"Kamahl Santamaria hires a KC"
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Lots of headines about TVNZ this past week, with details of the latest round of cutbacks being released (and leaked).
But in amongst those the apparent “tears, beers, and anger” was another development in my own legal battle against the company.
As I published in the Statements section of this website on November 4, I have expanded my legal claims against TVNZ and also added Daniel Kalderimis KC to my legal team.
Shayne Currie wrote about this in his Media Insider column for the New Zealand Herald on Saturday. I explained to him:
“The expansion of the claims includes some novel and developing legal matters – like the relationship between TVNZ’s newsroom and its corporate operations, and how that relates to my rights against TVNZ.”
TVNZ’s response was to say that
“TVNZ’s newsroom operates with complete editorial independence from the rest of the organisation. You can see this from the way our newsroom robustly reports on TVNZ regularly.”
So TVNZ characterises its newsroom as entirely distinct from its corporate operations and suggests that it cannot be held responsible for the words and actions of its newsroom. I say this is wrong, both factually and legally.
It is true the job cuts at TVNZ, and the action taken by the E tū union against the company have regularly been the top story on the 6pm news - just as I was two and a half years ago.
It’s also true that in the year since I started my legal action against TVNZ - which has included the Privacy Act, the Employment Relations Authority, and the Human Rights Review Tribunal - TVNZ’s newsroom has never reported on any of it.
On another note, can I just say thank you to the members of the legal community - and the community at large - who’ve reached out to me since this latest article was published, and previously back in August.
I appreciate both your support and your open minds.