Sponsor's Message

Is it just me, or has the quality of TV1's programming fallen through the floor since the politicians demanded more emphasis on the directives contained in the broadcaster's charter?

Why on earth did they waste hours of valuable TV broadcasting time on this ridiculous and blatant grab for ratings?

And what did we learn from this enlightening piece of trash?

Yes folks, the average IQ is around 100 and the stereotypes regarding the intelligence of blondes and Asians were unreasonably reinforced.

And while blondes were portrayed in a rather poor light, the group with the lowest IQ on the night were those responsible for the programme's website at testthenation.nzoom.com.

Now come on folks, if you're going to copy programme that has achieved huge audience ratings in other countries, and if you're going to heavily promote an interactive online element, then commonsense (and even the tiniest of IQs) would dictate that you make sure you've got enough bandwidth and server capacity to cope.

As anyone who tried to log onto the supporting website will have found, the blondes looked positively Einsteinian compared to those who did the capacity planning for the online component.

But technical botch-ups aside, this program has done little but split the nation into three camps:

• those who now have an inferiority complex because they scored less than 100.
• those who now think they're better than the rest of us because they scored more than 100.
• the small number who scored close to 100 and think they're normal, but remain disappointed that they're not "brainy".

In my opinion, this program was bad television, and if this is what The Charter considers to be "worthy public broadcasting" then I hold little hope for TV1's future as a channel worth watching.

One thing worthy of note in last night's programme -- did you notice that people in the studio were grouped by a number of factors, including gender, hair colour and occupation. But where were the politicians?

I think we all know the answer to that one don't we?

Bugger Off Hi-Tech, Come Back Hollywood
And, as if to prove the point, the government has decided to provide the movie industry with a "cash-back" incentive, worth up to 12.5% of the money they spend here.

This is a clear and sensible acknowledgement that, when you're trying to foster overseas investment and expenditure in NZ, it pays to give a little in order to make a lot.

So what's my beef?

Well why only the film industry? Why not hi-tech industries at the core of the world's knowledge economy?

Perhaps a clue can be found in the propensity the PM shows to throw large amounts of taxpayer's money (often unhudgeted) at the Arts community, (refs: Arts policy strikes a welcome chord (18/11/1999), Clark delivers more than she pledges in arts (19/05/2000), $14 million budget boost for arts (14/05/2003)) seemingly as a result of a strong personal interest in this area

Certainly those in the arts (including the film industry) are the darling children of Helen Clark -- which, in light of yesterday's announcement, leaves you wondering about the fiscal objectivity of the government she commands, doesn't it?

Why can't we offer this 12.5% "cash-back on expenses" to *any* industry that wants to come to NZ and spend tens or hundreds of millions of dollars here?

By offering this deal to the movie industry, the government has proven that it accepts the validity of the concept as a bonafide method of boosting the nation's coffers -- so what's the problem with extending it to all industries?

If we'd offered this deal to the likes of Microsoft, Motorola and Intel, maybe they'd have gone ahead with their plans to invest huge sums of money here. Instead, after being told that the current government didn't entertain such concessions, they took their money and spent it elsewhere -- at the cost of very important knowledge-economy jobs and spin-off benefits.

I bet Billy boy and his peers will be even less likely to consider NZ a stable, sensible place to invest their money now that the PM appears to be playing favourites with fiscal policy, the government handing out concessions that are seemingly based on her own personal penchants.

Jim Anderton is this morning quoted as saying that the screen industry was getting special treatment because "There is significant evidence to suggest that if incentives aren't given then these films go elsewhere."

Sorry Jim, but recent experience has PROVEN that the same is true of industries at the core of the hi-tech knowledge economy so again I ask -- why treat movies differently?

Jim Anderton Responds Full marks to the Minister for Economic Development, Jim Anderton. It seems that Jim is really on the ball these days has responded to today's column in person. Whether you agree with his politics or not, it must be acknowledged that Jim is one of the very few politicians who has occasionally taken the time to actually respond to this column when appropriate. You can read his comments here.

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