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Radio
New Zealand
Nine to Noon
March 15 2007
Feature Guest: Bruce Ansley
Bruce Ansley has worked as a
journalist for many years. He's now going to live on a canal boat in France.
Kathryn Ryan talks to Bruce. In this extract Kathryn Ryan and Bruce Ansley
discuss the Ellis case.
Transcript
Kathryn
Ryan
There have been some big stories though, notably you covered the long Peter
Ellis trial. What did you make of that?
Bruce
Ansley
Peter Ellis.
Kathryn
Ryan
This is the Christchurch Civic Creche case
Bruce
Ansley
Well I thought that Peter Ellis was a very wronged man. Lynley Hood's book, I
think the title summed it up. We were a city divided. I mean it was a bit
like the 81 tour really.
Kathryn
Ryan
A City Possessed was the title, of
course.
Bruce
Ansley
Yes, that's right. Well, we were a city divided, and like the 81 tour, you
know, you were either for it or against it, and neither side would talk to
each other. I lost a few good friends over that.
Kathryn
Ryan
What was your stance
Bruce
Ansley
I still think he was … I think he's innocent. I still think he is. I'm really
suspicious of those mass allegation [cases]…They were part of a trend at the
time. There were lots of them. Almost identical all over the world and most of
them were discredited. Peter Ellis .. the whole case against him is largely been
discredited since, but the bits and pieces of it seem to cling and he's been
convicted and he's served his time, and now lives in a little village just
north of Christchurch.
Kathryn
Ryan
Describe Christchurch at the time, because I was living there at the time as
well and it did utterly pervade conversation and as you say everyone knew
someone who was on one side or other or involved in the case and also there
were tremendous rumours that ran the city at that time - all sorts of
mysterious rumours about child sex rings and all sorts of things going on
Bruce
Ansley
Weren't there just?
Kathryn
Ryan
Did you tap into those?
Bruce
Ansley
Yeah, I mean the child sex ring, they were supposed to involve judges and top
businessmen and everybody knew their names - and top policemen. I mean,
likewise one of those urban myths that swept the world at the time, and I see
that they actually did find a paedophile ring in Belgium, well one of the few
that was ever really exposed. There was never any basis to it in Christchurch
that I could ever find, and I really don’t think it existed.
Kathryn
Ryan
And how did journalists deal with those sort of urban myths which can become
quite potent(?). I'm not saying that was necessarily part of the Ellis
trial. It seemed to sweep actually not long before it. But how did
journalists deal with, within a city with these sorts of myths that take hold
and run. Presumably they investigate them to check the validity in the first
instance and then what?
Bruce
Ansley
Well, I think a bit of good old fashioned disbelief comes in handy there:
skepticism, for a start. But you can take it too far of course. I mean if a
good story comes your way and you are too skeptical you're going to pass
right over it, but that's a really hard one to check. If you ring some of the
people who are allegedly involved then you are essentially laying yourself
open to a defamation suit immediately. And, anyway, why should they be called
on the evidence of hearsay. I don't think people should be confronted like
that. So, in my case with that one, I just plodded around a few of the people
I could talk to and … it was a side show anyway to the Peter Ellis thing. It
was .. The cops were peddling to the media a whole lot of evidence that
hadn't come up at the trial. It was a way really of bolstering their case
because there was a lot of skepticism about the result of that trial from the
outset.
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