Hadyn Jones looks back at 15 years’ of Good Sorts, and how it came to be.
Fifteen years ago, I was sent to the American Cable News Network (CNN) in Atlanta to learn how they operate and hang out with other journalists from around the world.
I had just missed out on the European Correspondent’s job for 1News, and I suspected my bosses at the time thought it might cheer me up. It was an amazing experience, and the one thing that stuck in my brain on the plane on the way home was a show they had on called Heroes.
It’s still going and is an impressive half hour of stunning stories. The current CNN Hero of the Year is a man who houses people’s dogs while their owners get treatment for addiction.
So when I returned, I got brave and wandered into my boss’s office and suggested we do something like Heroes but make it really Kiwi. Every day people, on the news, doing nice things in their community. Not rocket science but definitely good for the soul.
To his credit, he said yes straight away, and we spent the rest of the time kicking around a name. After much debate, Goodsorts was decided on.
I was keen to do something very different for news at the time. We would take nominations from our audience. You. New Zealanders having a say in who they see on the news. I had no idea how it would go and had to find my first Good Sort.
Longtime cameraman Dean Whitehead in Whangārei is a good friend and he put me onto Chris Geerkens – a boy he had filmed while covering a protest march to stop the council dumping sewage into the harbour.
Once that first episode aired, the nominations flooded in. Good Sorts had found a home in the New Zealand consciousness. I never thought, however, that it would still be going strong 15 years later.
Although I rarely appear on Good Sorts, I narrate them, and people often stop me and say two things constantly.
“I’m glad you’ve come to our small town.”
“Finally, something positive on the news.”
Fifteen years later, the news is the same but different. I’m delighted to observe the good in life is celebrated more and more, and there is still a tiny spot at the end of the news on a Sunday night, just after the weather, where I get the chance to peek into a window on a part of New Zealand that needs some light shined on it.
It has been and continues to be a privilege. Thank you, New Zealand.
