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The Daily News
September 17, 2003
Spin-tutor Edwards is out of order in displaying politics
Editorial
Brian Edwards and his wife, Judy Callingham, are
Prime Minister Helen Clark and her Cabinet's media trainers. They intensively
schooled and groomed Miss Clark ahead of her 1999 general election victory.
Former TV current affairs interviewer, talk-back radio and TV host and
columnist Edwards is also the author of a flattering biography of Miss
Clark's life and political career. After tutoring sessions with gaffe-prone
Broadcasting Minister Marian Hobbs, audio-visual consultant and scriptwriter
Callingham was appointed to the board of New Zealand On Air last year. She
was a member of the board when her husband applied for, and won, $190,000
funding for 12 Edwards At Large magazine shows currently screening on TV One
-- although Callingham is on record as stepping aside from that
decision-making process.
Brian Edwards had earlier written a letter for Marian Hobbs in which he
encouraged her to provide extra funds for Prime TV, which was at the time
considering a programme for him. Edwards says he cannot remember if he ever
sent the letter, which somehow found its way into the hands of Act Party
streetfighter Rodney Hide, but which cannot be found among the Broadcasting
Minister's files.
Edwards' Saturday night hour is usually a wander among the arts and literary
set, and the public and quirky folk who pop into news prominence. His gentle
banter and ability to draw information from strangers reveals a little of the
interviewing skills that rocketed him to current affairs prominence as a
polarising intellectual provocateur in the 1970s. He should have known better
than to have invited on to his show the Opposition MP who had so offended him
by apparently joining up too many dots in the Callingham-Edwards-Government
imbroglio. It was never likely to be a fireside chat and, indeed, the August
interview quickly turned into a tense affair, but between two debating
equals. A month later, Edwards did something similar when he grilled
Christchurch Civic Creche case author Lynley Hood, whose book about Peter
Ellis is proving to be a thorn in the Labour Government's side.
Both Hide and Hood complained to TVNZ, alleging imbalance, bias and excessive
aggression on what purports to be a lifestyle programme. The Act MP has
received a small apology from TVNZ chief executive Ian Fraser, who admitted
he "shared responsibility" for the programme's breach of duty
regarding personal impartiality. The inference is that Edwards should also
share the apology, but he refuses to have a bar of it -- in fact deliberately
cranking up the level of animosity. He is out of order. Brian Edwards is an
avowed Labour supporter and he should have had the sense to avoid situations
that show it on publicly-funded TV.
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