Taking action (an end-of-year update)

On a cast and wherever you get your podcast, this is Rebalance with Kamal Santa Maria. Welcome back to Rebalance. I'm Kamal Santa Maria with an end of year podcast for you. Been very busy these past three months. October was obviously all about Israel and Gaza and the horrific events unfolding there which continue to unfold there. But I've got to say it is that kind of story which is what the balance is all about. You know narratives which have become entrenched and then compounded and which need a real step back so that you can, as they say, see the wood for the trees. I hope you have had a chance to have a look at the editorials and the vidcasts which we did on Israel and Gaza, all up on the site and the YouTube channel. Even now, almost two months on, a lot of those, no they all, they all, they're still relevant such as the nature of this long-standing, entrenched conflict. So do have a look at them and let me know what you think. That was October. November and December have had a completely different focus which is why the analysis on that conflict and other world events has sort of dried up a little bit on the balance. The focus has been on me, quite frankly, and the next steps I'm taking in relation to my departure from TVNZ which was 19 months ago, 19 months, and I think a lot of people thought I would have simply disappeared and given up on all of that by now and I think some people probably wanted me to as well, to just go away. But the more time that has passed and the more that I've learnt and seen definitively just how much that media narrative took hold and has taken hold ever since, the more I have felt very strongly about how the facts need to come out and the record needs to be set straight and I know that is a phrase I use a lot but it really does encapsulate everything for me and for my family. I am not necessarily going to change people's opinions about me and I'm not necessarily going to clear my name and I'm saying that with air quotes and inverted commas but what's going to happen regardless of the outcome is that the facts are going to be out there on the record and people are going to be aware of what they didn't know. I'm even now aware of things that I didn't know. Some spectacularly inaccurate and baseless allegations lies which were being thrown around but also facts, actual facts which people had in their knowledge and possession and which they didn't use because I can only assume it didn't fit the story they wanted to tell. So let me just recap the developments of the past few months. On November 27th it was, I gave an interview to Duncan Garner on his podcast editor in chief and while there was still a lot I couldn't talk about, I did announce that I was taking legal action against TVNZ at the Employment Relations Authority, the ERA. Two, as I keep saying, set the record straight. I also told him that I was prepared to sell my house so that I could fund this action. For two reasons. One, lawyers cost a lot and this is just the start of proceedings really than I'm planning to take against many people involved. But also when your name and reputation have been destroyed and your prospects for future employment are bleak, if not non-existent, things get tough financially and making sure that my family is still supported and cared for is the absolute number one priority alongside setting the record straight. I am going to play you just a little of that interview with Duncan Garner now. This is a portion which he actually posted as a bonus podcast a day after the full interview was done and posted. And it's a segment where we dealt with mental health. I am not playing this for sympathy. I am playing it so people understand what the other side of a story like this is, how the center of the storm is a lonely old place and how it affects those close to you as well. Because when your name is continually preceded by the word disgraced and nearly always followed by scandal or debacle or controversy or saga, all of that has an effect. Duncan Garner, editor-in-chief. How has your mental health been? Rotten. Rotten. I went to a very dark place in the initial days after I left EVNZ because the media attention was so intense. It was being hounded out of my house, having details of where I lived and my car and color and make of the car and the value of the house and all that published online by the media. Not doxing as such, but it was plenty of information put out there. Media coming to the house. They tried to push through the door? Yeah, that was probably about four or five months later. There were reporters still coming to my house only four or five months ago, still trying to get the story. There was one reporter who tried to push their way and we were having renovations done at the house and they were talking to my contractors and saying, "Oh, is he leaving? Are they leaving the country?" When my wife went to go and talk to the reporter, the reporter was physically walking through the door and had to be pushed back out effectively. I mean, that has a huge effect. But yeah, those early days, I mean, I'm literally sitting in the bathroom reading the ingredients, is that the word, on the back of bottles of toilet cleaner and things that are in there. You're going to take your own life. And looking at what would be the most effective, what would actually put, yeah. My family had me on a 24 hour sort of side watch at one point. And that included my daughter. You know, my daughter was sitting there reading stories to me to keep me distracted. So you were looking at taking that serious step? Because it's funny because I always, I'd always looked at people who, you know, when you see someone's taking their own life and in a controversial circumstance, you would think, "Oh, well, nothing says guilt like suicide." And it's just not that. It's that not seeing a way out because it's so intense. And I think it's magnified here because it's a smaller place. And you just think, "This isn't going to stop." And in many ways it hasn't. But that acute, that acute period, you feel like it's not going to stop. So yeah, that was my first interview in 18 months. And as you could probably hear in that clip, it was not easy. I mentioned my daughter in that clip. And you know, she is a major reason why I am taking all this action. It's tough enough being a teenager. But she has had so much to deal with, being followed by reporters, being afraid to go out the front door of