Double standards from TVNZ

Over the last few weeks the popular UK documentary series Ross Kemp on Gangs has been screening on New Zealand TV and I've found it quite eye opening.

For example, I knew Jamaica had quite a high crime rate, but I had no idea that the nation's capital, Kingston is arguably the most violent city in the world (for the size of its population).

Unfortunately though, the episode on gangs and football violence in Poland, was a bit disappointing. In the show Kemp interviews a neo-Nazi skinhead, who doesn't speak any English, about his about his political views and reasons for engaging in soccer violence. Naturally, the youth doesn't have many intelligent things to say, and Kemp looks suitably disgusted by his predictable opinions about Jews and other races. Kemp also fails to ask the most obvious question, and the first one I would have asked - "why do you like a guy like Hitler, who killed so many Polish people? "

Anyway, Kemp then turns up at a football match where a neo-Nazi gang is clashing with a rival non-Nazi nationalist gang, and very briefly interviews an English-speaking non- Nazi nationalist whose face is concealed by a bandana. The young gang member, who appears more intelligent that the neo-Nazi interviewed earlier, then states that the two groups often fight each other after matches, but have significantly different ideologies

Now to my mind, it would have been interesting to interview one of these non-Nazi nationalist gang members, and find out what their views were, and why they disliked the neo-Nazi skinheads, particularly since the former appeared more typical of the average Polish gang member. Unfortunately though, the programme appears to be more about creating shock value than looking into the attitudes and habits of the typical gang member and what makes them tick.

Certainly one episode of the series has been viewed a little too shocking for local audiences by Television New Zealand. On Radio Live this week Michael Laws said TVNZ has decided not to play an episode about the New Zealand Mongrel Mob.

It seems it's ok to look at other country's gang problems in a slightly sensationalised way, but politically correct TVNZ isn't keen on the same treatment for New Zealand's indigenous underclass.