Campbell Live

I love John Campbell. He is a great guy with a potty mouth and a penchant for nice suits, he's always good to stop and have a chat with and he's a talented broadcaster 

I hardly ever watch Campbell Live though. There are a few reasons for this; very few have anything to do with him. I have never watched Seven Sharp.

In our family a seated dinner with the kids and mild conversation followed by something pre-recorded on My Sky or (if the kids get their way) Shortland Street rules supreme. It is interesting watching the debate online about ratings and the blame directed at Seven Sharp for the demise of Campbell Live. Shortland Street has on average 720,000 viewers a night, more than both 7:00pm news slots put together.

So has John Campbell run his course? No, would be my answer.

I think that the major New Zealand broadcasters current affairs and news formatting has run its course. I rarely (if ever) get home from work in time to watch the 6.00 pm news and I get most of my news off the radio (when in the car) or online. In Australia for instance the evening news runs later than here. Which seems to make good sense; everybody is busy.

Also, John Campbell is better than the constant sensationalist stories about school lunch boxes and dentally challenged teens he seems to be stuck with. Where is the journalism we know he is capable of?

The national news, in my opinion, is on too early and should not run for an hour: wrong time and too long. Campbell Live has been on our screens the equivalent of nearly three generations; my kids viewing habits are so different from mine and from those of my parents.

Something needs to change if we want to have news with any kind of value or integrity. News and current affairs shouldn’t be entertainment but, going by the numbers, entertainment is what we crave so the debate should be about how we package and deliver news in a format that works