Shaun Brown: TV newsman turned network boss...

Shaun Brown’s distinguished television career spans 45 years, beginning as a reporter with the NZBC. In his early days as a journalist, he covered a number of historic stories including the nuclear bomb tests on Mururoa Atoll, and the funeral of New Zealand Prime Minister Norman Kirk. Brown moved from reporting to producing, followed by executive roles as the Head of TVNZ News and Current Affairs and then the boss of TV ONE. He then moved to Australia to head up the Special Broadcasting Service. 

In this ScreenTalk, Brown talks about:

• The challenges of rather basic technology in the early days of NZBC news
• Creating global coverage of the Mururoa Atoll bomb tests
• Causing a ruckus by changing the presentation team on Fair Go
• The rationale behind creating the late news show Eyewitness News
• Coordinating the response to the competition from fledgling TV3, while running TVNZ News and Current Affairs
• Starting the Holmes show
• Controversially introducing advertising into programmes as head of SBS Australia
• Being disappointed at the lack of true public broadcasting in New Zealand

This video was first uploaded on 8 December 2014, and is available under this Creative Commons licence. This licence is limited to use of ScreenTalk interview footage only and does not apply to any video content and photographs from films, television, music videos, web series and commercials used in the interview.

Interview, Camera and Editing – Andrew Whiteside