Stuff is sad sad that their NZ on Air sugar daddy has gone…
Public Interest Journalism Fund closes
A $55m contestable fund for New Zealand journalism has now closed.
The fund was created to support media through the Covid-19 downturn which saw some titles close at the outset of the pandemic. It was administered through NZ On Air until June 30, which will continue to have oversight as some projects continue past the application process.
According to NZ On Air it provided seven rounds of funding, for 73 projects, 219 roles and 22 industry development projects. By the end of April the funding had gone towards more than 60,000 pieces of news content, with more than 134 million views.
…the fundamental problem with the Public Interest Journalism fund was that it had nothing to do with journalism and it came with editorial demands.
Anyone taking taxpayer money including our public broadcasters have an obligation to uphold the very best journalistic values, but that’s not the NZ on Air funding demands, it demanded an editorial position!
Here are examples of the editorial “guidance” from NZ on Air:
• Māori have never ceded sovereignty to Britain or any other state.
• …our society has a foundation of institutional racism.
• For news media, it is not simply a matter of reporting ‘fairly’, but of constructively contributing to te Tiriti relations and social justice.
• How does the [media] organisation cover the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and efforts to enact it such as He Puapua?… For publicly funded news media, He Puapua recommends ‘increasing the number of Māori governors, te reo and Māori cultural content.’
• Repeated references by the government to the English version [of the Treaty], in which Māori supposedly ceded sovereignty, have created systematic disinformation that protects the government’s assumption of sole parliamentary sovereignty.
In short, NZ On Air handed out millions of taxpayers’ money with the strong recommendation that journalists not only accept but promote the view that Māori never ceded sovereignty to the Crown; that Parliament’s “sole sovereignty” is an “assumption”; that New Zealand’s institutions are inherently racist; and that concepts of “fairness” should not get in the way of promoting the prescribed interpretation of the Treaty.
This isn’t journalism!
This isn’t about the values of journalism!
This isn’t about the training, supporting and building of journalism!
This is a social engineering editorial line and it is inappropriate in the extreme to tie public funding of money for journalism to any editorial line!
Now, the crazy thing is I absolutely agree with the aims of their editorial position on Māori, but I sure as Christ won’t be told what to fucking write!
This is not Public Interest Journalism, it’s social engineering for agreed woke Wellington middle class virtue signals.
By playing to middle class virtue signals, the Government avoided the heavy lifting to rebuild the shattered free market monstrosity they have now!
The echo chamber of elite opinion that has Newsroom sharing content with RNZ, sharing content with the Spin-off, sharing content with Stuff, sharing content with Newshub – the same echo chamber repeating the same values.
What we need is a total rethink on public money spent on journalism. Currently it is handed out via a deeply invested NZ on Air who give their mates money to produce angry feminist mommy blogger podcasts no on watches.
The problem with the current model is that it is NZ on Air mates funding other NZ on Air mates to form an echo bunker of elite opinion that never has to dirty itself with reality.
All that is being generated by the current funding model is The Spin-off sharing their content with RNZ/Stuff/TVNZ etc etc etc. An endless social engineering campaign that promotes diversity over white cis male facts.
What we need is NZ on Air ‘Read between the Flags’ Kiwi journalism
In a world of disinformation, we need journalism we can trust. We all get the ‘swim between the flag’ model of surf life saving, NZ on Air should be given extra funding for ‘Read between the flags’ Kiwi Journalism. This money is to ensure plurality of voice for independent media, Māori media, specific communities, news blogs and mainstream news media who become eligible if they agree to a set of Journalistic Principles.
These Journalistic Principles are fact checking stories, attempting to get comment and providing right of replies, protecting sources and attempts to hear the other side of the story.
If you do agree and sign up and can show a body of work that proves your journalism, you are entitled to funding and must have a Kiwi Journalism flag on your site to show you are obliged to follow the Journalistic Principles Code of conduct.
You would have an awareness campaign to urge NZers to ‘read between the flags’ for trusted information.
The mainstream media cry that they were tainted by taking Public Interest Journalism fund money, and they were because they had to agree to specific editorial demands rather than journalistic values.
The Public Interest Journalism fund was virtue signalling, it wasn’t journalism.
Increasingly having independent opinion in a mainstream media environment which mostly echo one another has become more important than ever, so if you value having an independent voice – please donate here.
