TVNZ justifies bid to gag Fraser

Lawyer Paul East (left) and TVNZ chairman Craig Boyce at the hearing yesterday. Picture / Mark Mitchell

TVNZ moved to silence its former chief executive Ian Fraser to prevent further damage to its ratings and advertising revenue, said the state broadcaster's chairman, Craig Boyce.

Parliament's powerful privileges committee, which is looking into claims TVNZ's board committed contempt of Parliament when it stripped Mr Fraser of his already limited duties last year, interrogated Mr Boyce yesterday.

But it also heard new claims from Mr Fraser that TVNZ had moved to threaten him ahead of explosive evidence he gave to a select committee inquiry into the broadcaster last year.

In that evidence, which led to disciplinary action against him, Mr Fraser claimed the board held secret "bitch sessions" about management and that members leaked information to the media to destabilise him.

Mr Boyce yesterday apologised for any inadvertent breach of Parliament's rules in trying to discipline Mr Fraser for his testimony, but said the board's hand was forced.

Board members feared that if they did nothing, Mr Fraser might launch a sys-tematic campaign of interviews and statements damaging to TVNZ's ratings and advertising revenue.

He said a three-paragraph letter accusing Mr Fraser of serious misconduct was not intended to scare him away from further select committee hearings, as TVNZ believed he would not be required to give further evidence. Rather, it was to stop him saying similar things to the media.

"The board was in a position where they had no idea what he was going to say next about them or the company while he still maintained a role as an employee at TVNZ," said Mr Boyce.

"Publicity such statements would bring to the company could affect business prosperity at TVNZ, particularly in the areas of ratings and sales."

But Mr Fraser, who also appeared before the committee, said the disciplinary action was clearly designed to "bully" and intimidate him from appearing at any other select committee hearings.

He said moves by the state broadcaster to threaten him that he would be stripped of his duties if his evidence to the inquiry was in any way "derogatory" backed this up.

He said TVNZ public affairs spokesman Richard Griffin told him he had been asked to relay such a threat in the days before the committee meeting, but he had not done so as he believed it was inappropriate.

Mr Fraser said he believed the board was ultimately behind the order.

Mr Boyce's claim that the board was not trying to stop him giving more evidence to the select committee inquiry was "disingenuous".

Mr Boyce said that after Mr Fraser's testimony, trust between the board and Mr Fraser had "completely broken down".

Mr Fraser's so-called board "bitch sessions" were nothing more than "legitimate" discussions of such things as senior management contracts and how well they had fulfilled key performance criteria, said Mr Boyce.

After the hearing yesterday, Mr Boyce refused to comment on the allegation that Mr Griffin had been asked to relay a threat to Mr Fraser.

Earlier, Mr Boyce's lawyer, Paul East, told the committee Parliament's rules allowed discretion and there was a case that disciplining Mr Fraser after his testimony was justified.

He urged the committee to deal with the case of TVNZ promptly, because of the potential damage from continuing negative publicity, and then hold a separate more neutral inquiry into the wider issues.

The privileges committee sits like a court and has wide-ranging powers. Punishments it can mete out include stripping a person of the privileges of Parliament, issuing reprimands, ordering fines or even imprisonment.

- NZPA