TV And Press ‘Complementary’

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30760, 26 May 1965, Page 18

TV And Press ‘Complementary’

New Zealand newspaper proprietors were quite wrong in their belief that television competed with daily newspapers, said Mr Waldo Maguire, editor of the 8.8.C.’s television news, in Christchurch yesterday. Mr Maguire is here for a year to help to mould the New Zealand Broadcasting, Corporation’s news service. He has been here for three months.

He said that newspapers and television were entirely complementary. The few sentences on a news event that were spoken on television did not take the edge off a newspaper story—they titillated the appetite of viewers for more information.

In Britain, said Mr Maguire television was news for the newspapers, and the newspapers were news for television. Television stations quoted the things newspapers had to say about events of the day, and similarly, newspapers quoted things statesmen and others said in television interviews.

Mr Maguire said that one of television’s major problems was to decide whether unpleasant news should be televised at times when children were likely to be watching. Often, he said, the 8.8. C. deliberately sat on a story which it could have had before the newspapers, for reasons of taste.

There was the question, he said, of whether to announce that an aircraft was circling an airfield with the prospect of an emergency landing. Should it be said while the aircraft was in the air. with the probability of causing anguish to the relatives of everyone flying that day? Or should it be withheld until the aircraft was on the ground? “My policy.” said Mr Maguire, “is always to wait until the aircraft is down.” N.Z. Service

Mr Maguire said that New Zealand television news needed a number of changes to be made gradually. Already the news bulletins had had the film integrated with the spoken word, and he was planning other changes. “We certainly need more equipment,” he said. “There

is a lack of film cameras notably, but there are some more on the way. When they are in service we will be able to get reporters out to do more on-the-spot reporting, getting views on the spot on issues of public interest. We have managed to achieve that noticeably in Wellington already.” Mr Maguire said the 8.8. C. had an outside-broadcast news unit which could go to the spot and broadcast “live” coverage of a news event. But it cost £22,000, and it would be many years before that could be done in New Zealand. He said the 8.8. C. received its basic news from news agencies and a network of reporters all over the country. Its television reporters were used for oncamera interviewing and as “stand-uppers” situation

reporters describing events on the spot. Mr Maguire said he wanted to set up a similar system in New Zealand when he had more equipment on call. The N.Z.B.C. needed more staff and more training of its staff. “I see a new breed of television reporters arising here, as in Britain,” he said. “They will be trained from scratch in broadcasting and television, to supplement recruits from the newspapers. We want a big cross-section of abilities.”

Asked whether he might be tempted to stay in New Zealand when his year’s term was up, Mr Maguire said: “If I was 10 years older I would stay. At the moment, with the tremendous developments taking place in Britain, there’s more fun there.” He said that one of those developments was the Early

Bird satellite, which was being used for. television programmes exchanged between New York and London two or three nights a week. There was also two hours of experimental colour television a day.