Journalist and academic Paul Norris had a major role in changing the landscape of television news and current affairs in New Zealand. He cut his teeth with the BBC, but moved back to New Zealand to run TVNZ’s News and Current Affairs division in 1987.

In that role, he revamped the evening news on TV One, and launched the Holmes show in 1989. Norris left TVNZ in 1996 to head the New Zealand Broadcasting School in Christchurch.

In this ScreenTalk, Norris talks about:

• How a British election set off his career in journalism
• Being lured back to be Head of News and Current Affairs at TVNZ
• The changes brought about by former head of TVNZ Julian Mounter
• Bringing together Richard Long and Judy Bailey on the evening news
• Being criticised for introducing American consultants for the show
• How the Holmes show changed the TV current affairs landscape
• The truth behind the Dennis Conner interview
• Wanting to tell the story behind radical political changes in the 80s, in documentary series Revolution
• Reinventing himself as an academic as Head of the NZ Broadcasting School
• Feeling that TV current affairs is in a rather dire state at the moment
• Changing the landscape of broadcasting

This video is available on YouTube to embed and distribute via a Creative Commons licence.

NZ On Screen: Camera and Editing – Andrew Whiteside