Open AccessREVIEW: The sacking of an editor
Author(s) -
Jeremy Rees
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
pacific journalism review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.308
H-Index - 13
eISSN - 2324-2035
pISSN - 1023-9499
DOI - 10.24135/pjr.v26i1.1100
Subject(s) - corporation , publishing , commission , broadcasting (networking) , project commissioning , independence (probability theory) , government (linguistics) , successor cardinal , monopoly , dismissal , political science , law , the arts , management , media studies , advertising , sociology , business , economics , computer network , mathematical analysis , linguistics , statistics , philosophy , mathematics , computer science , market economy
Commentary: On 25 July 1972, the Board of the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation decided to terminate the editorship of Alexander MacLeod with three months' pay, effective immediately. The Listener had only had three editors since its launch as a broadcasting guide in 1939. Its founder Oliver Duff and successor Monty Holcroft, the revered editor of 18 years, built it up as a magazine of culture, arts and current events on top of its monopoly of listings of radio and television programmes. Both men managed to establish a sturdy independence for the magazine which was still the official journal of the New Zealand Broadcasting Service, later to become the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation. So, the dismissal of the editor was a sizable event. The National government of the day in New Zealand ordered a Commission of Inquiry into whether the sacking was above board and whether it was politically influenced. This article is the story of the commission's findings.