As all political parties held hands and rivals showered each other with praise in a show of united support for Canterbury after the earthquake, Peter Dunne sank his teeth into the "media vultures" preying on tragedy.
The United Future leader was responding to Prime Minister John Key's ministerial statement in
the House in support of those affected by the earthquake.
Mr Dunne acknowledged the initial media coverage of Saturday's event.
"But frankly the incessant march of media vultures from outside the city since Saturday evening and the situation we now have where two major television channels are arguing over ratings ... is simply disgusting," he said.
"And I say to all those media outlets: pull back, let's have the facts from the people on the ground. We do not need the stars tramping over the rubble of Christchurch to advance their outlets' ratings.
"This is a time of tragedy. It is not a time of entertainment or comedy.
"I urge media outlets to act with greater responsibility, to show some respect and dignity to the people of Christchurch in their hour ofneed."
TVNZ and TV3 yesterday said they had not been involved in any gloating over ratings, and had sent people to Christchurch because of the gravity of the event.
"We completely reject Peter Dunne's ill-informed comments," said TV3 director of news Mark Jennings.
"Our priority has been responsible reporting, keeping viewers fully informed," he said.
"Our audience would expect Mike McRoberts, John Campbell and Hilary Barry, along with our other reporters, to be on location to bring a story of this scale to them."
TVNZ spokeswoman Megan Richards said the network would continue to bring coverage of the earthquake to inform viewers, but with due regard to "the potential for intrusion".
The usually combative question time in the House yesterday was replaced with motions to acknowledge the events of the weekend, including the earthquake and the plane crash that killed nine people in Fox Glacier Village.
