National promises to reverse RNZ-TVNZ merger – but only if it’s not too tricky
National Party broadcasting spokesperson Melissa Lee is promising to reverse the planned merger of state broadcasters RNZ and TVNZ – but there’s a catch.
Lee made the promise during a Newshub Nation interview, saying she was convinced the proposed merger would be bad for media and freedom of the press. But she later backtracked, slightly, adding a significant caveat under questioning from reporters.
“I am going to reverse it,” she said, originally.
Let’s be very clear what Melissa Lee is promising the people of NZ – More Fuck Boy Island!
Under National, their Broadcasting Policy will be to feed the worst elements of ratings crazed TVNZ, and the very worst that ratings crazed TVNZ will vomit up is Fuck Boy Island and that’s the lowest grade public broadcasting shit National are promising NZers now.
Melissa Lee wants to feed ratings crazed TVNZ who that it keeps spewing out this garbage.
The RNZ/TVNZ Merger is to stop the Fuck Boy Island shit from happening by in jetting some of RNZs journalism into TVNZs garbage factory, but because all National can do is tear shit down, Melissa Lee will rip the merger apart, costing fuck knows how much money, all so that the shit we get now is the only shit we will ever get.
Yay. What progress!
The chorus of screaming that has erupted amongst private media being robbed of their NZ on Air trough is just so hilarious.
They dress this self interest up as the importance of ‘media pluralism’, like being stuck at a dinner party between the Spin-off and Stuff arguing who hates heteronormative cis white males the most, that kind of ‘pluralism’.
They are so addicted to NZ on Air money they have conformed their editorial policies to gain access to funding.
Now look, I absolutely believe that there must be Government funding for public broadcasting, this is a Fourth Estate requirement for a functioning democracy, but that funding should actually go to fucking journalism, not ‘diverse voices in the media’, which is what the funding is funding!
It’s wonderful that we have so many publicly funded angry feminist podcasts, but is it actually it doing any journalism?
We can’t starve mainstream media from funding that will generate journalism that is free from corporate constraints.
Most current affairs shows are advertised and sponsored by corporations who are actually part of the problem. We need journalism that is publicly funded that can challenge those corporations and their power over policy decisions.
We need journalism that is free of money influence.
That is what NZ on Air should be funding.
Instead it’s all middle class identity politics woke bullshit that never talks about capitalism, class or economic justice in favour of middle class social justice vegan glee clubs.
The extraordinarily gross Fuck Boy Island commissioned by TVNZ shows why the RNZ/TVNZ merger must happen, because TVNZ thinks Fuck Boy Island is public broadcasting!
RNZ would never have allowed Fuck Boy Island to occur.
Can you imagine Kim Hill judging Fuck Boy Island?
How about Ethical Slut Island?
This isn’t Public Broadcasting that uplifts or builds the people or audiences involved, it demeans. I’m no prude, if a private company wanted Fuck Boy Island, knock yourself out, go for it, but on the Public Broadcaster?
We saw on the lawns of Parliament what confused and frightened citizens led by Social media disinformation hate algorithms can cause, we need a powerful Public Broadcasting asset to combat that madness or our Democracy will be lost.
This is why we need the merger.
This is why the merger needs that $80m from NZ on Air.
This means NZ on Air are less powerful.
This means the private media who have traded editorial independence and actual journalism in for woke virtue signals are hurt financially.
This means money interests in NZ might actually be challenged for the first time.
There is a lot of vested interest in killing the merger off.
What the Government must do is sort out the alternative funding structures for NZ on Air.
The $55million Public Interest Journalism fund runs out shortly and with a cut in NZ on Air funding, the Government must find new ways to source income for NZ on Air to distribute for JOURNALISM.
The answer is something the Government are already pursuing, the Journalism Tax on Google and Facebook would raise $40million per year.
This money could be ring fenced and sent straight to NZ on Air as a market solution to funding the journalism that Google and Facebook undermine!
On top of this, TV One could go advert free so as to allow private media to benefit from the redistribution of advertising.
The Government must show private media how NZ on Air will gain extra funding to do the JOURNALISM they are obliged to provide or else continue to have the merger attacked relentlessly.
Look at how the Real Estate market saturate media with advertising and then turn on that media when they talk down real estate?
Look at how the farming interests saturate Talkback radio with advertising to always promote their political world view.
Look at how free market capitalism is NEVER challenged in any media.
When you suddenly see that, you understand why National and ACT are already promising to destroy the merger if elected.
The last thing they want is actual journalism.
It is THESE interests that need challenging from Fourth Estate Journalism, not more angry feminist podcasts on the Spin Off.
Remember, the RNZ-TVNZ merger would represent the first time in 6 fucking years that Labour actually achieved something off their manifesto, so the political capital at stake here is enormous!
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And this is when National fuck themselves over trying to be everything to everyone. What should have been said:
1). Reverse it as it is a giant waste of money, will achieve nothing and otherwise politicize broadcasting.
2). Review all Broadcasting funding such as NZ on Air with an aim to remove as much wastage as possible.
