It was the election interview that gripped the nation, taking the then white-hot issue of genetically modified food and turning it into incredible political TV drama. Duncan Greive reflects on Corngate an epochal moment in our media history.
The first thing that strikes you is the staging the studio is pitch dark, with bright spotlights on Helen Clark and John Campbell. He is rounding into the early era of his cult status as a probing, fearless interviewer; she is at the height of her power and influence as prime minister.
Clark looks fierce, Campbell locked in. Hes holding his clipboard and unleashing a volley of very heated statements. Did you mislead the Royal Commission? he asks, and later, Its about whether or not we can trust you, repeating it for emphasis. Feel free to shoot the messenger, he says toward the end.
Clark was not told about the specifics of the interview, and is clearly furious as a result, responding to Campbells questions with relentless real-time media criticism: You may think this is a really smart way to set up the prime minister, she says at one point. The more this interview goes on, the more offended I am, she says later. Its simply preposterous to carry on.
Every moment of it is extraordinary. The original tape seems to have essentially vanished, with Three not responding to requests for the archive and only a grainy six-minute clip available on NZ On Screen (Update, July 9: Three has now responded and surfaced the full interview from their archives!). Still, you can feel the heat even after all these years.
Given the challenges we confront today, its head-spinning to think all this arose over some delicious corn. The core of the issue was whether, during a time of a major debate about the safety of genetically modified crops, GM corn was accidentally released into New Zealands food supply. Campbell had been given an advance copy of Nicky Hagers book Seeds of Distrust, which alleged that a field of GM corn was mistakenly grown and distributed to consumers here, and furthermore, that cabinet had known and conspired with officials from the Ministry for Agriculture to cover it up.
The interview became known as Corngate and was one of the defining flashpoints of the decade, accurately described by a contemporary report as a bomb, dropped right into late stages of the 2002 election period. It derailed Labours campaign, pitted them bitterly against the Greens, caused a lasting rift between TV3 and Clark, and played a role in making genetic engineering a politically untouchable subject to this day.
The idea that a television interview could have such impact speaks to the era in which it aired. Twenty years ago TV news presenters were figures of huge socio-cultural power, and sometimes major newsmakers in their own right.
John Hawkesby received a $5.2m payout after his ill-fated three-week stint presenting the 6pm news on One. A few years later, Paul Holmes resigned from TVNZ in a fury over what he perceived as an insulting contract offer, and for a brief, glorious moment we had an impossible bounty of current affairs in primetime: Close Up on One, Campbell Live on TV3 and Paul Holmes (the show) on Prime all competing with the juggernaut that was mid-2000s Shortland Street.
This was the absolute apex of television as the agenda-setting centre of our lives, and TV3, playing David to TVNZs Goliath, had a pair of white-hot young stars reading the 6pm news in Carol Hirschfeld and John Campbell. The channel had become a beloved challenger to state-owned monolith TVNZ, innovating on style and form. Hirschfeld and Campbell had come to embody the network young, sharp and fearless. Campbell was a brilliant interviewer, smart yet with a rare ability to emotionally connect with the audience.
He had been inserting live political interviews into bulletins for some years, yet Corngate represented a massive escalation. It was a major break from the schedule TV3 was still years away from elevating Campbell to his own show in Campbell Live, and had settled on syndicated airings of broad American sitcoms like Home Improvement as its best weapon to confront TVNZs Holmes and Shortland Street at 7pm. The very fact of the interview breaking that 7pm routine gave it a huge sense of occasion.
It came towards the end of an oddly discombobulated election campaign. National was at its lowest ebb, careening toward its worst-ever election result under the leadership of a baby-faced Bill English, who barely warranted the withering stare of Clark. She was a prime minister of immense force of will and personality, probably our most imposing since Rob Muldoon. But with the capitulation of the right, the chaos of a divided left bloc became the focal point of the election.
Labour had governed its first term in coalition with the Alliance, which became a cautionary tale for minor parties thereafter, collapsing to a less than 2% share of the party vote in 2002. In their stead came a thicket of smaller players that collectively amassed an MMP record 37% of the vote, with NZ First, Act, United Future and the Greens all attracting over 6.5% of the electorates support.
It was the latter party that became Clark and Labours biggest headache, resulting in some memorable lines, including the prime minister referring to the Greens as goths and anarcho-feminists in the days before the Corngate interview. That this has not become the Greens official slogan is one of the enduring mysteries of our politics.