our house, having to change her family name, being afraid to say who her father is, having to read about what I've supposedly done. But having all of that for the rest of her life, don't forget. And this is why I'm always going on about setting the record straight because there is way more at stake here than just my future. Anyway, I'm glad I did that interview. And I'm glad also that when it was picked up by other media, they started to look at things a little closer. Yes, I'm still called disgraced in nearly every article. Yes, they still rehashed all the old anonymous allegations. But there was also, and I saw this in social media reaction to the articles, there was a bit more questioning, you know, people saying, why is he the one taking legal action? If he is talking about selling his house to do it, then he must be pretty serious about it. And I can assure you, I am very serious about this. Rebalance with Kamal Santa Maria. So that legal action will proceed in the new year. I've made my statement to the ERA. TVNZ have made their statement in reply. They have also made a counterclaim to which I have replied. So we've got claims and replies are running both ways. And it'll all get addressed together. And, you know, we'll just have to see where it all goes. Importantly, though, it will be in the public domain. TVNZ tried to get interim and permanent non-publication orders, as well as an order to seal the authorities file. Those orders were not granted. So matters can be reported on in the usual course because it is there in the public domain, and it is of public interest. And that is a crucial point because the Chief Ombudsman, Peter Boschia, said back in August, these are his words, quote, "The public has a legitimate and compelling interest in transparency and accountability for how TVNZ handled this high-profile incident." And I want you to know that I am absolutely fine with that. In fact, I welcome it. That is why I'm taking the action so that there is this transparency and accuracy. Everything in the past 19 months has been played out through the media through speculation, misreporting, in a lot of cases, agenda-driven journalism. So what this official legal action in front of an independent third-party authority means is that the facts can be presented for all to see and without the filters of others. The Balance, Journalism Without Agenda I just want to run through the other continuing action which I'm taking because these are all important threads which will be eventually woven together, I guess. First of all, you might remember the Roberts Report, which was commissioned by TVNZ while I was still an employee, aimed at reviewing TVNZ's hiring practices in general and specifically relating to my hiring. Now, I have never seen the Roberts Report, nor was I ever contacted or questioned or interviewed as part of it, which is interesting when it's a review looking into your hiring and my requests to see the report have been repeatedly refused as well. My legal team and I believe that this is all infringed on my privacy and that's why that case is now before the Privacy Commissioner. I say now, we are 14 months into that action and so we, again, just continue to wait for developments there. In addition, and the New Zealand Herald reported on this start of December, I have got a direct request in with TVNZ for all communications regarding myself because as a former employee, I am entitled to that. Now, it has taken 11 weeks, but other than initially receiving some personnel material, most of which I had anyway, we have finally got the first tranche of those documents, 1,565 of them, to be exact. So that is a bit of Christmas reading for me, but even just from taking an initial run at those documents, let me tell you, if you have ever wondered what work colleagues have been saying about you behind your back, even before you started the job, submit a Privacy Act request. Go on, because it is eye-opening to say the very least. And I am also making, if we add another layer to this, an Official Information Act request, an OIA, to the Minister for Media and Communications for all their communications concerning myself. There have been three different Ministers since I left TVNZ, and they will all have been kept informed of developments under something called the no surprises principle, because of course TVNZ is a Crown Entity. And basically, I would like to know what they have been told about me as well. You should be seeing by now a theme here, getting all the information regardless of how voluminous it may be, so that the facts can be reviewed and the record, here I go again, the record can be set straight, because the facts that are out there and have been out there for so long are not the full facts. You know, this whole setting the record straight thing, it is a slow, methodical and hugely expensive process. But I heard this phrase recently, which I'd not heard before, it goes, "A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting its boots on," or something to that effect. Short story, my boots are well and truly on. Okay, so that's about it. I do just want to say a quick thank you before I go. You know, when all of this kicked off, I did receive a few supportive and encouraging messages. But mainly got abusive and threatening ones against me and my family from people who knew neither me nor the facts. And on top of that, people I'd called friends and colleagues for decades said nothing and have still said nothing. I think the most worrying part about that is that 90% of them were journalists, but were apparently happy to believe everything they read and not come to the source. What is happening now though, and this is what I want to thank people for, is more and more supportive messages are coming through, you know, on places like LinkedIn or through my official website, KamalSantaMaria.com. There are public comments on my blog posts there as well. I've had some donations on Buy Me a Coffee as well. It has been so heartening to receive all of those. So to those of you who have sent messages, thank you from me and from my family because we really, really do appreciate it. For, you know, 19 months, you have heard a side of the story. And if you stick around, you will hear my side too, because that, dare I say, is what balance is all about. If you celebrate and eat it, do have a merry Christmas, enjoy yourselves, be safe, and we'll talk again in the new year. Thanks for listening. [BLANK_AUDIO]