Q&A

She’s filled Sir Paul Holmes’ shoes everywhere else so this is a fairly predictable appointment.

Veteran broadcaster Susan Wood will be the new host of TVNZ’s Sunday morning political show, Q+A.

Wood will take the position previously held by the late Sir Paul Holmes when Q+A returns to TV ONE on Sunday, March 10th. TVNZ Political Editor Corin Dann and Deputy Political Editor Jessica Mutch will continue to interview for the show. They will share that responsibility with Shane Taurima, who was announced this week as GM Maori and Pacific Programming. Continue reading »

There are a couple of peculiar things about today’s press release from NZ On Air:

NZ On Air is pleased to announce support for Q + A for TV ONE and The Nation for TV3 in 2013.

Both programmes are supported through the Platinum Fund – a special contestable fund supporting programmes with something important to say about New Zealand.

“NZ On Air is committed to funding quality current affairs and we’re pleased to be able to support both The Nation and Q + A” says NZ On Air chief executive Jane Wrightson. “These programmes have proven track records for discussing important and timely issues and contributing to mainstream current affairs.”

The Platinum Fund supports content that may be currently difficult to find on our screens.

Yesterday we published some figures about how 2012 has fared for our investment.  On average The Nation cost 6.6 times more per viewer per episode than Q+A and also delivers TV3 revenue via advertising due to the time and day it is broadcast.

It would be very easy to understand why NZ On Air could choose to not fund the show based on those figures.  However, fund the show, it has.

What I find most interesting is the final sentence of their press release:

The Platinum Fund supports content that may be currently difficult to find on our screens.

Are current affairs shows that difficult to find on our screens now?  Or is their statement an indictment on the performance of supposed current affairs shows whose role it would be assumed is to hold politicians to account and demand better performance?  If that is the case, are we now on a slippery slope where broadcasters could suggest dropping their current affairs shows in the hope of getting funding in order to keep them on air?  How long before we see Campbell Live and Holmes 3.0 being at least partially funded by NZ On Air?

NZ On Air announces their platinum funding decisions this week.  Both Q+A and The Nation eagerly await word as to whether or not they’ve been funded for 2013.

Three weeks ago we suggested that Paul Holmes’ Kim Dotcom interview was his last due to his deteriorating health.

Two days later, the New Zealand Herald’s gossip columnist, Rachel Glucina, quoted Holmes as saying “Nothing is really wrong with me“.  The NZ Herald then repackaged her gossip column as news, which was then repeated by 3 News and others without any further verification. Continue reading »

On Q+A this Sunday, a special event for our final programme of the year. Q+A: Ideas for NZ.

We’ll be broadcasting from The Cloud on Auckland’s waterfront, debating the pros and cons of eight big ideas to change New Zealand.

In a fast-paced programme hosted by Greg Boyed and designed to spark conversation, we feature eight of the country’s top thinkers offering their ideas to make our country better. Continue reading »

Early last week we heard a rumour that current affairs stalwart Paul Holmes had been diagnosed with terminal congenital heart failure and had been given only weeks to live.  Rumors like this about people you have a great deal of respect for are quite upsetting so we set about to try and confirm if it was true or not.  Neither TVNZ, Q&A producer Tim Watkin or Paul Holmes’ wife Deborah, who we spoke to, would talk to us about it.

This past Sunday, Paul Holmes appeared on Q+A looking and sounding rather unwell in a pre-recorded interview with Kim Dotcom.  The interview had apparently been recorded on Friday and came after he had been off work and hospitalised once again at the beginning of the month after open heart surgery in June.  He has not been back at work on his radio show or Q+A since the end of October.  While there were many reports of his hospitalisation, there have been none saying he’s been discharged. Continue reading »

9:00am Sunday, November 11 on TV One

Today, Q+A broadcasts from Washington DC, just days after the US presidential election.

Shane Taurima and Corin Dann make sense of the election and discuss what it means for New Zealand. We’ll get behind the headlines to see what impact newly re-elected President Barack Obama will have on the world over the next four years.

Q+A’s guests include New Zealand’s ambassador to the US Mike Moore, and former senator for and Governor of Indiana Evan Bayh, who was a coin toss away from being Obama’s vice-president.

And on a special all-Kiwi panel we’ll get analysis from Dr Jennifer Curtin from Auckland University, CEO of the Dwight Group and former presidential advisor Dr Peter Watson, and political correspondent for the Guardian in Washington DC, Richard Adams.

Q+A this Sunday broadcasts from Washington DC, just days after the US presidential election.

Having covered the final days from Chicago for ONE News, Shane Taurima and Corin Dann present a special programme making sense of the election and discussing what it means for New Zealand.

We’ll get behind the headlines to see what impact the president will have on the world over the next four years. Continue reading »

9:00am Sunday, November 4 on TV One

This week on Q+A, Labour’s finance spokesperson David Parker, Green Party co-leader Russell Norman, and New Zealand First’s Andrew Williams discuss the job summit and manufacturing inquiry. What do they want to gain from it, and is this a blue print for a future government?

Then, Greg Boyed speaks to NBC political host Chris Matthews with tips and analysis just days out from the US elections.

Plus, Bernie Monk is with us from Greymouth, the day before the Pike River royal commission’s report is due to be made public.

Paul Holms has been re-admitted into hospital after contracting an infection.

Stuff reports that the veteran broadcaster is back in Hawkes Bay hospital but should be released over the weekend.

Holmes was diagnosed with the genetic heart condition hypertrophic cardiomyopathy earlier this year and had open-heart surgery in May.

The 62-year-old returned to hospital shortly afterwards after suffering from breathlessness. Continue reading »