Brian Priestley

Longtime head of the journalism course at Canterbury University, Clive Brian Priestley was also a noted media critic. The former paratrooper spent time as a reporter for British newspaper The Times, before starting over in New Zealand in 1974. Two years later he began hosting weekly TV show News Stand, which saw him astutely analysing Kiwi media. Rechristened Fourth Estate, it ran for 12 years. Priestley also contributed a weekly column to The Christchurch Star for over a decade, and wrote books. In 1988 he was awarded an MBE for services to journalism. Priestley passed away on 10 November 2018. He was 92.

In the end, you know, it all depends on you. If the programme’s no good, switch off. If television and radio give you rotten local news, read your local paper. If the article or writer is second-rate, complain. Brian Priestley in 1988, on the final episode of Fourth Estate