Paul Norris

After 19 years working in news and current affairs at the BBC, Paul Norris returned to New Zealand in 1987 to lead TVNZ’s news and current affairs team during a period of major change (including the launch of hit show Holmes). Nine years later he left to head the NZ Broadcasting School in Christchurch. A widely respected and passionate advocate for public broadcasting, Norris died in February 2014.

There needs to be some kind of balance between the commercial arena and programmes that are not driven by the ratings. [P]rogrammes that are driven by social or cultural needs, programmes that stimulate the mind, programmes that inform, educate and often inspire. Paul Norris writing on the need for public broadcasting, in the NZ Herald, 24 April 2012