The focal point of much of this rancour was genetic modification (GM), a relatively new form of science that relied on gene editing to produce novel or altered organisms. It has applications across medicine and industry, but its use in agriculture drew the most attention. Proponents saw the potential for higher-yielding or more drought-resistant crops, or livestock that was less prone to particular forms of disease. The science has subsequently essentially settled in favour of GM, but it was highly contentious in our politics at the time, and had been subject to a Royal Commission in 2000.
The commission came back with a cautious endorsement of the technology, saying, New Zealand should keep its options open. It would be unwise to turn our back on the potential advantages on offer. It did little to resolve divisions over the issue, which saw the country split into two camps. Broadly speaking, business and the agricultural sector saw GM as a science crucial to growth, while much of the environmentally minded left saw it as dangerous, unproven practice that risked our clean, green reputation. Following the commissions report, a two-year moratorium preventing applications for the release of genetically modified organisms was put in place in 2001.
As the country rounded into the 2002 election, investigative journalist Nicky Hager was working on his third book. Seeds of Distrust examined the accidental release of GM corn, the potential for contamination of other crops and the decision not to notify the public of the incident. He scheduled it for publication on July 10 less than three weeks before the general election on July 27.
Campbell had worked with Hager twice before, fronting major stories accompanying both Secret Power, which covered the Waihpai spy base and its links to international espionage networks, and Secrets and Lies, which exposed the infiltration of West Coast environmental groups. The pair had become close, and Hager sent Campbell the manuscript for Seeds of Distrust, which emerged on a gigantic roll of fax paper. Campbell pored over it for weeks, recalls Hirschfeld, with the support of news editors Mark Jennings and Mike Brockie. (Jennings did not respond to a request for comment for this story.)
The team knew that this was a big story, but had to approach it carefully. TV3 went to Clarks office with an innocuous cover, suggesting a general conversation about genetic engineering rather than a laser focus on the decision not to publicise the potential release of the GM corn in November 2000. The fateful interview took place in-studio, but 20 years on, Hirschfeld says the infamous spotlit aesthetic was not an attempt to dial up the drama. It instead had a much more banal explanation. What was the thinking? We had no money, she laughs.
They recorded enough footage for that electric half hour of television, cutting only around five minutes, which Campbell says was an attempt to give viewers the whole context. Afterwards, Clark left in a hurry, but not before telling Campbell exactly what she thought of him. She used the word treachery, Campbell recalls, while Hirschfeld remembers you traitor. Clark declined to be interviewed for this story, but has in the aftermath made her view of the interview abundantly clear.
TV3 cut it together into the half-hour special and aired it the following evening, July 9, 2002. It began with an opening segment in which Campbell interviewed Hager and travelled to the location of the alleged leak of the corn; the final two segments were dominated by that extraordinary interview with Clark. It was an immediate sensation, deeply uncomfortable yet incredibly compelling TV.
It was almost unbearable to watch, says Hager now. Writing for the NZ Herald, Jeremy Rees described it as a study of outrage and anger. In the days that followed, media reporting of the special tended to side with Clark, with Russell Brown typifying the criticism on his Hard News segment on bFM, saying that the way it did emerge dropped like a bomb on the election campaign was simply wrong.
Clark certainly thought so. She labelled Campbell a sanctimonious little creep, and interrupted her campaign to respond with a fusillade delivered from the lectern at a hastily arranged press conference. There she made it clear she blamed the Greens, and leader Jeanette Fitzsimons. I am going to sing from the rooftops that this is a very dirty campaign where the Greens and their supporters have descended to the gutter of the National Party.
Fitzsimons did not deter that impression when she issued a press release saying she was deeply distressed that the prime minister apparently decided to let this contaminated crop be grown, harvested, eaten and possibly exported in 2000/2001, and that the government participated in efforts to keep the truth from the public. Similarly, the fact Seeds of Distrust was published by Craig Potton, a former Greens candidate, made it easy for Clark and Labour to frame it as an orchestrated hit though Hager is adamant there was no collusion, and says the Green Party was privately furious with him for distracting from its policy agenda.
The interview became the defining moment of the campaign, and while it didnt impact the result, the bitter taste lingered, and reared up again a year later.
The Broadcasting Standards Authority received numerous complaints about the episode, including one from Mike Munro, the prime ministers chief press secretary, on behalf of himself and Clark. The regulator ultimately released a highly publicised ruling in July 2003. It ran to 92 pages and broadly vindicated the complainants, saying that standards were breached on multiple counts around balance and fairness. It faulted the tenor of the interview with Hager versus that with Clark as neither impartial nor objective, and the fact that Clark was not advised of the source of the allegations.