3). Use funding to re-create a effective 4th estate with diversity of opinion free from government oversight and funding.
Traditional broadcasting is a sunset industry that is only just surviving due to government funding and advertising. Take these away and the traditional industry collapses such as Stuffed et al. Media and Broadcasting will become more diverse, more specialized, net based and more fractured. The money spent on the merger would be better spent burning in 40 gallon drums to warm up homeless people in winter.
Put a fork in it – it’s done as are the partisan hacks masquerading as journalists.
Well she has a history in private media does she not? Melissa is probably looking after her mates.
More Fboy island, more MasterChef, more DIY shows, more Treasure Island.
All National care about is profit and money, nothing about the public good. The merger will purge our TV screens of any and all reality TV and we will have wall to wall current affairs and documentaries instead.
If your bows get any longer Martyn you’ll be writing your blog from the Bahamas…
Melissa Lee who? Bwahahaaa, sit down
Careful Bomber, you might get banned from the new RNZ as well…
I’m surprised these shows still exist. I’m working remotely from home. We use MS teams to keep in touch with each other and work. Often we say tv series we are or movie we are watching We all watch streaming TV, via Netflix, Prime etc. nobody for years has mentioned shortland st or any other cooking show or reality tv show. Not one person that I work with who is under 30 watches shortland street, cos if you do you’re considered a bit simple
35% of 15-39s watch TV or listen to radio daily. Radio NZ caters for less than 15% of the population. It is dying. Let them RIP rather than wasting time with a merger.
https://www.nzonair.govt.nz/news/generational-divide-widens-latest-nz-air-audience-survey/
Want NZ content – there’s loads its just not on TVNZ or RNZ just like NZ’s bestest and greatest podcast not funded by NZ on Air. Spread the pot a little thinner to bloggers, podcasters subject to a (if only) non political code of conduct.
Public journalism is a different beast – OK merge that and let it supply content to RNZ and TVNZ but be prepared to deliver more of it through Youtube/Tik Tok and the next big thing.
I don’t give 2 hoots to fuckboy. Will the merger create independent journalism, will it reduce middle class woke nonsense – I am not sure how we reached that conclusion.
Public sector actively support and promote woke. All know which side the bread is buttered. Welcome to Wellington.
woke = promotion of civil liberties, privacy in tolerance.
This merger needs to be pushed through. I am willing to shed blood for it to be imposed.
Ken Burns docos forever!!
Sorry dude anything that is bad for NZ media is a vote winner right now that is how awful they have been. There is going to be a significant chunk of the electorate looking forwards to the schadenfreude of mass layoffs at NZ Media companies.
A simple merger is not going to cut it.
Bring back Lindsay Parigo or Sean Plunket. Just someone that asks some
difficult, un pleasant hard questions….yes I know Jack tane is wonderful…but he could be tougher on the Government.
i have observed that even when we’ve had periods of reasonable standards of journalism in this country we still suffered from abysmal policies pushed by incompetent politicians.
But I do agree with MB, we will be in grave peril if we have no healthy journalism here, it’s as important as good education.
Even IF and when Melissa gets her way, we’ll STILL have one of the most over managed PB systems in the Whurl. Where managerialist salaries for people that don’t contribute much of any use deprive actual content producers of a decent living.
Even when we had a population of 2 million, the excuse was we couldn’t afford non-commercial PSB. Now it’s 5 plus mill. The ticket clippers have grown in numbers (all with salaries that are way above their actual contribution to a PSB functioning system – I see one ‘CEO’ is up for a $2m severance). $6m has been set aside for ‘branding’ FFS!. Why do we need to “rebrand” RNZ Neshnool, ConcertmFM, Pasufuk, Television 1, 2 Duke or Plus FFS?
We don’t We just need to remind them what they’re supposed to be there for, who is it, and was it that provided the assets they ride on, and who pays for their feeding at the trough
RNZ – CEO and board
TVNZ -CEO and board
NuZull on Ear – CEO and board
Kordia – CEO and board
Te Māngai Pāho – CEO and board.
And what do we get for all that? 3 Radio networks (National, Concert FM and Pacific), A couple of shit Television networks (Television One and Television 2 plus a couple of add ons (Duke and Plus).
This shouldn’t be a merger. It should be a RNZ Takeover of TVNZ. AND it should go further.
Kordia profits (if and where there are any) should go directly into content production.
If you took their annual salaries plus their frivolities, there’d be a substantial amount available to produce ekshull content. Maybe even enough to exercise the egos of ‘The Working Group’ on some sort of mass media ‘platform’ in the media ecosystem, going forward.
And then of course there’s the minutia. A Independent Crown Entity (ICE) at the very least – even if the sources of income (such as a subsidiary Kordia and otherwise) operate as commercial enterprises (in the media ecosystem, going forward)
Actually, the majority of mainstream TV programming is so terrible that it doesn’t really matter if the proposed merger goes ahead. Other channels will screen bad programmes as well. It’s television and internet which, over the course of quite a long period of time, has become really terrible. There’s some nice Christian channels out there still, though. And thank goodness that infomercials aren’t as prolific as they once were.
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