Thanks for your concern, @foxyrover. I deeply regret that, in order to reduce the risk of serious issues such as women’s discrimination and sexism, I deleted the original post and any TVNZ journalist - whether male or female - will be able to present the weather during the 6pm bulletin, particularly if they have no meteorology skills.
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Jesus wept, is having on people who know what they’re talking about really too much to ask? Yeah anyone can present the weather, but what is the point if they’re just reading a script someone else has written? It’s a nonsense. There is a reason that TV networks the world over employ meteorologists to present the weather, rather than any old dolly boy or dolly girl.
…can understand how weather works too, without a degree. You don’t need meteorologists to present it. Do you need someone with a degree in property management to cover the renter’s protest in Wellington yesterday? Do you need a Bachelor’s in Recreation Management to cover the Commonweath Games? No, you call on experts to provide information as needed.
I wouldn’t go about calling news presenters “dolly” anythings either… a tad demeaning, isn’t it? This isn’t the 1950’s.
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With the greatest respect, that is probably the weakest argument I have ever seen. By your logic, why even bother going to journalism school, when you can just read a few books, learn on the job and email an expert if you really need to?
As I said before, what is the point of having someone present a weather forecast if all they’re going to do is read a pre-prepared script from the Met Service and point at the map behind them? At that point (pardon the pun), you might as well just have the news presenter read that same script over the map graphics. In fact, they used to do just that on the midday news.
There is a reason TVNZ employ Dan Corbett, and that is because he is… gasp… a meteorologist! He is an experienced weather forecaster who, to my understanding, completely ad-libs his forecasts, because he knows what he is talking about. In other words, he doesn’t need a script from the Met Service. He can make his own predictions based on the meteorological patterns, the data coming in to his computer and, of course, the skies.
I wasn’t being entirely serious there… merely being flippant to make a point.
This isn’t the best argument - I know quite a few journalists who don’t have a journalism “qualification”.
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I’m inclined to agree with you, actually. I had meant to put ‘wait - don’t answer that!’ afterwards, but it got lost as I wrote my mini-essay.
Actually, you raise an excellent point - a lot of journalism can be learned on the job, rather than having to specifically go to school for it. Yet seemingly a lot of newsrooms won’t hire you if you don’t have that piece of paper saying ‘I studied journalism’ - but (in TV at least) they’ll let anyone present the weather. Seems like it ought to be the other way round.
Yeah, it certainly opens some doors having a journalism degree but some people just land in the industry without one and do just fine.
I don’t think a meteorology degree is necessary per se either - at least for television presentation. To be honest, most people watch the weather to know if they need to take an umbrella to work the next day, not how the weather systems are working. Having said that, I do find a report given by Dan Corbett more in depth and interesting than most.Z
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Like Simon Dallow. A lawyer by trade, but fell into telly… and 28 years later, he’s still going strong! And Mike Hosking, too - left school at 17 (I think) to work as a copywriter in radio, and now hosts the biggest radio show in NZ!
Yeah, that’s a very good point. I think I was missing the forest for the trees somewhat in my earlier argument.
‘You don’t have to be a meteorologist to work here… but it helps!’
That wasn’t quite what I was saying; I was thinking of Journo’s like content aggregators, they go to the experts with their specialised degrees to help give gravitas and understanding to build a story. It’s the same with the people in front of the camera (even though a few could do with enunciation and geography lessons). They’re all trained to convey information.
I quite agree, and as you pointed out, that’s what happens on most bulletins.
I thought it was because he was building a huge fan-base from doing the MetService weather on their website/social channels?
I don’t mind if bulletins have one, two, three &c presenters, or what their credentials are, so long as they can convey the information accurately, fairly and concisely. Having more than one probably helps with viewer engagement, having fewer helps keep costs down. It’s probably a matter of when each bulletin airs and who it’s positioned to. All I’m really saying is pretty much what @OnAir has since discussed.
Anyway, good discussion.
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TVNZ journalist Mei Heron announced via Twitter a short time ago that she will replace Daniel Faitaua as its Europe correspondent.
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Wonder if Faitaua will return to NZ or go on to bigger and better things in London. He chose a crappy few years to be in that part of the world.
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Surely he will take over from John Campbells spot on Breakfast.
Me personally, I would love to see him over on newshub, but I do want Michael Morrah to be the permanent replacement for Tom McCrae.
Maybe if Daniel comes back over to front 1news Tonight? That way he can also be one of the 2 back ups for the newshour and or Seven Sharp with Hilz?
Thoughts?
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Found a rarity on YouTube - a full weekend Richard Long/Liz Gunn bulletin from that period in 1999:
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Would love love love to see a Judy and John video from that era. God what a mess that was. Simply bizarre they ever made that move to bring him in at all. Felt very sorry for Richard at the time and still do.
From 3:25 in this is actually Liz Gunn (when she was sane) announcing Hawkesby would not be back.
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He did get a pretty raw deal, didn’t he? Bumped for John Hawkesby in '99, and then bumped again as part of the great purge of 2003. Then he went on to do those infamous finance ads:
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@TVGeekNZ With Tom McRae and Mitch McCann now left, the Newshub team are trying their best to find a replacement (e.g. Daniel Faitaua if he returns to New Zealand and switches networks). Award-winning journalist Michael Morrah may be on assignment for Newshub on a sporadic basis.
Yeah - never should have been cut in 1999 or 2003. Him and Judy should have been allowed to retire gracefully at some point together, maybe even moving to weekends or similar. Handled horribly.
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Yeah, I agree, maybe easing in Simon and Wendy (or even Alison Mau, as it might have been back then!) during the week. But hey - bygones are bygones, and all that…
You know, I don’t think TVNZ (or indeed, any network) would dare do anything like what they did with Richard nowadays. I know they moved Wendy off 6pm a couple of years back, but at least she was allowed to continue as a fill-in (and now she seems to be the regular host of Tonight, so I suppose she’s kind of returned through the back door, as it were).
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