Naked newsreading: Lewis streaks in (+pics)

DAVID WHITE/Sunday Star-Times

DAVID WHITE/Sunday Star-Times

DAVID WHITE/Sunday Star-Times

DAVID WHITE/Sunday Star-Times

FINAL ADJUSTMENTS: Bikini streaker Lisa Lewis will front Alt TV's Naked News Flash on weeknights.

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No wonder she got the job. Lisa Lewis is so comfortable with her body that she strolled into her audition completely starkers and walked out as the nation's first nude newsreader.

Lewis shot to "world famous in New Zealand" status in 2006 after stripping down to a tiny bikini and streaking across the field during the closing moments of the All Blacks v Ireland rugby test in Hamilton.

Now the exotic dancer and solo mum will be full-fronting the 10pm Naked News Flash on independent station Alt TV. And she is unfazed about being beamed in the buff across the nation's living rooms and to global audiences via a live internet stream. Her parents know what she's doing and she is used to relying on her body for a living.

"I'm 27. I might as well use this body at its peak maybe for another three years and see where it takes me."

Sponsored by a condom manufacturer, the five-minute show starts next Monday and will feature the Hamilton resident reading the day's top stories. The channel, which screens on Sky Digital 65 and free-to-air on UHF, says Lewis would be tastefully tucked behind a newsdesk on a set with a slightly retro theme.

According to Alt TV, Lewis aced the interview.

She says she was nervous until she took her clothes off, but coming out of the changing room wearing only high heels was a misunderstanding. All the other applicants auditioned topless only, so she quickly pulled on some pants. But the interviewers none of whom saw her completely naked were won over by her newsreading skills, honed by reading Thomas the Tank Engine and Schnitzel von Krumm books aloud to her toddler son.

The station has been quick to defend Naked News Flash, freely admitting it is a publicity stunt designed to raise its profile and hook new viewers.

Creative director Oliver Driver says having a naked presenter is simply taking the idea of news as entertainment to its logical conclusion. "We want to take the piss out of the news because the news is crap. Have you seen the news lately? Especially television news. It's Jin the missing otter, it's Nicky Watson's lost dog." But Driver insists it's not going to be a joke. The news content will be "robust", gathered by Alt TV staff from news wires and the internet.

"But in order to get you to watch good news we'll take titillation to its extreme. And we also want to make it funny. We want to make it entertaining to watch. The last thing this is about is porn or anything like that."

Driver is not ruling out the possibility of further naked presenters, men included.

Political science lecturer Joe Atkinson wonders why the channel is defending the show as "news". "It's a form of larrikin titillation and that's fine. Why don't they defend it as larrikin titillation?"

Victoria University lecturer Alison Laurie, who specialises in gender studies and is a former radio journalist, says she isn't offended by the idea of the show, but having a naked newsreader talking about grim and serious current events is a mismatch. She defines the concept as gratuitous. "What is the point?"

For her part, Lewis believes she is perfect for the role. "As soon as I heard what they were looking for I basically figured that's me to a T-bone.

"I'm quite opinionated... and I've always said the naked body is considered a piece of art, so there's two packages in one that I feel I can represent."

The blonde-turned-brunette is planning to brush up on current events and her fledgling newsreading skills before the job starts, but has no special plans to get ready physically. Dancing four nights a week as an adult entertainer and watching her diet keeps her trim. She swears by spirulina to get through her days as a mum to her three-year-old son and as a late-night worker.

- © Fairfax NZ News