Fair Go 'out of control'

Fair Go founder Brian Edwards has slammed the consumer affairs show, criticising its journalists and investigative methods.

Edwards labelled the show, fronted by Ali Mau, imbalanced and "out of control" and said its reporters saw themselves as "society's avenging angels". He claimed the show often minimised issues by forcing them into an allocated time frame.

In a lengthy post on his website called "A Kafkaesque story that should horrify you. And it's set in New Zealand!" Edwards claims the treatment of its targets is unfair.

"It's hard to believe that a monstrous court like the one in this Kafkaesque story could exist in New Zealand. But it does. It's called Fair Go. I set it up 35 years ago," Edwards wrote.

Franz Kafka's novel The Trial is about a man accused by an inaccessible authority of an unknown crime.

Edwards criticises the lack of time the show's targets are allowed to prepare their defence and the time allocated to understanding what are often complex issues.

"Earlier this week I was acting as support person to someone who is taking a case to the Disputes Tribunal. It's complex. After an hour and a half of questioning by the referee we still hadn't sorted out the facts of the case, let alone come remotely near to any clarity on who had right or the law on their side and who hadn't. Fair Go can get through three such issues in 22 minutes."

Now a media consultant, Edwards said he had told some clients there was nothing they could do to avoid appearing in a bad light on Fair Go.

"The vigilante mentality of reporters who saw themselves as society's avenging angels meant that they had already been presumed guilty and nothing they could say or do was going to change that presumption."

There was an "inherent" imbalance in the programme where complainants were given more time and support to outline their complaint - a luxury not afforded those who were forced to defend themselves.

That made fairness "damn near impossible", he said.

"This is a programme out of control. Maybe it was always out of control. Maybe it's time to recognise that and call a halt. Yes, some ratbags will get away with murder, but some fundamentally decent people will not be vilified and their reputations destroyed. Maybe that's a fair trade."

TVNZ spokeswoman Megan Richards said Edwards was entitled to his opinion but did not want to comment further.

But online one commenter, thought to be former presenter Kevin Milne, took issue with Edwards' criticisms.

"Sad to read your comments, Brian," he wrote in a comment below the post.

"I think in the nearly 30 years since you left, you've forgotten what arseholes we mainly dealt with. No system is perfect, but Fair Go was as good as we had - and it probably still is."

Christopher Mitson, who says he was a producer in the show's early years, defended the show's methods.

While admitting to a "prosecutorial zeal", he said there was also "a determination that we had to be fair".

"Your comment 'The vigilante mentality of reporters who saw themselves as society's avenging angels meant that they had already been presumed guilty and nothing they could say or do was going to change that presumption' is, in my experience, simply untrue and, ipso facto, grossly unfair," he wrote.

TVNZ spokeswoman Megan Richards said Edwards was entitled to his opinion but did not want to comment further.

Read Edwards' full post here.

- © Fairfax NZ News