Socred leader joins attack on TV news

Press, 29 November 1978, Page 6

Socred leader joins attack on TV news

PA Wellington The Social Credit leader (Mr B. C. Beetham), agrees I with the Prime Minister (Mr ■ Muldoon) that there should be an inquiry into the way in which both television channels conducted their news coverage of the elec-: tion campaign. Mr Beetham said yesterday that he and many other! people had gained the clear' impression that the Social Credit campaign had not re-’ reived on news broadcasts the attention it deserved and that the National Party cam-1 paign had received an “unduly negative” coverage. I

The campaign of the Labour Party leader (Mr Rowling) had received “positive attention in every sense of the word,” Mr Beetham said. “In my mind there is little doubt that the degree of support for the Labour Party was in no small measure the result of the particularly favourable attention the television channels gave to Mr Rowling’s campaign, quite apart from the effect of Mr Rowling’s immeasurably improved personal performance.” Mr Muldoon on Monday said that a member of his staff would do an analysis

: of the television coverage of ■ the campaign. ■[ The head of South Pacific : television news, Mr Bruce [Crossan, believes his chan-1 Inel’s election campaign cov- | erage was fair. His counterpart at TVl,| Mr Doug Eckhoff, said yesterday: “We are profes- | sionals and we like to think iwe can do a professional I job.” | “I don’t agree with their i criticisms,” said Mr Crossan. j“I think the coverage was (fair, and in the final) ! analysis I think it will be | (seen to be fair.” | Mr Eckhoff said it would be “premature” for him to! say whether he thought the! coverage had been fair. “Halfway through the campaign we were asked by I the board to do an audit on our coverage,” he said. “It! will be up to the board to examine that audit and decide if the coverage was! fair. I would be pre-empting that decision if I were to I comment now.” Mr Eckhoff said he could’ understand the politicians’: : reactions. | “There are high stakes in: [an election and it is very) natural, very human, for I them to complain that they) (have not had fair coverage.” : Mr Crossan was not upset) Iby the politicians’ charges.: “We put the political parties under the microscope and iti :is perfectly reasonable that ’ [they should do the same toj us,” he said.