Southern TV will screen Express Report

Those critical of Southern Television's decision included the Dunedin Mayor, Sukhi Turner, the president of the Dunedin Retail and Wholesale Merchants Association, Richard Thomson, Otago University Students Association president, Chris Tozer, ACT NZ (a small free market political party) Dunedin North chairman, Mike Steeneveld, Carterton Mayor (a transexual), Georgina Beyer, and a number of spokespersons from the Dunedin gay and lesbian community, including David Verrall.

Mr Rickerby when interviewed on National Radio about the reversal of his decision stated that "we obviously hadn't consulted deeply enough into the community" about our original decision. Mr Verrall was reported as saying that he did not know of anyone in the gay or lesbian community who had been asked about the programme. Also given the comments made by a number of people one has to wonder who Mr Rickerby actually consulted.

When asked, on National Radio, about who they actually consulted in the first place, Mr Rickerby said, "We spend a lot of time in the community, and the people that we spoke to at the time... didn't want the programme. However, when we took a lot more time over it, and talked to the people in the city, we found that there was a large number that wanted to watch the programme."
Ref: - QNA