State broadcasting not run to suit public—Mr Bolger

Press, 24 April 1987, Page 3

State broadcasting not run to suit public —Mr Bolger

By

BRENDON BURNS

in Wellington Failure to cover the .Cavaliers’ South African rugby tour was one reason to sell off much of State broadcasting, said the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Bolger, yesterday. Mr Bolger said the decision to not provide match coverage was a blatant example of the State monopoly imposing its views on the New Zealand public. The National Party’s broadcasting policy allows one existing television channel and all commercial Radio New Zealand stations to be sold off. Mr Bolger said the public had been unfairly sublected to the restrictive practices of State-run television and radio networks. “These networks have

developed a structure and format to suit themselves rather than for the benefit of the listening and viewing public,’’ he told independent broadcasters in an address in Auckland yesterday. Television in particular provided no real freedom of choice, such as during the Cavaliers’ tour. "Putting aside the rights and wrongs of whether that tour should have proceeded, the question central to an effective broadcasting service that works in the public’s interest is whether public radio and television should have provided coverage of the Cavaliers’ matches.” Mr Bolger said if it were not for private radio, a very large audience would have had little or no reporting of the

matches played by the Cavaliers. He said the State had decided it could report news every day from South Africa but not the activities of New Zealand sportsmen.

“There was no choice — they decided.”. The Opposition believed such a choice should be available and was best provided by increased private ownership of broadcasting. Earlier, Mr Bolger said he was “amazed and disappointed” that the Minister of Internal Affairs, Mr Tapsell, had refused to be photographed with the Cavaliers’ captain, Jock Hobbs, at a function in Wellington on Wednesday. It was a petty attitude, he said.