Broadcast tribunal to hear complaints

Press, 13 August 1976, Page 4

Broadcast tribunal to hear complaints

By

KEN COATES

The new Broadcasting Act would provide for a special tribunal to deal with complaints, the Minister of Broadcasting (Mr Templeton) said in Christchurch last night.

Addressing a meeting arranged by the Young Nationalists at Canterbury University, attended by about 30, he said it would be the responsibility of broadcasters to provide balance in programmes.

“But if. for example, you feel your particular organisation is not getting its fair share of warranted time on television, then you can have recourse to a complaints system,” he said.

Mr Templeton denied that he was setting out to interfere politically with broadcasters. The aim, he said, was to make the broadcasting system financially and professionally independent.

In the act he would set out a philosophy of broadcasting based on the objectives of informing, educating, and entertaining people.

He did not consider the 8.8. C. charter itself relevant to New Zealand, but would certainly ensure that the traditions of impartiality, balance, and good taste were provided for. The Minister said he hoped to have the draft legislation ready ‘‘pretty soon,” so that it could be considered bj 7 a Parliamentary select committee, to which people could make submissions in good time. He hoped the House would pass the legislation this year. From his remarks on the much-debated television news services, it seems clear that Mr Templeton has decided on a single news service, with separate current affairs programmes.

The present system was “wasteful of people and time,” he said.

Asked about a lack of women on the Broadcasting Council, the Minister commented: “Don’t take it for granted there won’t be a woman on it.”

Replying to a question about the chairman (Mr Ron .Tarden), who was a member

of the Committee for Muldoon, the Minister said he had not known that Mr Jarden was a member. But, he added, people did not realise how fortunate broadcasting was to have people of the calibre of Mr Jarden. The system had lacked co-ordination and over-all control, Mr Templeton said. Such a public service system needed a powerful board of directors between the politicians and the broadcasters.

“If we are to get able and efficient people, with expertise in various areas, to sit on the board, it must be large enough to control the system,” he said. The aim was that in four to five years, broadcasting would generate sufficient revenue to provide for its own development. On FM broadcasting, the Minister was wary. It could alter the character of radio a great deal, he said, and development should not be rushed.

In any case, the Post Office had asked for another year in which to work out technical problems.