By BSA standards it was damning, but not unequivocal, and allowed for TV3 to issue a press release that quoted Jennings as saying we knew the story was right, we knew we had done our homework and the BSA ruling largely validates that view.
Russell Brown wrote a reflective response for Public Address afterwards in which he acknowledged that many parties got consumed by the heat of the moment and overdid their reactions, himself included, but faulted TV3 for only preserving the raw footage of the Clark interview, and not that of Hager. Brown says this left the unavoidable impression that it had treated Hagers allegations far more credulously than it did Clarks response.
Campbell disputes that characterisation today, saying he asked for and received the primary materials on which the book was based, and Hirschfeld says Campbell spent weeks on the story. There were endless sessions going over the details, she says. Ive never seen him so prepared.
Clark herself was clearly completely blindsided, and spent much of the interview underlining that fact through gritted teeth. It is simply not acceptable to set up the prime minister on something which happened a long time back in the term of government, that she was not the minister responsible for, she says at one point. Campbell was unconvinced of this then I think you do remember what happened, he says at one point and remains so today. She had a forensic rigour about her she was across the detail of all the portfolios, he says.
While it ultimately had little obvious effect on the election outcome, it had a huge impact on the journalists involved, coming up against a popular PM at the height of her influence. Hirschfeld recalls Campbell so spaced out after it aired that he was nearly run down on Ponsonby Road while getting out of a car. Hager remains frustrated by what happened, and the way the furore completely overwhelmed the book upon which it was based. I couldnt bear to look at it for years afterwards, he says, also believing that Clark has never forgiven him.
Campbell got it most personally, though, with one incident still seared into his memory. One night, not long after the special aired, he was out walking his one-year-old daughter through Three Lamps in Ponsonby, near his home. A woman he describes as having a patrician bearing approached him, and bent down to peer into the buggy. I pity you, having him for a father, Campbell recalls her saying. His relationship with the prime minister was also seriously damaged by the incident. It took years to recover.
Clarks fury dimmed but did not pass, and Hirschfeld remembers TV3 being pointedly left until dead last for an interview as late as the 2005 election campaign. But by that stage their lives had changed, and in some ways Corngate, for all its complexity as an incident, had helped them grow.
Hirschfeld went on to become the producer of Campbell Live, a full-time 7pm current affairs show that cemented Campbell as a star. The fearlessness of that 2002 interview was present in his live interviews as he supplanted Holmes to become the emblematic broadcaster of the era. Hager moved on, too. During the next election he picked up the threads of what was to become The Hollow Men, his book about Nationals 2005 campaign, and the one he considers his best.
As for Clark, she would go on to win a third term, and leave the rancour of Corngate to bulldoze through future controversies, from anti-smacking legislation to the pain of the Foreshore and Seabed Bill. Perhaps the most lasting scar of the era is a political circumspection around genetic modification issues that lingers to this day, with Greens food policy embodying a tension in stressing affordability while confining GM to the lab.
Despite the BSA ruling, Campbell remains proud of the work. To me, it wasnt a GM story, it was a political story. At a time of huge public interest in and fear about genetic modification, did bureaucrats and politicians combine to cover up the release of GM material into the environment? Hager and Campbell both remain convinced that they did. Campbells only regret is that his team were not more candid about the topic of the interview, but isnt sure whether the prime minister would have fronted had they been more direct. Was it the best of all the shitty options? I dont know, he says.
Twenty years on, our politics and media have changed immeasurably, and Hirschfeld expresses a sadness that such an interview has no place in primetime today. Watching it now its obvious why it had such an impact. It was enormous, says Hirschfeld, and it was immensely compelling television that still retains its power to this day.
Follow Duncan Greives NZ media podcast The Fold on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favourite podcast provider.
