Bill Ralston
Encyclopedia
Bill Ralston is a New Zealand
journalist, broadcaster, and media personality, active in television, radio and print. He has worked as a political correspondent, fronted the television arts show Backch@t, and was the head of news and current affairs at TVNZ from 2003 to 2007. The New Zealand Herald has described him as controversial.
, he attended Northcote Primary School
and later Northcote College
where he was Head Prefect.
At the University of Auckland
he studied politics and history, and wrote for the student magazine Craccum
. He completed a Bachelor of Arts degree, and most of a Masters.
He married Janet Wilson, who also works in the media, in c.1997, and has two children from a previous marriage. He takes a photo of Mark Kellogg
, an Associated Press reporter who died with General Custer at the Battle of the Little Bighorn
, wherever he goes.
in 1979. In 1980, he worked as a general news reporter for Television New Zealand
(TVNZ) in Wellington
and Christchurch
. TVNZ seconded him to the BBC
for six months in 1981, where he worked as a reporter for Wales Today in Cardiff
. Returning in 1982, he went to the New Zealand Parliament Press Gallery as a political correspondent for TV ONE, where he covered the fall of the Muldoon government.
During the mid 1980s, he was a foreign correspondent for TVNZ, reporting from Indonesia
, South Africa
, China
, the Philippines
and Europe
. He was shot at a Soweto
school during the 1986 rebel Cavaliers
tour of South Africa, and told by the Ministry of Information he was not welcome back. From 1987, he was a reporter for TVNZ's Frontline, before moving to competitor TV3
as Political Editor in 1989. In 1990 he was expelled from Fiji
for his reporting. He later fronted TV3's Nightline
current affairs show.
's 1992 splatter film Braindead.
From April 1997 until October 2000 he was the editor of Metro lifestyle magazine. In 1999, an official from the Ministry of Health visited Ralston and threatened to prosecute the magazine under the Smoke-free Environments Act 1990
, over a cigar review column. Ralston complained, saying the magazine derived no income from the column. While editor, several top Auckland restaurants banned him due to reviews in the magazine.
He hosted the arts and media show Backch@t for the show's three year run from 1998 to 2000. Backch@t won the New Zealand Film and Television Awards Best Lifestyle Programme for all three years, and the 1999 Qantas Media Award
Best Television Media Programme.
fundraising event, where it was alleged Ralston had punched guests. Until July 2003 he was writing for the Sunday News
and the Independent business weekly, and was a talkback show host on Radio Pacific
.
CEO Ian Fraser
appointed Ralston head of news and current affairs at TVNZ starting on 14 July 2003, Fraser saying, "Bill's energy, his experience and just a hint of the mongrel" would meet the challenge of the job. Ralston had a goal of reducing the $46 million TVNZ news budget by $4.5 million, and there were a number of high-profile departures from the broadcaster, including Judy Bailey
, Richard Long
, and Paul Holmes
. Discussing the departures later in 2007, he blamed the government, including Prime Minister Helen Clark
, for political interference in the salary negotiations. He drew criticism in March 2005 for verbally attacking Prime Television
CEO Chris Taylor, saying, "I'd be shooting myself. I'd be pouring petrol over myself and throwing myself off Auckland's tallest building". In 2006, ONE News won the Qantas Media Award Best News Programme. He faced disciplinary action also in 2006 over an expletive-laden call to a Herald on Sunday journalist, who was making enquires about a homeless cousin. Ralston resigned from TVNZ on 30 January 2007, prior to an announcement of restructuring.
Since TVNZ he has written columns for the New Zealand Herald, The Listener
, the Media Scrum blog for Fairfax Media
, and in 2009 was an afternoon host for Radio Live
. Former foreign minister Winston Peters
refused to appear on the Sky News New Zealand
show covering the 2008 general election
, because he objected to Ralston, the host.
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
journalist, broadcaster, and media personality, active in television, radio and print. He has worked as a political correspondent, fronted the television arts show Backch@t, and was the head of news and current affairs at TVNZ from 2003 to 2007. The New Zealand Herald has described him as controversial.
Personal life
Born in AucklandAuckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
, he attended Northcote Primary School
Northcote, New Zealand
Northcote is a suburb of North Shore City, one of several cities in the Auckland metropolitan area in northern New Zealand. It is located on the north shore of the Waitemata Harbour, four kilometres northwest of the Auckland city centre....
and later Northcote College
Northcote College
Northcote College is a New Zealand secondary school for boys and girls located in Northcote, Auckland. The school caters for Form 3 to Form 7...
where he was Head Prefect.
At the University of Auckland
University of Auckland
The University of Auckland is a university located in Auckland, New Zealand. It is the largest university in the country and the highest ranked in the 2011 QS World University Rankings, having been ranked worldwide...
he studied politics and history, and wrote for the student magazine Craccum
Craccum
Craccum is the weekly magazine produced by the Auckland University Students' Association of the University of Auckland, New Zealand. It was founded in 1927...
