Campbell’s new job at ‘expense’ of women
Radio New Zealand insists John Campbell has not taken Mary Wilson’s job – rather she is his boss.
Campbell will replace current Checkpoint host Mary Wilson, who was announced by RNZ on Thursday as the station’s new director of news programming.
Newstalk ZB host Rachel Smalley said in a column Campbell’s new job meant ‘‘introducing yet another white male broadcaster to prime time, at the expense of a strong, capable, experienced female interviewer’’.
However, RNZ said Wilson would have oversight of story selection and production in the new role.
‘‘Mary Wilson is in fact John Campbell’s boss,’’ a spokesman said. ‘‘She’s been promoted to a leadership role which will drive the news agenda for New Zealand.’’
Meanwhile, Campbell’s former producer has accused Smalley of ‘‘sour grapes’’ over the piece.
Pip Keane, who worked on TV3’s axed Campbell Live show, has tweeted: ‘‘Poor Rachel Smalley has sour grapes’’. She added it was ‘‘a bloody miserable column’’.
Campbell will front a drive-time news and current affairs programme starting in September, RNZ announced on Thursday afternoon.
Smalley said Wilson would be ‘‘taken off air in order to accommodate’’ the former Campbell Live presenter.
‘‘That’s extremely disappointing. Extremely disappointing,’’ Smalley said. ‘‘Susie [Ferguson] is now the lone female voice in prime time. We have a near-monopoly of white male broadcasters who shape our day, who direct our news agenda, who influence our opinions and perspectives.
‘‘Think it doesn’t matter? Well, think again.’’ The perspective of a male host was often ‘‘very, very different to that of a woman’’. Smalley prefaced her comments by saying she knew she’d be ‘‘accused of selfpromotion’’. Men in power were less likely to advocate on issues such as the gender pay gap and parental leave, she said.
‘‘No-one wins from a media landscape that is literally monopolised by white men. We need gender balance. We need voices for Maori and Pacific Islanders and our Asian community too.
Smalley was one of many journalists who spoke out against the axing of Campbell Live. In April, she wrote the public was to blame for the show’s downfall.
The show had produced some of the ‘‘finest television journalism this country has ever seen’’, she said.