View post:
Helen Clark vs John Campbell: the Corngate interview, 20 years on - The Spinoff
- Viewpoint: Anti-GMO arguments seem silly after 28 years of false narratives about health harms and and genetic ... - Genetic Literacy Project - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- Viewpoint: Here's how genetically engineered fruits and vegetables will soon emerge as a grocery store 'selling point ... - Genetic Literacy Project - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- CRISPR Investments: What We Heard at World Agri-Tech - Seed World - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- When SpaceX's Starship is ready to settle Mars, will we be? (op-ed) - Space.com - September 17th, 2023 [September 17th, 2023]
- Genome-wide promoter responses to CRISPR perturbations of ... - Nature.com - September 17th, 2023 [September 17th, 2023]
- Expanding the toolbox for RNA editing | ASU News - ASU News Now - September 17th, 2023 [September 17th, 2023]
- Electrical Engineer Named MIT Technology Review Innovator Under ... - University of California San Diego - September 17th, 2023 [September 17th, 2023]
- Can we rely on our 'moral force-field' to stop cloning going too far? - The National - September 17th, 2023 [September 17th, 2023]
- Otsuka Collaborates with ShapeTX for Development of AAV Gene ... - Pharmaceutical Technology Magazine - September 17th, 2023 [September 17th, 2023]
- Cancer discovery earns U of A grad the Breakthrough Prize - University of Alberta - September 17th, 2023 [September 17th, 2023]
- The Brave New World of synthetic humans | Gne Taylor - IAI - September 17th, 2023 [September 17th, 2023]
- Targeting Tumors with Photosynthetic Bacteria - Optics & Photonics News - September 17th, 2023 [September 17th, 2023]
- Artificial Photosynthesis Breakthrough Researchers Produce ... - SciTechDaily - September 17th, 2023 [September 17th, 2023]
- BASF patent on watermelons upheld: European Patent Office rejects ... - Bio Eco Actual - September 17th, 2023 [September 17th, 2023]
- Space Industry Is Growing Faster Than Its Workforce, Analysts Say - Slashdot - September 17th, 2023 [September 17th, 2023]
- New 'Inverse Vaccine' Shows Potential to Treat MS and Other ... - Slashdot - September 17th, 2023 [September 17th, 2023]
- Gene therapy: Donor DNA may protect babies from certain disorders - Medical News Today - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Viewpoint: Grim consequences of Greenpeace's war on ... - Genetic Literacy Project - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Predicting Diabetic Kidney Disease with the Use of a Novel Algorithm - Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Quantum biology on horizon? How futuristic physics theory could ... - Study Finds - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Scientists can collect human DNA from water, air, and basically ... - Earth.com - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- The First Crispr-Edited Salad Is Here - WIRED - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Gene editing technology used to produce disease-resistant calf - Earth.com - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Neanderthals passed down their tall noses to modern humans ... - Livescience.com - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Squid Camouflage Inspires Human Invisibility: Is it Possible? - DISCOVER Magazine - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Mice Model Technologies Market Poised for 7.4% CAGR Growth, Reaching USD 3.2 Bn by 2031 | Transparency Market Research - Yahoo Finance - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Google Cloud launches A.I.-powered tools to accelerate drug discovery, precision medicine - CNBC - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- How Fauci, scientists with ties to Wuhan lab persuaded the ... - U.S. Right to Know - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- The Daunting Task of Cutting Heavy Metals from Baby Food - Undark Magazine - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Ingestible Device Profiles and Peers into the Microbiome and ... - Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- X-Men Officially Names the Best Powers Any Mutant Can Have - Screen Rant - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- 10 Forgotten Marvel Comics Characters That Debuted In The '80s - Screen Rant - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- 18 Human Genetic Engineering - Clemson University - April 19th, 2023 [April 19th, 2023]
- Pros and Cons of Genetic Engineering - Benefits and Risks - March 31st, 2023 [March 31st, 2023]
- What is Genetic Engineering? Types, Process & Applications - March 31st, 2023 [March 31st, 2023]
- How artificial skin is made and its uses, from treating burns to skin cancer - South China Morning Post - March 31st, 2023 [March 31st, 2023]
- Welcome to the UNC Department of Genetics | Department of Genetics - February 5th, 2023 [February 5th, 2023]
- Global Genetically Modified Crops Market Is Projected To Grow At A 6% Rate Through The Forecast Period - EIN News - February 5th, 2023 [February 5th, 2023]
- Science and History of GMOs and Other Food Modification Processes - February 2nd, 2023 [February 2nd, 2023]
