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When I transcribed the interview earlier this week, I was expecting some reasonably strong reactions here.
Let me begin by responding to a comment from garybop:
“The big takeaway from the transcript of this interview, apart from the interminable interruptions, was not a word of te reo in sight. When he reads the autocue on the News, he’s forever throwing in his undoubted subservience to the politically correct classes”.
There wasn’t a word of te reo in the transcript because I don’t speak te reo and I’m not prepared to attempt to transcribe something unless I can do so correctly. That would require knowing what he’s saying. I don’t so I can’t transcribe it. I am well aware of Tame’s propensity for using te reo and he did so liberally (not as liberally as his interruptions I might add) throughout the programme.
This interview was insufferably painful viewing with an exceedingly high tune out factor. I would expect that most viewers would have been interested to hear what Collins had to say after Hipkins had said his bit. How many survived to the end is anybody’s guess. I, as the saying goes, took one for the team.
I’ve written a couple of posts analyzing our political leaders and why we respond to them as we do. Media “personalities” and politicians share a lot in common. Both rely on our good will to succeed at their jobs and both need to be liked by us so I thought I’d do the same rundown on Jack Tame as I did for Simon Bridges, Todd Muller and Judith Collins.
Perception
He looks young and barely out of school so the perception of immaturity is high for Jack. Add his wide smattering of te reo and his constant interruptions and his immaturity shines.
Credibility and authority while speaking
Credibility and authority come from life’s experiences and an ability to deliver messages concisely and with reason. Jack Tame doesn’t rate highly on any of these and as a result drifts in and out of being credible. The impression of some authority comes from his control of his studio environment but content and context fail him.
The sound of his voice.
A light voice combined with youth is “lightweight”. He doesn’t sound whiny but makes up for that in spades by interrupting all the time and that shatters his credibility.
Diction and pronunciation
Though his diction is not perfect it is much better than most politicians and many of his colleagues. I’d give him a B pass on this.
Sincerity
There certainly is an element of “tryhard” with Tame. I don’t think he comes across as insincere though as it’s more about inexperience and trying too hard to win too many points. Insincere is not the right word but ‘out of place’ fits.
Body language
Jack Tame certainly presents as incongruent (which applies to many of the points here). His body language is usually assertive (a result of his control of his TV environment). Some of the things he says and stumbles over are less assertive than his stance would suggest. He covers it well but not quite well enough. Viewers have an inbuilt barometer that measures incongruence without them even knowing it. It’s one of the things that riles people about Tame. He tries to “look the part” but his “incongruent factor” is very high.
Comfort in his/her environment
This is an interesting one for Jack. He looks comfortable in his TV environment and does smile and occasionally laugh, but it often doesn’t look natural or relaxed. I suspect the things he finds amusing are often not so amusing to guests or the viewers. This is a very subjective thing so it’s all about how the majority react. In his role, you need people to laugh with you and not think you’re laughing at them or their opinions. It’s tricky territory and adds to his incongruence.
Political thermometer.
Again, this is an interesting one and perhaps in this context, calling it a “political thermometer” is a misnomer. In this case let’s call it a “subject thermometer” – that is, the subjects he chooses to press a point with. Very subjective and a 50/50 call for most people dependent on personal views. Personally, I find too much time is wasted on lightweight issues and the serious matter is left wanting. That doesn’t resonate with me and I suspect I am probably representative of a significant number of viewers.
Vocal Tone
His tone is not a dreary monotone. Substitute “interruption” for “monotone” and you have the same outcome: The point is lost. Strong points are lost when people become frustrated watching. Tame is very frustrating to watch and yes, he often uses too many words and that dilutes what he’s saying.
Personal criticism
This point by point analysis was originally used to evaluate politicians and I don’t know how Tame deals with criticism. He certainly appears to be trying to present as strong and decisive. His constant interruptions have the opposite effect.
We may all have different views about the role of an interviewer and the reason I don’t watch New Zealand current affairs as a general rule, is because I don’t like being left dissatisfied and too often I am. I want to hear what people have to say and I want them to be able to express their points of view. I want interviewers to keep them on track firmly and politely.
An interviewer’s role is as agent for the viewer. It’s not a time for the interviewer to show how clever or sharp they are. It’s for them to draw out information from the interviewee that the viewer is interested in knowing.
I’ve “spot checked” Jack Tame over several years. He needs to grow up and get some experience of life. It is surprising to be saying that of someone who had an early assignment as a TVNZ correspondent in New York. One would expect that alone would provide a level of maturity that Jack doesn’t show.
It’s as though he went there and went to the theatre and presumably did other things but learnt nothing of life and the streets as it were. One gets the impression that he’s led a sheltered life. He’d do well to not use the Maori language the way he does as it looks and feels like virtue signalling and showing off rather than being useful.
I’m all in favour of being made to feel uncomfortable over matters of race and culture but this isn’t the platform and does more harm than good. Good on you Jack for learning te reo. I applaud your willingness to do so. Please stop forcing it down peoples’ throats however as it only raises resistance.
Did any of us learn anything much about Judith Collins and/or her policies from that interview? Not really. It felt like Jack Tame managed to interrupt every attempt at an answer with trivial “corrections” or challenges.
If you’re a Labour supporter or a Collins hater, you’ll think he was great. If you’re a National/Collins supporter you’ll think he was rude. If you’re like me and just want information, you will have got nothing other than tooth grinding frustration from it and probably won’t watch again. Voting with the remote.
A final thought for Judith Collins: Don’t be afraid to maul anybody in the media if they pull that kind of rubbish with you (the leak of patient names). Those who love him won’t love you anyway and the rest of us want to see you being strong and putting him in his place. Don’t tell him “But Jack that’s very unfair isn’t it – that’s very unfair”.
Tell it like it is: “It’s a ridiculous comment Jack” (which you did say) but you needed to give him a serve. How about an added: “and unbecoming of a professional broadcaster of your experience. You need to grow up and do way better than that Jack and I’m not going to dignify such a ridiculous comment with an answer!”
It would be interesting to see where he’d go with that one.
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