Newscasts hit by TV strike: doubts over beauty show

Press, 29 August 1980, Page 1

Newscasts hit by TV strike: doubts over beauty show

Special correspondent

New Zealand’s second television strike started last evening, and while there will not he a total blackout, as in 1976, viewers will certainly feel the effects this evening.

While most public interest centres on the Miss New Zealand spectacular, scheduled for tomorrow after the 24-hour walkout officially ends, the real effects will be seen this evening, right from the television newscasts pared back to mere spoken headlines.

The 6.30 p.m. news on TVI, and TV2’s “News at Ten,” have been cut from 30 minutes to five minutes each, and “Tire Mainland Touch” has been scrapped; Missing, too, will be “Newsmakers” and “News Stand” on TVI, as will the scheduled “Lookout” 'documentary, even though it was filmed and edited well in advance. This was to be dubbed from film to video tape yesterday, but the mood piece on the Auck-

land “Round the Bays” run has been pre-empted to make room for a documentary on a 1971 Polish shipyard strike. The Miss New Zealand show, featuring a milliondollar “Double Banger” lottery draw, as well aS the crowning of a beauty queen, will be telecast live from Dunedin tomorrow, but at far shorter duration than the 90 minutes planned.

TVNZ’s Dunedin manager, Mr John Knowles, said that the problem would not be a case of not having technical staff affected by the dispute working on the show. The production assistants, technical producers, floor managers, and so on would be back at work by tomorrow, but the real

crunch was in losing the three days set down for preparation, he said. People setting up backdrops, wardrobe, props, costumes, and design, and other staff vital in preparatory stages are also off today, with overtime bans tomorrow as well. Mr Knowles will tell his superiors tomorrow morning whether the show will last 30, 60, or the full 90 minutes, depending on the state of production readiness then.

“But the show will go on in some form," he said, “if only for ’the lottery draw and the naming of winners.”

The go-ahead for the strike was given yesterday afternoon by the Public Service Association’s president (Mr. D. H. Thorp) whose union represents the affected craft groups in a relativity dispute with television producers. “We were ready to talk up to the last minute, but the Broadcasting Corporation’s chairman, Mr lan Cross, said that there was no point in it, as they had made their final offer on margins and he would not discuss anything under an ultimatum,” said Mr Thorp. “He hasn’t learned too much about industrial relations, I guess, so it’s all on. But we are ready to resume negotiations next week.”

Should the corporation remain unmoved, Mr Thorp said that direct action, possibly for a longer period, might be discussed by the broadcasting groups on strike today.

Mr Knowles was saddened that the P.S.A. had chosen Dunedin’s one big production of the year to disrupt. “It does not make much sense when the P.S.A. is, at other times, pressing for urgent improvements to television facilities. We will proceed, because it’s important for TVNZ Dunedin, and a badly needed morale booster for the city of Dunedin, too,” he said.

Only two other' programmes this week-end are affected by the strike — “Ready to Roll” tomorrow will be replaced by a filler interview with Paul McCartney, and the first show of the “Ray Woolf Show” series on Sunday will be replaced by a replay of the “Kaye and Guest” musical special. Aside from last year’s “optional” general strike, this is. the second industrial disruption to affect TV transmission. The 1976 closedown was a P.S.A. protest over the Broadcasting Act which reunited the separate television and radio corporations, and caused a night’s blackout, with only captions oh screen explaining the disruption.