- Genetics | History, Biology, Timeline, & Facts | Britannica - January 31st, 2023 [January 31st, 2023]
- Human genetics | Description, Chromosomes, & Inheritance - January 31st, 2023 [January 31st, 2023]
- Genetic testing - Mayo Clinic - January 31st, 2023 [January 31st, 2023]
- Genetic Disorders: What Are They, Types, Symptoms & Causes - January 31st, 2023 [January 31st, 2023]
- Colossal Biosciences Project to Revive the Prehistoric Woolly Mammoth Raises Staggering $60 Million Series A Funding - Nature World News - January 22nd, 2023 [January 22nd, 2023]
- 2023 is going to witness a surge in technology courses top courses that will remain in vogue - Times of India - January 22nd, 2023 [January 22nd, 2023]
- M.R.S. Rao birthday: All you need to know about the Padma Shri winning Indian scientist - Free Press Journal - January 22nd, 2023 [January 22nd, 2023]
- Russian cosmism - Wikipedia - January 8th, 2023 [January 8th, 2023]
- Postgenderism - Wikipedia - January 8th, 2023 [January 8th, 2023]
- LessWrong - Wikipedia - January 8th, 2023 [January 8th, 2023]
- Eliezer Yudkowsky - Wikipedia - January 8th, 2023 [January 8th, 2023]
- Genetic Engineering Principles of Biology - December 26th, 2022 [December 26th, 2022]
- Engineering the Perfect Baby | MIT Technology Review - December 26th, 2022 [December 26th, 2022]
- Genetic Engineering Science Projects - Science Buddies - December 21st, 2022 [December 21st, 2022]
- DSI adoption at COP15 can financially help protect biodiversity in India: Experts - The Tribune India - December 21st, 2022 [December 21st, 2022]
- Tel Aviv University researchers demonstrate success of potential one-time vaccine to treat HIV/AIDS - ETHealthWorld - December 21st, 2022 [December 21st, 2022]
- Should You Buy 22nd Century Group Inc (XXII) Stock After it Has Risen 14.29% in a Week? - InvestorsObserver - October 28th, 2022 [October 28th, 2022]
- Home :: National Institute for Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering - October 11th, 2022 [October 11th, 2022]
- A recently discovered law of physics could help predict genetic mutations - October 11th, 2022 [October 11th, 2022]
- Farmers, consumers will embrace GMOs if they understand them - The Standard - October 11th, 2022 [October 11th, 2022]
- Synthetic Biology Market is Expected to Report a CAGR of ~21% from 2021 to 2029: Industry Size, Growth & Forecast at Douglas Insights - Yahoo... - October 11th, 2022 [October 11th, 2022]
- After 45 years of science-based art, Esther Klein Gallery winds down - WHYY - October 11th, 2022 [October 11th, 2022]
- Behind this Nobel prize is a very human story: theres a bit of Neanderthal in all of us - The Guardian - October 11th, 2022 [October 11th, 2022]
- The key to tastier beer might be mutant yeastwith notes of banana - Popular Science - October 11th, 2022 [October 11th, 2022]
- Why You'll Probably Never See Cotton Candy Grape Wine - Tasting Table - October 11th, 2022 [October 11th, 2022]
- Earth materials in technology The National - The National - October 11th, 2022 [October 11th, 2022]
- CULINARY THRILL SEEKING Proceed with caution. It's hotter than blazes season. - Port Arthur News - The Port Arthur News - October 11th, 2022 [October 11th, 2022]
- Give legal rights to animals, trees and rivers, say experts - The Guardian - October 11th, 2022 [October 11th, 2022]
- How yeast DNA may help protect astronauts from cosmic radiation in space - EastMojo - October 11th, 2022 [October 11th, 2022]
- Life finds a way, but should it? The ethics of genetic engineering - The Trinitonian - October 8th, 2022 [October 8th, 2022]
- To modify or not to modify? Genetic Modification and Gene Editing - A divergence by the UK - Lexology - October 8th, 2022 [October 8th, 2022]
- Gene Therapy Hits Its Stride in the Clinic - Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News - October 8th, 2022 [October 8th, 2022]
- GWAS, MWAS and mGWAS provide insights into precision agriculture based on genotype-dependent microbial effects in foxtail millet - Nature.com - October 8th, 2022 [October 8th, 2022]
- Making Sense of the Latest Apple-iPhone News - The Motley Fool - October 8th, 2022 [October 8th, 2022]
- Gene therapy brings hope to people with sickle cell, HIV - Monitor - October 8th, 2022 [October 8th, 2022]
- GMO: Everything you need to know about lifting ban - FarmKenya Initiative - The Standard - October 8th, 2022 [October 8th, 2022]
- Century Therapeutics to Present at the SITC 37th Annual Meeting - Yahoo Finance - October 8th, 2022 [October 8th, 2022]
- Cultured meat could help solve the climate crisis. Heres what it will take to move it from the lab to the dinner table - Fortune - October 8th, 2022 [October 8th, 2022]
- Poseida Therapeutics to Present Trial in Progress Poster for Phase 1 P-MUC1C-ALLO1 Study at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer Annual Meeting -... - October 8th, 2022 [October 8th, 2022]
- Explained: How scientists engineered mosquitoes that will cut the transmission of malaria - Firstpost - October 8th, 2022 [October 8th, 2022]
- Here Are the Biggest Health Industry News Items of 2022 So Far - DocWire News - October 8th, 2022 [October 8th, 2022]