The Day in Review Sept 14

- Following the Zaoui hangover, today was a slow news night for our broadcasters. Prime kept up its Zaoui routine, focusing on Winston Peters' accusations that New Zealand is a soft touch followed by Barry Soper dismissing all of Winston's laments. Prime also managed to give Ced Simpson from Amnesty a say. When our big two got into their Zaoui routines, One pointed out that Ahmed had to go into Ramadan, and 3 stated that his family will have to wait to get into NZ. MP reaction remained the same. Guyon Espiner noted that the Winie was not a happy chap when it came to the SIS, but our PM dismissed his bawling.
- One opened with an exclusive on a research grant of $150k to test the voices of patients to determine whether or not they had quit smoking. Needless to say, the Opposition's spokesman Tony Ryall was none too impressed, and even the Health Research Council was concerned that it only had novelty value.
- 3 led with Madeleine McCann. Then followed that up by hoisting its own petard by reporting on the dispute between itself and Sky regarding Sky's coverage of the RWC. Lawyers Julian Miles QC (the good guy ie 3) and Graeme Hall (the bad guy ie Sky) had their say. The judgement was reserved until next week, keeping the injunction going over the weekend.
- One followed up its first exclusive with another (I know, they're working overtime) on Fonterra raising the cost of wholesale butter and cheese. Bakeries around the country are livid.
- 3 continued its run on yesterday, with police conceding that a Wellington hunter who died had to wait too long for an ambulance. Inquiries are underway.
- The rest of the news was doom and gloom, with murder trials, funerals, minimal troop withdrawals from Iraq, and Gordon from the first Australian Big Brother dying in unusual circumstances in China. Wowee.
- The wireless didn't add too much tonight, although Newstalk ran with the Sky-TV3 debacle for a while. RNZ didn't have too much on offer, although RadioLive did have Pamela Stirling explain the methodology behind The Listener's 50 most powerful people. Way over my head.
- Close Up ran with a parolee murderer, while Campbell had a heart-rending story about a long-married couple who were separated in their twilight years by an uncaring bureacracy. Is this how we treat our elderly people; our forebears, who put their lives on the line for us in their youth? Paul Henry did manage to celebrate the second anniversary of the Skyhawk (non-)sale in an oh-so-amusing piece.
- Comeback of the day had to got to Damien O'Connor who helped NZ receive an award for its efforts in combatting tobacco by with his tireless work to introduce pictorial warnings on cigarette packets.
-Silliest hairdo goes to Hannah Hodson (I know I'm picking on her, but she makes it too easy) with her headband pulling her hair up in a style reminiscent of a caricature.
Good night.

The Day in Review Sept 13

- Prime bucked the trend by leading with Damien O'Connor's humble return to Parliament where he offered his most sincere apologies for being rather dim. No-one else was too interested by DO'C anymore.
- Because the SIS decided Ahmed Zaoui wasn't that much of a risk anymore, and decided to leave him be. We got Zaoui's history, the background of the case, a few more tidbits that hadn't been released to the public, and an assertion that he had put any dodgy dealings behind him, swearing on the Qur'an. The PM wasn't saying too much, aside from the fact that she was confident in Warren Tucker's ability as the Director of the SIS. Winston was none too pleased, as he, unlike many other MPs, hadn't read the memo that circulated last night. As our wonderful networks tend to do, the story went into overkill, with Deborah Manning having much to say, but Amnesty was strangely silent (despite them issuing a press release and attending the hoopla).
- 3 threw in a couple of Asian P convictions and an earthquake in Indonesia into its opening segment before moving on to the RWC. One waited until it had lauded Leighton Smith (an effort in itself) for talking to a woman in the midst of a suicide attempt; reported on an inquiry into a parolee who committed a little violent crime (what's murder between friends); and ran a piece on a police pursuit, before getting into Portugal's chances against the All Blacks.
- The depositions hearing for the Edgeware Road hit and run got a little coverage, and 3 went on about Professor Keith Woodford's book on the evils A1 milk while One talked about the 1080 protesters threatening to unleash the dogs on poor unsuspecting kiwi, otherwise it was more on the McCanns.
-Apparently the Reserve Bank held the OCR as is, but you wouldn't really know.
- The wireless ran with Zaoui. Nat Radio for (sorry, RNZ). NewstalkZB against. David Farrar probably had the most sensible thing to say about it on his blog (I see the irony).
- Campbell and Close Up played milk and Zaoui tag, with John having a wonderul conversation with Ahmed and his fesity, yet lovely and attractive, lawyer Deb before talking hard and fast about the dangers of milk with Professor Woodford. Sainsbury did it in reverse.
- I'm sure I had an insipid moment, but really, the saddest thing I saw today was on the New Zealand Herald's web-site (usually a fine place to find news, despite the typos) where Simon Cowell's comment that Britney's career was over made today's top ten stories. Lamentations abound.
Good night.