RNZ puts Newstalk ZB host Kerre McIvor on top of the game

The year 2021 has almost gone – but not forgotten – though it would be nice to be able to forget large parts of it.

Before we flip into 2022, Mediawatch looks at what is coming up next year – and some more acknowledgement of stuff in the year gone by which was outstanding . . . one way or another.

Covid-19 was obviously a major topic for both talkback hosts and their callers, and sometimes veered off into unpleasant stuff.

Covid divides New Zealanders

It has been a long tough year for many, especially Aucklanders, and time off over Summer from quibbling about Covid will probably be good for everybody including Newstalk ZB host Kerre McIvor who told one of her callers she was “a sad, pathetic creature” during a discussion about the number of people in hospital with Covid-19.

The Covid-19 response has often been described as one that divides our society even though most people have backed the response and the vast majority have embraced the vaccine.

Cyclists too

But an issue that really divided the country and sent talkback hosts into a spittle-flecked frenzy in 2021 was cyclists.

Back in June 2021, when they stormed the Auckland Harbour Bridge, Kerre McIvor described them as “little creatures” who were “threatening” their fellow Aucklanders.   

She also labelled them “rats in Lycra” and “entitled freeloaders” and condemned them as “rich snobby hypocrites” because some of them owned houses and cars.

Rarking people up, especially drivers, and animating their resentments is business as usual for the daily grind of talkback radio. Engagement is the fancy media word for it and every so often it goes a bit far.

So Kerre McIvor is the winner of the Mediawatch award for performative outrage in 2021.

But don’t expect the crankiness to dial down next year with the launch of a new network, Today FM, featuring several prominent broadcasters set to be a rival for Newstalk ZB.

-Published under a Special Agreement with www.rnz.co.nz