INFORMATION DISCLOSED N.Z.B.C. Producer Dismissed

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32383, 24 August 1970, Page 14

INFORMATION DISCLOSED N.Z.B.C. Producer Dismissed

(New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, August 23. A producer of the radio programme “Checkpoint” was dismissed by the N.Z.B.C. on Friday for disclosing information to the “Sunday Times.”

Mr Barry Saunders was dismissed by thei corporation after he had' replied to a written request requiring him to I explain why he had disclosed information used in an article in the newspaper on August 16. Tbe article questioned •whether there were political considerations in the deputy chairman of the Waikato division of the National Party (Mr R. Jansen), being given an opportunity to reply to statements made in a “Look at Ourselves” programme a fortnight earlier. The programme took Mr Jansen to task for statements he had made at the National Party conference and described him as apparently uninformed on the question of student behaviour. ( “Looking at Ourselves" on i August 9 was shortened and ' Mr Jansen was allowed four i minutes and a half to reply. The “Sunday Times” article i

I'quoted “reliable sources” as , saying that the N.Z.B.C. gave 'Mr Jansen the unprecedented : right of reply because the 'controllers of current affairs ■programmes were perturbed by the volume of criticism they had been receiving from National Party parliamentarians and supporters. The Director-General of the N.Z.B.C. (Mr L. R. Sceats) said at the week-end that Mr Saunders had been dismissed “for a grave breach of corporation discipline.” He declined to give any details. Mr Saunders said he received a memo last Wednesday requiring him to explain why he had disclosed the information on which the newspaper article was based. He said that in his written reply on Friday he admitted he had given the information, but had pointed out that the regulations prohibiting N.Z.B.C. employees from discussing their work with anyone not directly involved were absurd and not in the corporation’s interest After the receipt of his reply he was dismissed.