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Metiria Turei - Source: Q+A -
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Our interview with Greens co-leader Metiria Turei two weekends ago has stirred quite a bit of fuss online and in print, so it only seems right that I should chip in with a viewpoint from this end.
The interview came the week after Sue Bradford had announced her resignation from parliament and the Greens had dipped below 5% in the TVNZ/Colmar Brunton poll.
We wanted to test the Green Party's political health and how Turei was adapting having taken the big step from MP to co-leader. Interviewer - and of course, political editor - Guyon Espiner had also discovered that the Greens had been over-charging parliamentary services for one of the houses owned by its superannuation fund. So there was lots of ground to cover.
Espiner conducted a rigorous interview that has sparked strong words for and against, and raised some important issues about the state of political interviewing in this country.
Media trainer extraordinaire, Judy Callingham, whose company Callingham and Edwards has trained any number of politicians, had a go at Espiner, writing on her blog that he "produced the most appalling exhibition of interruptive interviewing in years" and that Turei "had him on toast".
We had at least half a dozen emails to Q+A containing similar sentiments. The writers thought Espiner a "bully" or criticised him for being tough on a woman/young person/liberal. But rest assured, we don't show favours. Bill English and Kate Wilkinson - both of National, different genders from each other and older than Turei - also faced stiff interviews on Q+A.
Other commentators applauded Espiner. John Drinnan in the New Zealand Herald said Espiner was "tough and direct" and was not diverted by words that sought "to camouflage". Phil Twyford writing on Labour's Red Alert blog said Turei didn't answer the questions and David Farrar on Kiwiblog said Turei was "pretty lamentable" and "evasive".
The bottom line is that our politicians have enormous power and Q+A is in the privileged position of trying to get some answers and explanations about the policies they're following.
Politicians are trained at length to be able to stay "on message" and, when it suits the interviewee's purposes, to avoid straight answers. What our viewers want, what democracy demands - is answers, and if we have to interrupt to get them, bring it on.
Sure, sometimes you get more out of an interview with a different tone. Espiner's interview with US Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell this past weekend was an example of that. But often a more direct, combative interview is more revealing, and I'd be horrified if New Zealanders were losing their appreciation of that. The last thing we want is polite interviewers courteously allowing politicians to make long, carefully-spun speeches without interruption or challenge.
In truth, political interviewing in this country is mild-mannered these days. No-one here is in conducting interviews in the same vein as Jeremy Paxman in Britain. Heck, if you want engrossing, hard hitting interviews look at Brian Edwards interviewing the likes of Robert Muldoon back in the 1970s. Edwards, Fraser, Beatson, Walker... none of them minded interrupting; indeed it was their duty if a politician was being obtuse or downright evasive. I reckon that duty remains, especially if a politician fails to offer a direct answer throughout an interview.
Edwards, who has kindly praised the programme in the past, weighed into the debate online, saying that Turei admitted her party's "mistake" over the housing allowance quickly and repeatedly and that she said they fixed the problem in June. He wrote that Espiner is "an extremely good interviewer" , but came down on Callingham's side, saying Espiner had browbeaten Turei even after she had admitted her mistake and answered the question.
With genuine respect, Brian, when is it good interviewing to take a politician's claim at face value? The Greens' double dipping may or may not have been an innocent administrative mistake, but no decent interviewer simply accepts that excuse without further probing.
While the Greens fixed the error in June, they didn't repay the difference until the week before the October interview. When the party knew it had erred, when it had repaid the money just as Bill English had done days before in the full glare of a critical news media, it remained silent, even though the Greens' oft-stated policy is one of "transparency". When Espiner interrupted Turei to ask the telling, off-the-cuff question, "where was the press release on that?" he wasn't "flogging a dead horse", I believe he was getting to the heart of the issue.
Turei may have repeated the word "mistake" 11 times, but that's not to say that Espiner was browbeating her with the same question. He was digging deeper into detail, demanding more from Turei. Viewers deserve that sort of persistence; the sort of persistence Edwards built a proud career on.
When Espiner left the studio and came into the control room I shook his hand. The interview had been revealing, and I can say without any qualms you'll see many more like it on Q+A in the future.
Add a Comment:
Post new commentYady said on 2011-11-28 @ 09:41 NZDT: Report abusive post
the country is full of complacent morons who love to complain but dont get of there arse to vote.... cant beleive where this country is headed, where just like the yanks, maybe worse because we think we are better than them....shame shame shame..... who can blame us for moving to aussie... the nz government is for the nz rich list, they dont care about the poor..... shame shame shame..... and the media should be held accountable.... they done this... i want to hear the tea tapes!
Yady said on 2011-11-28 @ 09:35 NZDT: Report abusive post
those who didn't vote should be ashamed of themselves.... this country is full of moaning couch potatoes..... just what national needed... shame shame shame....
cheekychick said on 2011-11-27 @ 10:03 NZDT: Report abusive post
Michelle Boag calling Winston names is disgusting and offensive Jan
troberts88 said on 2011-11-27 @ 10:00 NZDT: Report abusive post
Yay John!
cheekychick said on 2011-11-27 @ 09:28 NZDT: Report abusive post
Winston Peters is needed in Parliament to keep them honest. Janice