Robert Fisk, the bestselling author and Middle East correspondent of the Independent, has lived in Beirut for three decades and holds more British and international journalism awards than any other foreign correspondent.

Among his less glittering accomplishments, however, the man who would "speak the truth to power" has allowed something of a cargo cult to be created around him here in New Zealand, where his first visit to these shores a couple of years ago was treated with the kind of rapturous media sycophancy that Fisk has supposedly spent a professional lifetime cautioning against. And nor did the reverential treatment end at that point, with reporters now routinely calling “Beirut Bob” to find out what’s really happening out on the Arab Street.

One imagines Fisk back in Beirut, perhaps, out on the balcony of his apartment enjoying a wine, and silently shaking his head in puzzlement as the cricketing cellphone announces another journalist calling him from New Zealand. All the more so, one supposes, since few, if any, of those antipodean callers would understand that his bravest work — in some respects, his only truly brave work —has been in maintaining a consistently anti-Shia line in his political writing about Lebanon, especially against the ghastly Amal but also the Party of God, while remaining resident in a city where writing these things can very quickly get you killed.

More of the same sycophancy is on the cards again for early next month when the famous correspondent returns to this country for what almost certainly will be among the most ubiquitous media tours in local publishing history.

Somebody thought to send us a copy of Fisk's confidential itinerary, helpfully put together by local publisher HarperCollins, which shows the guest already booked in with virtually every local reporter this side of the gardening and water polo beats. The schedule will also take in half the country's universities.

Among the confirmed sessions will be appearances at Auckland, Canterbury, Victoria and AUT Universities, meetings with Fairfax Media and APN editorial staff, television and radio spots without end and a no doubt reverentially attended public lecture chaired by Scoop's Gordon Campbell (whose first exposure to Fisk in book form happened to be our own copy of Fisk's swollen Lebanon study, Pity the Nation). And this is the same gent who endlessly claims to have been snubbed by large swathes of the mainstream international press?

Nor will the activity commence the moment the revered guest first steps off his flight from Dubai. A number of pre-recorded appearances have also already been scheduled, starting next week with a 20-minute interview with Radio New Zealand's Kathryn Ryan.

Probably the most headline-grabbing interlude is set to take place on September 9, when Fisk is booked to visit the Te Tirahou Marae in Glen Innes to meet with a number of the individuals nabbed in last year's anti-terrorism raids.

The publisher has arranged for the defendants to be at the venue for "an opportunity to engage with the first people subject to the terrorism suppression laws in this country in a Maori context." The timing is opportune, of course, and some would say mischievous, as the defendants' depositions hearing begins in September and is expected to last for the entire month.

Still, no one will be able to accuse the visitor of poking an unwelcome nose into local legal affairs simply for the money. The asking price for his marae visit, according to HarperCollins, is no more than "a mattress," should Beirut Bob wish to end his national tour by kipping over at the marae for the night. Pity the nation indeed.