Late last week it became apparent that current affairs show Campbell Live may be for the chop
To say that this displeases me would be a major understatement. My 1 year old refusing to eat anything but avocado and toast “displeases” me. Campbell Live facing the axe makes me downright furious.
I probably shouldn’t be taking this so hard. I should be used to this kind of thing by now. Stuff I like tends to get canned. Apparently my tastes are bizarre and unattractive to the masses. YOU SUCK, BY THE WAY. Whoever you are. Baby boomers probably. God, you guys are terrible (not you, mum – you’re cool).
Where was I? Oh yes, that’s right… blind rage.
Sorry. Sorry. I’ll pull myself together in a minute. I’m just having quite a few feelings.
The extent to which this Campbell Live situation is a done deal is not for me to speculate on. I only sit on the very outmost fringes of what might be called “the mainstream media”. I have no more insight on how this will play out that you do, probably. All I can offer you is my perspective as a fan and an admirer of one John J Campbell.
He is a truly, truly nice guy. Polite and courteous (though happy enough to drop the F-bomb in adult company), he thanks people for their work, their time, and their viewership. Whether you are MP Simon Bridges and you’ve just given an appalling interview, or a member of the Campbell Live crew, or just the schmuck who happened to be sitting on the couch and watching, he always says “thank you”. He doesn’t have to but he does.
His concern for people is genuine. I don’t know how he manages, in his 50s, to still be so earnest, but he does and he makes it look easy. I like him very much. I wish there were more of him. One in every town, like a Four Square. Standing on every main thoroughfare with a cheery “kia ora” and a jaunty pencil behind one ear. Making the world a better place because why wouldn’t you?
But so what? So what if he’s a nice guy? Being a nice person doesn’t always mean you get to keep your job.
But in this case John Campbell being a nice guy is a big part of what makes him (and his team) so very good at the job in question.
Campbell Live has been doing stories on Christchurch and the aftermath of the earthquakes for over four years. They’ve been telling our stories, reminding the rest of the country of just what a long, hard, grind that has been for a lot of us.
Via Campbell Live we’ve been able to see the faces of people pushed to the absolute end of their ability to cope with bureaucracy. Broken people in broken homes with broken lives. It takes a certain empathy to be able to seek out and tell those stories so effectively. And you have to give a crap in the first place.
And that’s just one example. What Campbell Live has achieved in gathering money for humanitarian aid, in highlighting and helping to fight the effects of child poverty … it goes beyond what I had ever really expected from a current affairs show. Campbell Live has become a lightning rod for, well .. .good. That anyone would consider taking that away makes me confused and sad about the world.
And I know that ratings are important. But there’s also such as thing as the Triple Bottom Line.. Because making money is all well and good but making a difference is infinitely better.
What are your thoughts on the possible demise of Campbell Live?
Originally published on Stuff (14/04/2015)
(Featured image, screenshot from The Many Faces of John Campbell)