Sunday, October 10, 2010

Protesters slam TVNZ as racist (page 1)

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Paul Henry
Paul Henry
Protesters vented their wrath at TVNZ and the Governmentat a rally outside parliament this afternoon, though there wasa sense of triumph after the objective of their protest - PaulHenry - announced his resignation from the state-ownedbroadcaster yesterday.

Signs and placards, presumably made prior to the resignationannouncement, were loaded with messages calling for Henryto be raped by TVNZ.

The objection was organized by Wellington law students NaritaChandra and Niki Singh after Henry insulted theGovernor-General, Sir Anand Satyanand, during an interviewwith Prime Minister John Key on Breakfast last Monday.

The insult followed previous derogatory comments Henry madeabout an Indian minister, and the resulting diplomatic storm.

The objection went forward to highlighting the job of racism inthe country, protesters said.

Speaking at the rally, Green Party MP Catherine Delahuntysaid the broadcaster had been "chasing money in hate speech"for too long.

"They are making money out of early people's pain andhumiliation," she said.

However, Ms Delahunty acknowledged that the problem wasbigger than TVNZ.

"[In] this country people are very upset because we havehidden racism for too long, and it has ever been with us."

Wellington central MP Grant Robertson, who also spoke at theprotest, told NZPA he did not find that Mr Key had adequatelyexplained his part in the incident.

"He laughed and giggled along to something that was anoffensive remark and he needs to be more upfront about whatan appalling comment it was."

Mr Key told Newstalk ZB this morn that he handled thefirst couple of questions Henry put to him about thegovernor-general by explaining that all governors-generalwere New Zealand-born.

"But when he got to the 3rd head there was a component of methat was really a bit taken aback with what he was actuallymeaning there, and with Paul sometimes you never truly know,so quite frankly I brushed over it. That's only the nature ofthat sort of consultation with him sometimes."

Meanwhile, Green Party broadcasting spokesperson Sue Kedgleycalled for TVNZ to use its outgoing Charter as a point in itsreview of its intelligence and current affairs editorial policies.

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