Media7

Thanks to a friend, last Wednesday I was able to see for
the first time the two new current-affairs programs on
TV7. Of the first, Back Benches, the less said the better.
It should be taken off the air at once. The other one,
Media7, has a potentially useful life as kind of television
equivalent of Mediawatch (Radio New Zealand National’s
excellent Sunday-morning show). Russell Brown makes
a totally credible presenter, though he might have let the
discussion among his guests—on this occasion, Kim
Griggs, David Cohen and Deborah Hill Cone—run more
freely. Griggs is a television natural and the saturnine
Cohen should probably have a Jon-Stewart-style show
of his own. With Phil Wallington coming on board as
producer, Media7 should get even better. The awesomely
well-informed Brown deserves this kind of television
exposure and I’m glad he’s got it.