. He completed a Bachelor of Arts degree, and most of a Masters.
He married Janet Wilson, who also works in the media, in c.1997, and has two children from a previous marriage. He takes a photo of Mark Kellogg
Mark Kellogg (reporter)
Mark Kellogg was a newspaper reporter killed at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Kellogg rode with George Armstrong Custer during the battle and was evidently one of the first men killed by the Sioux and Cheyenne. His dispatches were the only press coverage of Custer and his men in the days...
, an Associated Press reporter who died with General Custer at the Battle of the Little Bighorn
Battle of the Little Bighorn
The Battle of the Little Bighorn, also known as Custer's Last Stand and, by the Indians involved, as the Battle of the Greasy Grass, was an armed engagement between combined forces of Lakota, Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho people against the 7th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army...
, wherever he goes.
Early
Ralston's career began with a cadet job for South Pacific TelevisionSouth Pacific Television
South Pacific Television was a television channel in New Zealand, which operated between 1976 and 1980.- The Early Days :The channel, then known as TV 2, first went to air on June 30, 1975...
in 1979. In 1980, he worked as a general news reporter for Television New Zealand
Television New Zealand
Television New Zealand, more commonly referred to, and stylized as TVNZ, is a government-owned corporation television network broadcasting in New Zealand and parts of the Pacific. It operates TV1, TV2, TVNZ7, TVNZ Heartland, TVNZ U and new media services....
(TVNZ) in Wellington
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...
and Christchurch
Christchurch
Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area after Auckland. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of...
. TVNZ seconded him to the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
for six months in 1981, where he worked as a reporter for Wales Today in Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
. Returning in 1982, he went to the New Zealand Parliament Press Gallery as a political correspondent for TV ONE, where he covered the fall of the Muldoon government.
During the mid 1980s, he was a foreign correspondent for TVNZ, reporting from Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. He was shot at a Soweto
Soweto
Soweto is a lower-class-populated urban area of the city of Johannesburg in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for South Western Townships...
school during the 1986 rebel Cavaliers
New Zealand Cavaliers
The Cavaliers was the name given to an unofficial New Zealand rugby union team which toured South Africa in 1986.The rebel tour occurred after the official All Black tour planned for 1985 was cancelled due to a legal ruling that it would be incompatible with the NZRFU's legally stated purpose:...
tour of South Africa, and told by the Ministry of Information he was not welcome back. From 1987, he was a reporter for TVNZ's Frontline, before moving to competitor TV3
TV3 (New Zealand)
TV3 is a New Zealand commercial television network, owned by MediaWorks New Zealand. Launched on 26 November 1989, the first private television network in New Zealand...
as Political Editor in 1989. In 1990 he was expelled from Fiji
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
for his reporting. He later fronted TV3's Nightline
Nightline (New Zealand TV series)
Nightline is a New Zealand late night news show currently on TV3 hosted by Sacha McNeil. Nightline, hosted usually in the 10.30pm to 11.00pm timeslot, has a high focus on the arts and current events. It competes directly with TVNZ's Tonight show...
current affairs show.
1990s
Ralston played zoo official Stewart in Peter JacksonPeter Jackson
Sir Peter Robert Jackson, KNZM is a New Zealand film director, producer, actor, and screenwriter, known for his The Lord of the Rings film trilogy , adapted from the novel by J. R. R...
's 1992 splatter film Braindead.
From April 1997 until October 2000 he was the editor of Metro lifestyle magazine. In 1999, an official from the Ministry of Health visited Ralston and threatened to prosecute the magazine under the Smoke-free Environments Act 1990
Smoke-free Environments Act 1990
-External links:** - Smokefree Law in New Zealand...
, over a cigar review column. Ralston complained, saying the magazine derived no income from the column. While editor, several top Auckland restaurants banned him due to reviews in the magazine.
He hosted the arts and media show Backch@t for the show's three year run from 1998 to 2000. Backch@t won the New Zealand Film and Television Awards Best Lifestyle Programme for all three years, and the 1999 Qantas Media Award
Qantas Media Award
The New Zealand Newspaper Publishers’ Association awards are annual New Zealand media awards recognising excellence in the news print media. The first awards were held in 1974 giving out awards for news photography and have expanded to include many disciplines of journalism. The awards are...
Best Television Media Programme.
2000s
In July 2000, police were called to a Saatchi & SaatchiSaatchi & Saatchi
Saatchi & Saatchi is a global advertising agency network with 140 offices in 80 countries and over 6,500 staff. It was founded in London in 1970 but now headquartered in New York. The parent company of the agency group was known as Saatchi & Saatchi PLC from 1976 to 1994, was listed on the London...
fundraising event, where it was alleged Ralston had punched guests. Until July 2003 he was writing for the Sunday News
Sunday News
The Sunday News is a New Zealand tabloid newspaper published each weekend by the Fairfax group in Auckland. In addition to a self-described 'punchy' take on the news, it features coverage of weekend sport, entertainment, star gossip, fashion and TV listings.The Sunday News has editorial offices in...
and the Independent business weekly, and was a talkback show host on Radio Pacific
Radio Pacific
Radio Pacific was a New Zealand talkback radio station. The station also broadcast an extensive selection of horse racing commentary.-History:The station was originally started in Auckland in 1978 on 1593am...
