Quote Originally Posted by Baa_Baa View Post
ZB Breakfast host Mike Hosking won the Sir Paul Holmes Broadcaster of the Year Award - for the third time in his career

You don't get that if you have no listeners or credibility, so if you're a politician not on the Hosking show, you're forsaking an enormous pool of listeners. He has a knack for making the schmoozers squirm and appear awkward, as for the liars, well they just get a full on ripping.

These Radio Awards are just a big w#nkfest, it's just the radio industry people giving themselves awards & many stations/ hosts don't even bother submitting entries (which are time consuming to produce) & they tend to rotate them amongst those who do.
Hoskins is not a journalist, he's a unfortunately a poorly educated but bright right wing shock jock on a commercial Talkback station which has no real competition in that format (now Radio Live has gone).
ZB management demand their hosts to be strongly opinionated because conflict & discontent drives ratings which delivers listeners to the endless advertisements which pay their salaries & comfortable lifestyles.
It doesn't even pretend to be an objective neutral source of informed comment.
It's strongly right wing, look at past hosts like climate denier Leighton Smith who continues to push conspiracy theories on his podcasts.

Popularity has never been a measure of credibility or value, I'm sure KFC & white bread sells far more than salmon & salad, doesn't mean its better for you!

Adern was not going to allow Hoskins to exploit her with his constant provocation to drive his ratings.
He was not interested in a sensible conversation, Talkback radio thrives on conflict & discontent, & there's always an audience for that.
Adern has a couple of million followers on social media & is regularly on other main stream media.