I am sure it would be the latter.
David McMenamin
TVNZ has a duty to deliver "worthy" news. Pandering to the egos of convicted rapists and keeping police in the dark intentionally or not is bordering on
unethical.
Kirsty
Personally I think the interview was bad taste in itself. It just shows how far we go in this country to show support to the rapists and not the victims. How did they think they felt about seeing him on TV! But I guess in this modern world expecting the media to be decent when they see a profitable story is unlikely to happen so the least they could have done is advised the police about the interview. TVNZ would be the first to complain if they felt the police were not being helpful to them – it is a two-way street people. Shame on you TVNZ!
Traci Houpapa
Of course TVNZ should have disclosed the whereabouts of convicted rapist John Clarke but the fact that TVNZ were able to locate and meet with a convict criminal our trained, experienced police force failed to locate is the greater concern.
Tom Skinner
Yes, they certainly should have. Not to do so was irresponsible and shows contempt for good citizenship. Their first priority is to the community at large and not a criminal.
David Lormans
This is appalling, and demonstrates the arrogance of TVNZ. The sensationalist aspects of the story have overridden the moral civic duty of these so-called journalists. There should be legal repercussions for the TVNZ staff who were involved.
Clive M
Turn the rapist in immediately
Viraj
The actions of the TVNZ crew is irresponsible and amounts to gutter journalism. This man has been convicted of serious sexual offences including rape - and TVNZ wants to put forward "his side of the story". Are the courts not there to decide that? Or are these to be decided by the media? TVNZ is trying to make him a hero, a public figure, without any sensitivity for the feelings of the victim.
How much more depraved will the media become?
Leslie
Not at all. They should have given him the job of re-designing Auckland transport, maybe the rugby stadium or a shot at some ministership under Helens watchful, wrinkly eye. doesnt anyone respect the law in this place? Police gang raping women and girls, rapists cloistered by media - its really no wonder NZ conviction rates are near zero. NZ women who report rape should be given an automatic OBE. Media who hide rapists should share a cell with them..
Julia
Absolutely TVNZ should have informed the police asap. What if things went awry? How would TVNZ journos or reps have handled a dire situation involving a volatile criminal without police protection or awareness? Or would they have profited from that kind of sensational situation? Well of course they would have. TVNZs actions are actually quite outrageous and smacks of desperate journalism at any cost to the public.
Whodunit
At least someone can track down the criminals on the loose, perhaps TVNZ should look at diversifying into other government departments that need attention such as parole, corrections and election spending.. because they certainly cant get the newsreading right. I am sure we would all be happy to pay a broadcasting fee if we knew it was contributing to fixing the above, as opposed to just paying for Mr Sainsburys wardrobe.
Barbara
I think TVNZ should have phoned the police and told them they had been contacted and hoped to be in a position to hand him in around 5.00pm
Roslyn Schick
I think TVNZ were acted perfect considering the circumstances. Can not understand how the police could not find him earlier anyway. I can find missing people on the other side of the world. And the police can not find someone in NZ? They would only have wanted the "heads up" that he was coming into the station so they could hide their doughnut wrappers and put away their porn I bet. At the end of the day TVNZ got the person back where he needed to be, and know the police have just got to figure out between themselves how to keep him in?
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