Last week sadly saw the end of Campbell Live. Much has already been said elsewhere about the great work the Campbell Live team produced over the decade the show was on air across topics such as the Christchurch earthquake and child poverty and many others. I’m not going to attempt to talk about those topics but I would like to say thanks to the team for the work they did on the urban issues that are of interest here at the blog – in particular transport and housing.
Over the years that I’ve been involved with the blog it’s been clear that in general the media don’t do a very good job at explaining urban issues. Far too often they try to boil arguments to dichotomies such as roads vs public transport, buses vs trains, bikes vs cars, high rise apartments vs sprawl. Often that reporting includes an editorial slant that reflects the personal preferences of individuals or that is aimed at attacking individuals. One of the clearest examples of this was the Herald’s coverage of the Unitary Plan where tried to stoke fear that the entire city was about to be turned into some version of Hong Kong when many areas of the city would see no change. Another example is the repeated linking of the City Rail Link to Len Brown when the project existed and was being worked on before he became mayor.
The Campbell Live team were one of the few who would take the time to understand and explain the more nuanced aspects of issues. They’d explain why more PT and cycling is also good for roads, that multiple options exist, that intensification doesn’t have to mean high rise and what good intensification should include. They’d talk to leading international experts such as Janette Sadik-Kahn and examine what similar cities internationally are doing about the same problems we face. Of course they’d also question the government and ministers on these topics too.
Of course I can’t go past the fact they even covered our Congestion Free Network including creating a fantastic animation of it.
So thank you John Campbell and the Campbell Live team. It’s a huge disappointment that you will no longer be on air to tell a more balanced story than we get from most other media sources.
Processing...
Have to say, Cambell was a great asset from articles I have seen, especially showing the other-side of most stories. He did however suffer a little from a biased or single point of view with certain stories. Unfortunately I’ve experienced one or two stories where certain parts of the story were deliberately left out by his team of workers, however he still was the best of the lot. His work on urban and transport issues have been un-matched.
In saying this, I’m guilty of being one of the non-viewers as although I’m a fan of most of his work, I don’t watch actual TV and I’m not alone in my generation of mates. So sorry John, please start a internet series, I’d definitely be down for that!
I think Lachlan Forsyth deserves a special mention for his cycling stories. As a regular cyclist himself, I think he brought a first-hand understanding of the issues that another reporter might not have.
Yes big ups to Lachlan, he was especially focussed on transport issues.
So now we’re left with Paul Henry, here’s me on his show this morning: http://www.3news.co.nz/tvshows/paulhenry/interviews/questions-asked-about-legality-of-wharf-extensions#axzz3bqZODSKk
Well at least he wasn’t dismissive as I thought he might be, then again I guess he’s a ‘boatie’.
Yeah, and I’m not.
Instead of extension, if they must to accommodate these ships, why don’t they cut inland into the current reclaimed foot of the wharf, toward Quay St? These containers should only sit around for days, maximum and not months being stored there!
Cos they want to park cars, one deep, everywhere. Insanely.