Former TVNZ Staff member, Liz Gunn, destroys Mike Hosking in her Facebook post calling on TVNZ to sack him…

I remember when I worked with him , he maintained as his mantra, with his now usual level of inordinate pride, the intended-to-be sardonic saying of Gordon Gecko in the original ” Wall St ” movie – namely , that ” Greed Is Good” . He often repeated it off air, with that faux air of Great Authority . We all thought he was joking at first, but he was serious . I started to feel nauseous as I heard it repeated on many days, and as I saw the results of such a perspective in his approach to interviewees, and in his manipulative media pronouncements -now foisted on viewers each evening at peak time, and always aimed at endorsing Neo Liberal ideology . He has maintained that dire stance throughout his career, admiring those who exhibit the most greed and reviling those who struggle under the weight and demands of the greedy few . When I left TVNZ , I left with the most profound pity for such a dessicated human , so bereft of empathy or compassion for his fellow Kiwis , especially those who are facing difficulty or , God forbid, failure . The year I did Breakfast with him , he went out of his way to undermine me in every way he could find . My goal became a very simple one…to get in early and sit quietly in that darkened studio and say a quiet resolution – a whispered prayer -asking for help so that I would never react and never never sink to his level. That I would maintain my own dignity and never let the hurts show in any overt reaction to his many attempts to humiliate and belittle . It was a year of teeth-gritting , white knuckle survival . A quiet triumph . Every day. Over the passive and overt bullying . I have never spoken of it in public until now , when it is relevant here, to the issue of the sort of man whom TVNZ have placed in such a position of influence. I used to wonder if he would ever find that point where his lust for money or power could be satiated ? If he would ever find authentic , not trumped -up happiness, on that heavy path of the pursuit of “still-more money “? And I wondered too what had shaped a man so lacking in human kindness ? I hope he can one day turn this around. He always wanted to be Paul Holmes but he never could emulate the real Paul . In spite of Paul’s self -admitted human fallibilities, Paul genuinely cared for people when he saw them suffering . He had a huge heart for Kiwis . Paul himself knew suffering. I wonder if Mike has ever allowed himself to feel that vulnerability? Do those who won’t open to their own pain , risk becoming in-suffer-able.? I do not think he is a healthy touchstone for NZ broadcasting . I hope with time and perhaps some of the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, himself, he can find a more real place , a more human face , a more caring heart for his fellow Kiwis . Until then, I wish for a far more empathetic nightly host to take his place at 7 pm . I endorse this petition . Liz Gunn