Tahu Hole

Tahu Ronald Charles Pearce Hole CBE (29 March 1908 – 22 November 1985) was a New Zealand born journalist who was the BBC's television news editor during the period immediately following the Second World War.

Hole was born in New Zealand but was not, as may be inferred from his first name, of Māori descent. He trained as a journalist and worked for a number of newspapers in New Zealand and Australia, including the Sydney Morning Herald. He was the Herald's news editor for a time and in 1937 travelled to the United Kingdom as its London correspondent.

Hole was in London when Britain entered the Second World War and used the facilities of the BBC to send news of the conflict to Sydney. He later acted as a news commentator for the BBC and became a permanent member of staff in 1943. Soon after the war, the BBC's Director-General, William Haley, formed a news editorial board with himself as Editor-in-Chief and four other members, the most junior of whom was Hole as Overseas Talks Deputy. In 1947, the three more senior members departed, two choosing jobs elsewhere and one having to resign due to a serious illness. As the only remaining participant, Hole was promoted to news editor in 1948.

Hole was unpopular among his staff, partly for his authoritarian approach to management but also for his extreme caution in directing the news-gathering operation. He insisted that each news item be backed by at least two different sources, a requirement that was virtually impossible to fulfill and out of step with contemporary reporting practice. It was common for his staff either to miss reporting opportunities or to leak otherwise exclusive reports to other news agencies to create the impression of two separate sources. According to the Foreign News Editor of the time, Anthony Wigan, it is likely that Hole knew his staff were resorting to these tactics and, in this light, his policy can be seen as a measure to limit his own responsibilities rather than improve the quality of the news. Another reporter, Gerald Priestland, said in his 1986 autobiography: "He (Hole) took good care to make no operational decisions himself for which he might be blamed if things went wrong."

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