Kevin's Guide to Nelson, New Zealand

- Homophobia??

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Homophobia - alive and well in Nelson?

On Monday, 5^th February, 1996, a new weekly gay TV programme started screening in New Zealand, at 10pm. The 30 minutes news, current affairs, lifestyle programme, express Report, was pre-recorded and sent to the independent stations which came under the Horizon Pacifc umbrella, on tape.
Nelson had Bays TV, a station which fell into this category, but as we found out shortly before the programme was due to start, they would not be screening it.

This page outlines the happenings in our trying to get express Report screened in Nelson.
The 'campaign' was largely co-ordinated by a couple of lesbians and Spectrum (Nelson) Inc - referred to in this page as Spectrum - and I was the Co-Ordinator (Chairman) of Spectrum at the time.

Success at last ??
The makers of express Report have received funding to help with the production of the programme from a government agency, and part of the agreement for the funding includes the stipulation that the programme must be able to be seen nation wide.
The State owned TV channel, TV1, will screen each episode the Friday following its original screening (on Monday nights), but at a much later time.

Half way through the year, express Report was renamed as Out There, a name it used for the rest if the year.
It ran for further seasons in 1997 and 1998 on either TV1 or TV2 (the two state-owned national TV channels) under the name Queer Nation. In 2003, it is still screening on TV2 each week and still known as Queer Nation or Q N. This programme had finished by 2006 and had been replaced by other short-run series, all shown on the nation wide, state owned TV networks (TV1 and TV2) by 2007.

December 1998 update

Bays TV went off air a few months after the events on this page occurred, but late in 1997 they came back on air, but without the affilliation with Horizon Pacific Television as Horizon Pacific no longer exists, having been bought out by Television New Zealand (the State owned broadcaster). Bays TV ceased transmission on December 1^st, 1998, due to "a lack of sufficient advertising funding to enable the station to remain on air with sufficient local content to make it viable".

We have also received word that some of the information contained on this page regarding ownership (with Horizon Televion Televisoin affiliation etc.) is incorrect. The information on this page is from what was publically available at the time the events took place, and as reported in the local printed media at the time. It is not my intention to mislead, but to state the facts as were widely reported in the printed media at the time.

What was been done to get it screened?

Following, is a summary, starting with the news item which appeared on the front page of The Nelson Mail, our local daily newspaper, on Tuesday, 6 February 1996. This news item was also repeated word for word in the Christchurch Press and the Dominion (Wellington) the following morning.
(As a side note, this news item was also my public 'outing' as being gay - talk about doing it in a big way, on the front page of the paper and all. Thankfully, to this day, I have not had any negative reaction directed at me as a result of this 'outing'. including at work - good thing I had come out to the rest of the family about 6 months earlier.)
This is followed by:-

An editorial in The Nelson Mail the following night
Spectrum's letter to the Editor in response to the Editorial
Summary of action taken to June 30th, 1996 (the period when most activity occurred)
Summary of Letters to the Editor of The Nelson Mail

Rejection of show angers gay community.

Bays Television has again angered the Nelson gay community by rejecting the controversial gay lifestyle show which caused a national furore when it was initially shunned by a Dunedin regional station.
The show, Express Report, is a lifestyle, current affairs and entertainment programme focused on the gay community which was commissioned by Horizon Pacific Television for its regional stations.
Bays Television, which is part owned by Horizon Pacific, last year had a Broadcasting Standards Authority complaint against it upheld over a documentary it ran called Still Craving For Love, described by gay spokespeople as "staunchly anti-gay".
Bays TV co-owner Bob Hansel today said the station's schedule was compiled from only part of the line-up offered to Horizon-owned Canterbury Television, and Express Report would have "too small an audience attraction to warrant its commercial viability", due to the "wide TV audience" which Bays attracted.
Dunedin's Southern Television, another regional station in the Horizon Pacific Group, caused outrage among national gay and lesbian groups when it rejected the show.
It has subsequently back-tracked and agreed to screen the programme following a campaign by gay groups and spokespeople around the country.
Kevin Jensen, co-ordinator of Spectrum, Nelson's group for gay and bisexual men, said the station's decision, coupled with the the earlier Broadcasting Standards Authority complaint, indicated Bays TV was making anti-gay programming decisions.
He said a Spectrum member had been told by Bays management that the programme, scheduled to start at 10pm last night, was not screening because it did not cater for the "family" target audience.
Mr. Hansel said one of the reasons was that the show did not fit the target market, but would not comment further.
Mr Jensen said the group would await further developments before deciding what action it would take.
-by Miranda James"

This Editorial appeared in the local daily newspaper, The Nelson Mail on Wednesday, 7 February, 1996

Choice for the Station.

If people in Nelson are seeking screening of the national lifestyle television designed for homosexuals, then they will need to demonstrate that there is sufficient audience for it. The claim by a spokesperson for Spectrum, an organisation for gay and bisexual men, that the Nelson-based Bays TV, in declining it, was making 'homophobic' programming decisions seems scarcely sustainable.

