He wasn’t, and his career was ended in a typically brutal Roman fashion.
There are many similar examples in the two millennia since, where middling civil servants assume more power than is good for them. It is a classic principal-agent problem and we have had a perfect example last week in the Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA).
The BSA is seeking to expand its remit from a dozen broadcasters to, let me see, the internet. Big call. Let’s see how it goes for them.
BSA chief executive Stacey Wood said last week the watchdog had jurisdiction over online broadcasts. Supplied
But first, what is the BSA?
But first, what is the BSA?
It was established in 1989 by legislation introduced by Richard Prebble, briefly minister of broadcasting. At the time, we had two television providers with some cable options and a clutch of radio stations.
Viewers could complain and the BSA would assess if the nebulous standards of “good taste and decency” were breached and impose fines if necessary.
Today, the taxpayer pays $1.7 million annually for the four staff in this agency to review the thousands of complaints they receive about breaches of standards.
Thousands? OK, hundreds. Well, sure. If you want to get picky, there were 120 complaints.
I decided to see what these people were upset about, and it seems there were more complaints than complainants.
Messrs Minto and Wishart feature frequently in dispatches and a few other lost souls have found solace in their later years by expressing their despair at what they see on the telly. It is cheaper than therapy and the BSA, unlike grandchildren, is obligated to respond.
The best featured Jeremy Wells, as is often the case with New Zealand television. Wells is great entertainment. Here is an exchange on Seven Sharp.
Hilary Barry: “OK, well, tell us what you love about cucumbers then.”
Wells: “Well, I mean, I do like a cucumber.”
And then, oh the humanity, Wells held a cucumber in a way that could be “likened to a man holding an erect penis”.
Now, I don’t know about you, but I don’t work that hard for my money. Insolvency isn’t toiling in the fields till my fingers are raw but I do pay taxes and I’d rather not have to cover the wages for someone to sit in an air-conditioned, earthquake-strengthened, ergonomically-sound, gender-balanced office and consider if the way Jeremy Wells is fondling a cucumber at 7pm on a Thursday meets Richard Prebble’s standard of good taste and decency.
Viewers could complain and the BSA would assess if the nebulous standards of “good taste and decency” were breached and impose fines if necessary.
Today, the taxpayer pays $1.7 million annually for the four staff in this agency to review the thousands of complaints they receive about breaches of standards.
Thousands? OK, hundreds. Well, sure. If you want to get picky, there were 120 complaints.
I decided to see what these people were upset about, and it seems there were more complaints than complainants.
Messrs Minto and Wishart feature frequently in dispatches and a few other lost souls have found solace in their later years by expressing their despair at what they see on the telly. It is cheaper than therapy and the BSA, unlike grandchildren, is obligated to respond.
The best featured Jeremy Wells, as is often the case with New Zealand television. Wells is great entertainment. Here is an exchange on Seven Sharp.
Hilary Barry: “OK, well, tell us what you love about cucumbers then.”
Wells: “Well, I mean, I do like a cucumber.”
And then, oh the humanity, Wells held a cucumber in a way that could be “likened to a man holding an erect penis”.
Now, I don’t know about you, but I don’t work that hard for my money. Insolvency isn’t toiling in the fields till my fingers are raw but I do pay taxes and I’d rather not have to cover the wages for someone to sit in an air-conditioned, earthquake-strengthened, ergonomically-sound, gender-balanced office and consider if the way Jeremy Wells is fondling a cucumber at 7pm on a Thursday meets Richard Prebble’s standard of good taste and decency.
Would Richard Prebble be offended by the cucumber gag? STUFF
It is a credit to Wells that he appears in 28 BSA decisions. As far back as 1999, he was getting into trouble for using the f-word and later cooking sausages wearing an apron with a naked man with his privates pixelated out.
One of the five complaints upheld in the last year was against Fletch, Vaughan and Hayley, when the three radio jocks were discussing strategies for getting the best alcohol for your dollar one morning.
“Highest alcohol percent for least amount of bucks. What is the best?”
This seems a fair question for the sort of people who would listen to a programme whose tag line should be: “We say dumb things for ratings.” (No offence guys, love your work.)
That brings us back to the issue of the week - the BSA struggling with declining relevance and extending their remit to cover Sean Plunket’s The Platform.
Now, The Platform is a glorified YouTube channel - his words. And, like Sean, I assumed that the BSA covered broadcasters and unlike a woman, broadcasters are defined in legislation.
They are people engaged in broadcasting which is defined as, “… any transmission of programmes… by radio waves or other means of telecommunication for reception by the public…”
It is a credit to Wells that he appears in 28 BSA decisions. As far back as 1999, he was getting into trouble for using the f-word and later cooking sausages wearing an apron with a naked man with his privates pixelated out.
One of the five complaints upheld in the last year was against Fletch, Vaughan and Hayley, when the three radio jocks were discussing strategies for getting the best alcohol for your dollar one morning.
“Highest alcohol percent for least amount of bucks. What is the best?”
This seems a fair question for the sort of people who would listen to a programme whose tag line should be: “We say dumb things for ratings.” (No offence guys, love your work.)
That brings us back to the issue of the week - the BSA struggling with declining relevance and extending their remit to cover Sean Plunket’s The Platform.
Now, The Platform is a glorified YouTube channel - his words. And, like Sean, I assumed that the BSA covered broadcasters and unlike a woman, broadcasters are defined in legislation.
They are people engaged in broadcasting which is defined as, “… any transmission of programmes… by radio waves or other means of telecommunication for reception by the public…”
The Platform host Sean Plunket has found himself the target of a complaint to the BSA. ROBERT KITCHIN / THE POST
The BSA is onto something. The law gives them the right to censor podcasters, YouTubers and someone making a fool of themselves on Facebook Live.
Lawyers smarter than me may disagree. Let’s see.
But the issue now on Broadcasting Minister Paul Goldsmith’s desk is why do we still have this faintly ridiculous organisation and their obsession with the phallic antics of Newsboy?
To assist him, Goldsmith need not go back to Tiberius, but to his own maiden speech. At that time, as a bright-eyed fresh MP, he told the House: “The State’s powers of coercion, it seems to me, should be used sparingly... The liberty to decide and responsibility go hand and hand. If we chip away at the former, we inevitably weaken the latter.”
The BSA is building statues to their own importance and it is time for Caesar to rein them in. They are a relic of a simpler era, sentinels of a lost empire upholding standards long forgotten......The full article is published HERE
The BSA is onto something. The law gives them the right to censor podcasters, YouTubers and someone making a fool of themselves on Facebook Live.
Lawyers smarter than me may disagree. Let’s see.
But the issue now on Broadcasting Minister Paul Goldsmith’s desk is why do we still have this faintly ridiculous organisation and their obsession with the phallic antics of Newsboy?
To assist him, Goldsmith need not go back to Tiberius, but to his own maiden speech. At that time, as a bright-eyed fresh MP, he told the House: “The State’s powers of coercion, it seems to me, should be used sparingly... The liberty to decide and responsibility go hand and hand. If we chip away at the former, we inevitably weaken the latter.”
The BSA is building statues to their own importance and it is time for Caesar to rein them in. They are a relic of a simpler era, sentinels of a lost empire upholding standards long forgotten......The full article is published HERE
Damien Grant is an Auckland business owner, a member of the Taxpayers’ Union and a regular opinion contributor for Stuff, writing from a libertarian perspective
No comments:
Post a Comment