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A City Possessed

Lynley Hood

Ten reasons why state broadcasting should interview me about A City Possessed:

(1) Joan McKenzie, national book manager for Whitcoulls, describes A City Possessed as “the most important New Zealand book to be published here in recent times.”

(2) Elric Hooper, theatre director and arts critic, describes the book as “New Zealand’s J’Accuse!”

(3) Legal authorities have endorsed the author’s analysis of the legal issues. Bernard Robertson, editor of the New Zealand Law Journal, wrote, “It raises questions about our legal system which must be answered.”

(4) A City Possessed went straight to the top of the bestseller list.

(5) The book has been taken seriously by private broadcasters and print media nationwide.

(6) Producers for Kim Hill, John Campbell and Chris Laidlaw have declined invitations to interview the author or review the book. The author was interviewed for Bookmarks, but the interview was not played. John Campbell said he was going to n\talk to Cate Brett about the book, but he didn’t.

(7) The author was interviewed for TV One News, but the interview was not played. A scheduled Face the Nation interview was cancelled.

(8) Kim Hill interviewed Professor Mark Henaghan and Phil Goff about A City Possessed. Goff, who has not read the book, said some really silly things about it.

(9) The Broadcasting Act requires broadcasters to make reasonable efforts to present significant points of view when controversial issues of public importance are discussed. The government’s broadcasting policy speaks of “contributing to public awareness of and participation in the political and social debates of the day”. The TVNZ Charter says that TVNZ shall provide “independent, comprehensive, impartial, and in depth coverage and analysis of news and current affairs”.

(10) I wrote A City Possessed.

Lynley Hood

(Dunedin)