.
CEO Ian Fraser
Ian Fraser (broadcaster)
Ian Fraser OBE is a New Zealander who was the Chief Executive Officer of Television New Zealand from 2002 until 2005. During his time in this office, TVNZ made a transition from a wholly commercial broadcaster to a public company operating under a charter.He resigned on 30 October 2005 following a...
appointed Ralston head of news and current affairs at TVNZ starting on 14 July 2003, Fraser saying, "Bill's energy, his experience and just a hint of the mongrel" would meet the challenge of the job. Ralston had a goal of reducing the $46 million TVNZ news budget by $4.5 million, and there were a number of high-profile departures from the broadcaster, including Judy Bailey
Judy Bailey
Judy Ann Bailey ONZM is a former news presenter for ONE News, the highest rated evening television news programme in New Zealand. She has been called the "Mother of the Nation"....
, Richard Long
Richard Long (broadcaster)
Richard Long is a former New Zealand broadcaster, initially with the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation , subsequently with Television New Zealand . He co-hosted the 6 pm Network News bulletins on TV One from 1988 until 19 December 2003, with co-anchor Judy Bailey...
, and Paul Holmes
Paul Holmes (broadcaster)
Paul Holmes CNZM is a radio and television broadcaster in New Zealand. he hosts Q+A on TV ONE, and the Saturday morning radio show on Newstalk ZB, where for 23 years until December 2008 he hosted the weekday breakfast show, the long-standing number one rating breakfast show...
. Discussing the departures later in 2007, he blamed the government, including Prime Minister Helen Clark
Helen Clark
Helen Elizabeth Clark, ONZ is a New Zealand political figure who was the 37th Prime Minister of New Zealand for three consecutive terms from 1999 to 2008...
, for political interference in the salary negotiations. He drew criticism in March 2005 for verbally attacking Prime Television
Prime Television New Zealand
Prime is the seventh national free-to-air television station in New Zealand. The station airs a mixed group of programmes, largely imported from Australia, the UK and the United States, as well as free-to-air rugby union, cricket and rugby league matches....
CEO Chris Taylor, saying, "I'd be shooting myself. I'd be pouring petrol over myself and throwing myself off Auckland's tallest building". In 2006, ONE News won the Qantas Media Award Best News Programme. He faced disciplinary action also in 2006 over an expletive-laden call to a Herald on Sunday journalist, who was making enquires about a homeless cousin. Ralston resigned from TVNZ on 30 January 2007, prior to an announcement of restructuring.
Since TVNZ he has written columns for the New Zealand Herald, The Listener
New Zealand Listener
The New Zealand Listener is a New Zealand magazine. First published in 1939 and edited by Oliver Duff and the Monte Holcroft it originally had a monopoly on the publication of of upcoming television and radio programmes. In the 1980s it lost its monopoly on the publication of upcoming television...
, the Media Scrum blog for Fairfax Media
Fairfax Media
Fairfax Media Limited is one of Australia's largest diversified media companies. The group's operations include newspapers, magazines, radios and digital media operating in Australia and New Zealand. Fairfax Media was founded by the Fairfax family as John Fairfax and Sons, later to become John...
, and in 2009 was an afternoon host for Radio Live
Radio Live
Radio Live and Radio Live Sport are nationwide Auckland-based New Zealand talkback, news and sports radio networks owned and operated by MediaWorks New Zealand...
. Former foreign minister Winston Peters
Winston Peters
Winston Raymond Peters is a New Zealand politician and leader of New Zealand First, a political party he founded in 1993. Peters has had a turbulent political career since entering Parliament in 1978. He served as Minister of Maori Affairs in the Bolger National Party Government before being...
refused to appear on the Sky News New Zealand
Sky News New Zealand
Sky News New Zealand is a simulcast of Sky News Australia however carries the NZ branding, and appears on SKY Television. The programming is nearly identical to Sky News Australia, except for a nightly bulletin, plus a twice weekly afternoon one, being produced in New Zealand.- History :In the late...
show covering the 2008 general election
New Zealand general election, 2008
The 2008 New Zealand general election was held on 8 November 2008 to determine the composition of the 49th New Zealand parliament. The conservative National Party, headed by its Parliamentary leader John Key, won a plurality of votes and seats, ending 9 years of government dominated by the social...
, because he objected to Ralston, the host.
Recognition
- 1998 and 1999 Qantas Awards for Excellence in Journalism as Best Political Columnist
- 1999 Qantas Media Award, Best Overall Columnist.
External links
- NZ On Screen biography
- Bill Ralston articles at the New Zealand Herald website
- Media Scrum blog at Stuff.co.nz