Indian Summer

Maiki Sherman's infomercial with Christopher Luxon.

Every time that I see ya,
A lightning bolt fills the room,
The underbelly of Paris,
She sings her favourite tune,
She'll drink you under the table,
She'll show you a trick or two,
But every time that I left her,
I missed the things she would do

Songwriters: Kelly Jones

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This morning, I posted - Are you excited to see Maiki Sherman's Q&A interview with Luxon, or are you expecting an infomercial?

I wasn’t looking forward to this exchange, and I didn't expect to be informed or to get any result other than Luxon being let off the hook by someone I don’t rate as an interviewer.

Shirley said: “I feel ill at the thought of it...Maiki would have been told to make us get to know him and make sure we think all he says is wonderful …. So Maiki gets a jaunt overseas with Luxon for nothing....she travels all the way to India just to interview him, but why couldn't she or preferably Jack Tame interview him in NZ when he got back?”

Debbie also captured the feeling, saying, “I'd rather poke my eye out with a fork dipped in bleach while being burned at the stake for badmouthing the government. NOTHING could make me watch her fawn all over that LOSER...” I replied, “Sorry, what? You can be burned at the stake for badmouthing the government? Best I get marinading.”

I wasn’t anticipating that Maiki was going to be at any risk of immolation.

The problem with public broadcasting, especially when threatened with funding cuts, is that it must be seen to provide balance—even if one side offers honest answers and real solutions while the other delivers a pile of manure in terms of both policies and answers.

It’s a tricky balance, one that is fraught with being seen as biased by both sides. My issue with Maiki isn’t that she plays the expected role where being seen to be fair is more important than speaking truth to power; it’s that she doesn’t ask particularly good questions.

There’s a reason Luxon would prefer to speak to Maiki rather than Jack. While I have no evidence that the choice of presenter was determined by anything beyond geography, I’m somewhat sceptical that the PM would’ve agreed to the interview if it had been with Tame.

Maiki hit Luxon with the hard questions right off the bat, asking, “How do you assess the progress you’ve made on this trip?” as if she were a National backbencher given a turn to ask a patsy question in parliament.

Image: Q&A.

Luxon’s eyes lit up. Talking about his achievements seems to be one of his favourite things, although not so much that it seems to have propelled him to attempt any.