The explanation from Bays TV owner Bob Hansel for his decision on the programme, Express Report,was that it would not attract sufficient audience to be viable. That surely has to be the basis on whichany commercial media organisation makes a decision about programming content.

A furore in Dunedin over a refusal to screen the programme seemed to come after comments from the manager of the TV channel suggested personal antipathy for gays rather than a reasoned decision. However, after a well-publicised campaign by gay groups, he was happy to reverse his stance. Part of the problem of course is a chicken-and-egg situation with such a programme. It is difficult to know exactly what audience might be attracted unless people have a chance to judge it. Bays TV might be persuaded to give the programme a trial airing so that the response can be measured. However, finally it has to be the channel which makes the decision, based on its assessments.

Spectrum responded to this Editorial with a Letter to the Editor, hand delivered the following morning. It was printed on Monday, 12 February, along with another letter which also urged the station to broadcast the programme.
Spectrum's letter is reproduced here.

Sir,
Last year Bays Television broadcast an anti-gay programme which had been the subject of a Broadcasting Standards Authority complaint hearing (and subsequently upheld). Spectrum lodged a complaint regarding the same programme after the Nelson screening, which was also forwarded to the Broadcasting Standards Authority, and upheld.
The long standing British philosophy has been to not mention gay/lesbian/bi-sexual matters and they will disappear. One must wonder if the management of Bays Television follows this philosophy. If so, does this mean that free speech and expression of ways of life is managed by those who control media outlets?
By broadcasting the new gay lifestyle/current affairs programme, Express Report, Bays Television will be providing a service to the Nelson gay/lesbian/bi-sexual community as well as giving the greater population at large a look at some of the issues that affect us. At the same time it removes the impression that we have of them being an anti-gay station.
(Signed) Kevin Jensen,
Co-ordinator,
Spectrum

On Friday, (16th February) there was another letter to the Editor (somewhat anti-gay in tone) in The Nelson Mail along with another news item on the subject regarding a campaign spearheaded by a local lesbian to try and persuade Bays TV to screen the programme.

Developments to 30 June 1996

The fortnightly gay nationwide newspaper, express (who are one of the sponsors of the TV programme concerned) ran an item in its February 15 edition outliningthe situation between Bays TV and the Nelson gay community. Follow-up items have appeared in most issues since.
The story has been mentioned on some of the early express Report programmes that have been broadcast.
Mr. Hansel, manager and majority shareholder in Bays Television, is refusing to answer all enquiries from the express newspaper for interviews etc. to get his side of the story. The Nelson Mail is now finding it almost impossible to contact Mr. Hansel for comment. He is also refusing to have any contact with the Mayor of Nelson, who is prepared to act on our behalf.
All faxes, and letters made to the station to date have not been answered, nor acknowledged that they have been received. Station staff are also unaware of what is happening, other than by what they see in the printed media.
One of the local radio stations had the issue as a topic for discussion one day, but no-one who rang in that day wanted to talk about the issue. We found out about it too late to ring in and/or organise others to do so.
We are aware of a large number of faxes and phone calls that have been made to the TV Station from around New Zealand as well as Nelson, but so far these appear to have had no effect on the station's management. Approaches are also being made to Horizon Pacific Television, the producers of the show, and minor shareholders of Bays TV.
Letters have been written to the two local Mayors (for Nelson City and Tasman District) - receipt of these has been acknowledged - and to Tourism Nelson. These letters raise the possibility of damage to tourism in Nelson because of Bays Television's stance. This is the current thrust of proceedings.
The issue has been raised on the nz.soc.queer Newsgroup, along with the addresses etc. for the two local Mayors and for Bays TV., and has also been updated recently.
A petition was circulated at the beginning of April but has yet to be accepted by Bays Television due to managements refusal to meet with anyone on the issue.
The programme can now be seen nation wide (including here in Nelson) at quarter past midnight on TV1 every Friday night.
Negotiations are being held between Horizon Pacific and Mainland Television, another local TV station, to have it screened at 10.15pm on Monday nights, when it is originally screened around the rest of the country.

Summary of Letters to the Editor, Nelson Mail

On Saturday, 17 February, there were two more letters to the Editor in The Nelson Mail, both of them being very anti-gay. One of these letters talks about:
"Having been raised in their young days largely at the expense of their parents, many of whom make the huge sacrifices of money and time needed to raise a family, they would normally be expected to repay that debt by raising a family of their own."

This is the thread that the letters to the Editor took for a couple of weeks. All of them asking how having a family repaid a debt to society and since when did we have a debt to society that needed repaying this way, just by being born ourselves.

Today, (June 30^th 1996) just over four full months months later, the number of letters to the editor have finally(?) petered out to the extent where correspondence on the subject could be said to be closed.
Strangely, there were very few letters trying to quote the Bible and what it has/hasn't got to say on homosexuality - normally this area of discussion runs "red hot" when the topic of homosexuality is mentioned in the Letters to the Editor.

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