Parties unhappy with TV time

Press, 12 September 1987, Page 3

Parties unhappy with TV time

PA Wellington The presidents of New Zealand’s two main political parties criticised the Broadcasting Corporation yesterday over its allocation of television time to the parties during the election.

Responding to criticism that their party political broadcasts were boring, both Labour’s Ms Margaret Wilson and National’s Mr Neville Young said the only alternative would have been to provide different advertisements every night. That was beyond their resources, they said. Mr Young said his family preferred to watch videos rather than the broadcasts, while Mis Wilson said the advertisements might have been boring and tedious. However, she was “very angry” with the B.C.N.Z.’s attitude over its insistence that the broadcasts be at the same time each even-

ing, for the same length of time and on both channels.

Ms Wilson described the broadcasts as disastrous, saying she got so desperate she even considered “buying” television time but that “properly” was not an option. She suggested the parties should work out how much their allocated free time would j Cost if they had to pay for it, and lise that time as they saw fit, within obvious constraints. Mr Young said the broadcasts, among other things, were “terrible television” and both parties needed to get together with the B.C.N.Z. to discuss coverage during the next election. There needed to be a “much snappier” format for broadcasts, Mr Young said. Overseas political parties would regard with horror the programming constraints during the campaign.