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The central issue around the time that the ‘$55m contestable fund’ came into being was not race related. Lets not kid ourselves or hide from what the real reason for that fund was….
A O – 100% correct…it was never about supporting public journalism
Yeah, I mean, it’s driven me to the point where I’m actually, seriously, considering paying for the NZ Herald.
Who’d’ve ever thought. . .
Editorial guidelines from the Labour Party/ NZ Government via NZ on Air…
2 + 2 = 5
War is peace
The sky is green
Clocks now strike 13
Maori never ceeded sovereignty
Move over Joe Stalin, the Soviet State and all its worst propaganda techniques made a come back.
That a government used a pandemic like Covid as an opportunity to spread blatant misinformation and then dictate the direction of politcal narratives is possibly the most alarming thing this government has ever done, (and God knows they’ve done a lot of bad). That they had the audacity to come up with the”podium of truth,” whist manipulating this lying agenda is unforgivable.
I just cannot guess which shadowy figures fingerprints within the caucus in a caucus are all over this bullshit. It makes the entire pandemic and its response look highly suspect, doesn’t it?
I cannot believe I voted for these dishonest creeps. No wonder Jacinda got the fuck out of Dodge. What other delights are lurking in the background?
Well done Martyn, this is real journalism, and I thank you. It now makes perfect sense as to why RNZ became so unlistenable, why I deleted Stuff years ago, why cash strapped media outlets refer to Auckland as Tamaki Makaurau, etc, etc!
Note to next government. Take the people with you, plain and simple but never ever sneak around in the shadows like these arseholes!
Stalin’s press actually told the truth. The neoliberal running dogs of Labour, not so much.
Why did NZ have such a low death rate from Covid if the government was spreading blatant misinformation?
What about Luxon wanting to allow taking money from KiwiSaver to pay rental bonds yet ignoring the obvious result of leaving renters worse off while subsiding the rental industry?
How about complaining about potholes when the last National government reduced road maintenance?
There is an old saying, how do you know a politician is lying? Their lips are moving. Thankfully things are not quite that bad but anyone thinking that the blue team is any better is only fooling themself.
NZ didn’t have a low death rate. We had a low death rate compared to absolute s**thole countries like the US and UK.
This is not about the blue team, Jesus wept, why is it when anyone finds fault in Labour, which is easier than shooting fish in a barrel, they think it’s pimping for National. I can’t stand them either! It has long reached a critical mass where Labour have to go.
The government “can’t afford” most of the N.Z.B.C. radio stations and half of the T.V. stations, but they happily hand over cash to press barons. What a great scam!
Remember this is the same newspaper monopoly that was so bad that the new management over at Packer-Fairfax H.Q. decided it was completely worthless — and sold it to an obscure Irish journalist (with no apparent entrepreneurial background), for just $1.00!
There must be many thousands of people who no longer buy these junk newspapers, or listen to the nonsensical local corporate broadcasters. At some point a serious independent press will need to step up, as there are far too many ‘low information voters’ to arrest the nation’s collapse into backwardness at present.
Kristoff R. “ There must be many… no longer buy… or listen.” 100%. I miss them. Get the freebie neighbourhood papers for window cleaning and rubbish wrapping, and that’s it, unfortunately.
In a speech marking the centenary of the signing of the Treaty, Sir Apirana Ngata stated that
“Clause 1 of the Treaty handed over the mana and the sovereignty of New Zealand to Queen Victoria and her descendants forever. That is the outstanding fact today. That but for the shield of the sovereignty handed over to Her Majesty and her descendants I doubt that there would be a free Maori race in New Zealand today.”
Bit late to be putting this out now Bomber some of us have known about these guidelines for 2 years!
Why doesn’t Stuff and Red Radio share the Platform s story s.
quelle dommage
Thank fuck for that. The wokester taxpayer paid, funds for idiot woke journos and their questionable grasp on truth and reality, is being shut down.
Much of what you rightly criticise above has been said for a while by NZ First and Hobson’s pledge, who you have been deriding in another opinion piece on this site – I’m confused!
Note that the PIJF was not a grant, it was a suspensory loan that could be reclaimed if the media ever breached the “guidelines” in future.
So, the venal partisan impact of the Ministry of Information / Propaganda will continue…
Yep, how long before stuff announces a restructuring and dozens (hundreds?) Of redundancies now that it will have to pay its own way. Definitely a go woke go broke looming
Shouldn’t take them long to go broke now Tova has turned up.
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