TVNZ CROSSING THE LINE?

Well you have to ask. According to Chris Keall from NBR On Breakfast this morning the ever chirpy Tamiti Coffey bragged about his new Xt phone - given to him by Telecom. And he did the live cross in front of the large Telecom XT launch billboard. This from Chris's blog this morning:

NZ Comms originally announced its pre-launch event today in anticipation of Telecom's XT going live on Wednesday. Yet while XT is now off until May 31, its ghost launch continues to upstage; I just saw TV1 Breakfast weatherman Tamati Coffey bragging to Paul Henry about his free XT phone. His choice of location to deliver the forecast this morning: in front of a giant Richard Hammond billboard.]

We reckon that is crossing the line. It is the sort of thing that Australian regulators are watching closely and we want to see NZ regulators keep an eye on.


Update: Hey sometimes we get stuff wrong - this was one of those occasions - this from an ever vigilant prawn reader.
Thx BB.

It didn't actually go down like that at all. Tamati was standing in front of a parking building, on top of which was a Telecom XT billboard. It was Paul Henry, jokingly, who asked the cameraman to bring the billboard properly into shot (it was only just visible, off to the side), at which point Henry said to Tamati something like, "stay right there, you'll get given a new Telecom phone." He then later had the cameraman bring the billboard back into shot and asked everyone in the studio if they wanted a new phone, as Telecom would surely send them one as they were so kindly keeping their billboard in shot. Peter Williams said he didn't need a new phone. A couple of the floor girls yelled from off camera that they'd love one. Coran Dan, the business reporter, said he wasn't interested as "I'm with Vodafone." Far from being a gross piece of product placement driven by Tamati it was simply Paul Henry mucking about. Talk about Chinese whispers getting the message mixed up!

NZX - COMMAND AND CONTROL ?

We like Cactus think that there is a fair degree of whiffiness about the purchase of CountryWide Rural publishing by NZX. Yesterday we put up a post about the concerns Australian regulators are having over the merging of advertorial and editorial, the greying of the media. Trans Tasman is asking ComCom to take a look a the purchase.

Fran O'Sullivan has done a very considered piece on the NZX media purchase but she too wants ComCom to take a look at just what they are on about after leaked memo indicates that NZX is heading towards " world dominance" of rural information.

We think that the last few paragraphs of this story are the most pertinent. Fran asked Weldon if the new stable of publications would have editorial independence - of course says Weldon. Then she asked him about the feisty Alan Robb who has written some pithy articles in Diary Exporter about Fonterra and NZX's wimpy attitude to some disclosure issues.

""One intriguing factor is that NZX Rural will now own NZ Dairy Exporter, which has published some vigorous articles by accountancy expert Alan Robb questioning why the exchange did not compel Fonterra to restate its recent interim accounts to directly marry up with the 2007 financial year interim result.

Robb has taken a gutsy approach on this score.

Weldon maintains that Fonterra disclosed the nature of the changes to the market, and the NZX had communicated with the co-op and was comfortable that there was sufficient disclosure to meet the needs of bond investors.

Herald: "Would the exchange protect the editorial integrity of its publications?"

Weldon: "The answer to that is, without question, yes. There is, I have to say, a fair degree of disappointment from myself and internally that we've got this person Alan Robb whom we now pay who apparently has issues with presuming what our level of integrity about editorial is."

Speaks volumes.""

Yip we agree, ComCom needs to have a look and it reiterates our point in running the post about the merging of editorial and advertising. If Weldon doesn't get it then he has no business buying an independent media stable.

SPIN SPUN

Ethical Martini has a nice take on some reaction to the foggy world of infotainment, advertorial and down right payola in Australia. The Australian media has been put on notice after a court decision that defines news and spin. Under their Trade Practices Act, media organisations could face fines of $1million if they muddy the waters.
The Australian has the article Ethical Martini refers to on how their equivalent of Comcom - the ACCC has slapped a broadcaster over a deceptive story on a get rich quick scheme . Unlike our Comcom - the ACCC turns board room barons to jelly at the mere mention of the A triple C. Previous heads of the organisation have had serious threats after stoushes with corrupt business big wigs.

Todays media landscape in NZ is cluttered with advertorial, spin and advertising and commentary all masquerading as fact. Its a tough world for Joe Blow trying to get the good information to guide his life.

The question is do the New Zealand public want more regulation of the media environment?

HUMOUR FROM THE HUMOURLESS

The Commerce Commission shows some rare wit today as it warns consumers about the vagaries of on line IQ quizes...

Commerce Commission Director of Fair Trading, Adrian Sparrow said, “Many complainants felt misled about this continuing text subscription. However, if terms and conditions are clearly displayed on the website, as is the case on the sites the Commission has examined, it is really a matter for the consumer to make an informed decision.”

“If you want to check your IQ, the first test you should pass is knowing to read the terms and conditions and fully understand what you are entering into,” said Mr Sparrow.

Funny thing is we have worked with Mr Sparrow and we never thought he was capable of such dry toast wit.

Hat tip NBR

GERRY GIVES POWER TO THE PEOPLE

Wow the Nats are on a bloody roll. Gerry is already banging together the heads of the power industry players.
And it looks like he is going to give the Electricity Commission the flick as well. Yay. Word around the traps is that the Commerce Commission report will show there is some shonky stuff happening in kilowatt land.

Good stuff Gerry. Big boy , big ideas and big balls - just what we and my mate need.

TIME TO REVIEW THE COMMERCE COMMISSION

While we agree with the need for a body to keep everyone in the commercial world on the straight and narrow - oppressive picky police state crap needs to be reigned in. Comcom's performance over the Shell fuel additive issue is woeful. It has taken ComCom two years to investigate the Shell fuel additive issue- meantime the Advertising Standards Authority chucks out a complaint by rival BP - ( funny that ) over the same issue - their inquiry takes less than a month and the venerable institution of consumer protection Fair Go gets AA to do a trial and finds that the claims that Shell makes about its fuel stack up. So why is ComCom spending tens of thousands of dollars investigating a complaint that everyone else has seen fit to dump?

Makes you wonder who made the complaint. And Why?
Now we are Blonde but even we get it.
Shell has made a bold move by stepping up and standing up for its product. Bloody good on the Dutchies we say - Go buy Shell.

And National needs to reign in CommComm chair Paula Rebstock. No more spurious nanny state crap.