The MacLeod inquiry

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33050, 18 October 1972, Page 18

The MacLeod inquiry

The conclusions reached by Mr E. A. Lee after the long inquiry into the dismissal of Mr Alexander MacLeod from the editorship of the “New Zealand “Listener” will surprise no-one who followed the extensive reports of the hearing given by the news media. Few dismissals by any employer, public or private, have prompted such close examination. It remains regrettable that a man of Mr MacLeod’s talents disqualified himself from using them as editor of the “ Listener but there can be little doubt now that he did so, and that the board of the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation showed as much patience as any board could have been expected to show in the circumstances.

For the public generally, and for the board and the N.Z.8.C., the greater significance of the inquiry lay in the charges of political interference and political bias. These charges were vociferously pressed soon after Mr MacLeod announced his dismissal. The remarkable feature of the inquiry was that no evidence to support such assertions was produced. Some may suppose that, in spite of the lengths to which the investigation was taken, “ influence ” and “ political considerations ” are such subtle, and even unconscious, matters as to be incapable of being clearly exposed. In the light of the evidence presented to the commission of inquiry this supposition is hardly tenable. Mr MacLeod attributed no political motives to four members of the board; then it was found that, of the remaining three members, two were the last to agree to Mr MacLeod’s dismissal. Mr Lee also observed the obviously embarrassing timing of the dismissal; if the board’s decision were politically inspired to assist the Government it could hardly have been made at a worse moment Ineptitude is not usually the companion of subtlety; and neither seems to have accompanied the board's handling of an admittedly delicate problem.

The political allegiances of board members have been discounted by Mr Lee; it is nevertheless a matter of public concern that on a public corporation of this kind there should be a strong preponderance of members presumptively owing allegiance to the Government party. That both the main parties have allowed such a situation to arise on public corporations during their terms in office does not minimise this concern. No political party should wish to see the board of the N.Z.B.C. become an arena for political dispute any more than it should wish the board to become an instrument of party politics. In neither circumstance could the board discharge its duties as laid down by law. Since the board must control services engaged in reporting and exploring public affairs of all kinds, its membership must include, among others, persons interested in politics. But surely both parties could agree on the desirability of making appointments to the board with some regard for a political balance. Although other considerations of special interests and abilities might be paramount in selecting members, the confidence of the public—and of the corporation’s staff—in the political impartiality of the board is vital to the standing of the broadcasting services.