Oh Yay.
NZ on Air has $10million more to give to The Spin-Off to make more angry feminist podcasts no one will watch while the Radio Station that banned me for life gets $25million more.
Let’s not forget that RNZ recently tumbled in the JMAD Media Trust ranking by 14.5%.
That feels like more money for elite public opinion rather than a watch dog on Democracy. Sure Guyon’s recent expose on Left wing consultants was fun, but seeing as a lot of those people were Twitter friends with his ex wife, it feels more like personal vendetta after a break up than pure journalism.
Can we get Guyon to break up with the Banks, Speculators and Corporates so he can do more revenge journalism there?
Now the RNZ/TVNZ Merger has been killed, Public Broadcasting goes back to the slimy ‘who is Facebook friends with NZ on Air execs’ model where public money is pumped into mates projects.
A small closed circle of elite opinion makers who scratch each others backs for funding.
This week The Working Group, (a political podcast with NO NZ on Air funding) beat the NZ on Air funded ones…
…again…
…the most jaw dropping recent NZ on Air funding decision (other than the millions they’ve already poured into the Spin-off), was to give Alison Mau money to review a Woke Opera that was also funded by Public money.
Why doesn’t NZ on Air go the full hog and publicly fund the Woke Opera, publicly fund the review of the Woke Opera and just publicly fund people to go watch the Woke Opera, that way you’ll have the Wellington virtuous circle of public funding from concept, to review, to watching it without reality ever having to encroach.
The hope was the RNZ/TVNZ merger could bypass the cliques and generate new content providers on a huge new public broadcasting platform, unfortunately it’s right back to crony Wellington mates looking after other crony Wellington mates to make content no one other than the woke want.
The only winner here is the Spin-Off and mediocrity.
Someone at some stage has to ask how The Spin-Off can get so much public money with so little scrutiny.
I’m excited to hear the new angry queer feminist podcast this money will be spent on.
I hope it’s hosted by a middle class mommy blogger. I want her to love tofu and be really militant about cycling while wearing T-shirts proclaiming Fonterra is an empire built upon bovine rape.
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Quite right there Martyn. That $25 million is going to pretty much go into a big abyss.
Sorry Martyn. We value you 🙂
The whole state broacasting need to be seriously looked at and severely pruned. Get this for a waste of your money: ZB, with top listenership, has 3 producers. RNZ Morning Show, distant second, has… wait for it, 15 producers. What the fuck for Willie Jackson? Fire 12 of them now.
Martyn that ban on you was outrageous. I think your Working Group is brilliant – please keep it up!
National and ACT would be fools NOT to imply election interference here. It’s certainly election-interference-adjacent AND if nothing else anti-competitive behaviour.
Personally I believe it’s blatant, in-your-face corruption.
PS – Every little bit helps increase inflation =(
For that 35 million we could have bought some 40 odd houses and maybe gotten 200 odd people out of emergency accommodation, all fully paid.
What Wellington bureaucrats fail to recognise is that in Auckland (where a third of our people live) no one listens to RNZ. There’s no functioning public transport so we are on the Southern Motorway for an hour each way our Jap imports listening to podcasts or the only two stations under 90fm (where a Jap import radio stops) – Mai FM at 88.6 and NewsTalkZB at 89.4. That’s a major factor in why Hosking rates up here.
The echo chamber of RNZ and the Spinoff doesn’t add to our diversity of voices. If Willie Jackson recognises this it’d be good to see a few bucks go to a genuinely innovative home-grown political podcast that entertains and informs.
I’d shut the whole lot down and train them to either wait at tables or drive diggers (nursing would be beyond them).
That way they might be of use to society.
Lots of scum bags in main stream media..the grants shows this
Is MB going to give his Kent Brockton five cents about the extraordinary Mani Dunlop and her fiancee, Justice Minister Kiri Allan?