Jackson apologises after slating Veitch

Willie Jackson (R) used his talkback show to attack Tony Veitch's return to TV. Photos / Herald on Sunday, supplied

Legal threats are flying between two of broadcasting's biggest names, after talkback host Willie Jackson launched an extraordinary attack on Tony Veitch's return to television.

Jackson has been forced to partially apologise after a vitriolic on-air attack against Veitch - so bad that a shaken Veitch, his father, his lawyer, and his public relations spokeswoman all called Jackson's radio station and his bosses.

Jackson told the Herald on Sunday it was "disgraceful" Veitch had been hired by Murray Deaker as a panellist for his Sky TV show Deaker on Sport.

"I have no problem with him making a buck, but he shouldn't be on our TV screens. Just because it's not taxpayer-funded TV... I mean, Sky TV has a huge audience. It is a terrible precedent.

"There's a huge question mark hanging over Veitch at the moment and it's not right and it's not appropriate that he's on right now."

Jackson went further on his RadioLive talkback spot, making several outlandish comments and essentially finding Veitch guilty of the charges he faces in relation to the alleged assault on his ex-partner Kristin Dunne-Powell.

A spokeswoman for Veitch, Glenda Hughes, said such statements caused "huge distress" for Veitch and his family.

"The major concern is that the readers and listeners, who are potential jurors, could be influenced by these wildly exaggerated and totally false statements that some members of the media persist in putting into the public arena."

She said neither Veitch nor his family could defend themselves against "sloppy and lazy journalism" because the matter was before the courts.

Jackson said the Veitch camp had threatened defamation proceedings through his RadioLive station manager, Mitch Harris, and the chief executive of RadioWorks, Brent Impey. Jackson said he had been asked to stop commenting on Veitch.

Hughes said the Veitch camp was focusing on an upcoming depositions hearing. "Matters in relation to media organisations who have proffered these false statements, including the ones that he booted her in the head, threw her down the stairs and left her unconscious for six hours will be looked at later."

Jackson acknowledged some of his comments on radio last week were "wrong, and I apologised for that".

Jackson said he had nothing personal against Veitch, but he should find some non-broadcasting work, go through the court process, and then have "another crack at TV".