‘Tonight’ item off after ‘political’ row

Press, 18 December 1976, Page 1

‘Tonight’ item off after ‘political’ row

PA Wellington Television One last night dropped an item featuring the Prime Minister and Simon Walker from the final “Tonight” programme after the channel’s journalists refused a direction from its head of news and current affairs (Mr Doug Eckhoff) to alter the item. The journalists said that they believed Mr Eckhoff’s request to change the item — a satirical interview between Mr Muldoon and Mr Walker — had been made for political reasons. The interview was based on tlie controversial Muldoon - Walker confrontation over nuclear-ship visits and was to have been rescreened with what the journalists called “facetious” questions from Mr Walker dubbed on to the soundtrack.

The item was replaced with an Australian-made programme on earthquakes.

The journalists decided at a meeting three hours before the programme was to have been screened not to alter the item as requested by Mr Eckhoff.

A spokesman for the Association of Broadcasting Journalists said that the association had instructed its members not to help a censored version of the programme be screened.

Tfie programme was also to have screened other satirical items involving politicians, pressure-group leaders, and “Tonight” journalists.

Mr Eckhoff had made no requests for changes to these skits, the association spokesman said. The journalists were angry at the request to alter a programme which had

taken three weeks to pre pare, he said.

Mr Eckhoff said last, night that he had made the request for “minor” amendments to the satirical interview solely on the grounds of normal editorial assessment of what constituted good taste. He said the claim by journalists that he had ordered the changes for political reasons were ludicrous and completely untrue.

The earthquake programme screened for 15 minutes after the usual seven and a half minute news section of the “Tonight” programme had been stretched to 15 minutes.

The newsreader. Dougs 1 Stevenson, was the only TVI employee to appear on the programme.

The second item of the news section told viewers of the dispute between ihe journalists and Mr Eckhoff.