Why bother having a Minister of Broadcasting if all she does is fiddle while the industry burns?

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Newshub imploding because they didn’t platform your Qanon claims of a shadowy one world Government ‘plandemic’ is like a book burner angry their poem didn’t get published…

Patrick Gower defends Newshub from ‘keyboard warriors’ after confirmed closure

Paddy Gower has slammed “keyboard warriors” claiming the media is getting what it deserves for going “woke” amid mass job losses.

TV3 journalist and TV host Patrick Gower spoke to Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking this morning following yesterday’s Newshub meeting where the closure of Newshub was confirmed.

Hosking asked Gower what he would say to those who say “you go woke, you go broke” and claim the media was bribed by the former Labour government.

“Get stuffed, and actually go away and, to use the term they use, do your own research,” Gower fired back.

…if it’s ‘Go Woke, Go Broke’, why the fuck has Reality Check Radio gone down the gurgler?

Newshub is being cut because Warner Bros are here for geopolitical considerations as the Cold War heats up between America and China in the South Pacific and they want to extend soft power culture hegemony here, not investigative journalism!

TDB Recommends NewzEngine.com

NZ’s poorly regulated media industry hasn’t helped and this is where the Minister of Broadcasting is hopelessly out of her depth.

Her farcical interviews where she repeats the same bullshit talking points she’s been fed is like scared rabbit in the headlights!

Newshub is Fourth Estate infrastructure!

It’s like the Cook Straits Ferry, or the fucking Harbour Bridge, you can’t just leave Newshub to implode!

Look, I’ve been blacklisted by Newshub BUT EVEN I acknowledge its importance!

I’ve been highly critical of their news coverage in the past, but that doesn’t mean I don’t respect its role in our media landscape!

Melissa Lee is a hopeless Broadcasting Minister!

She makes Chris Faafoi look brilliant and competent, and that’s almost impossible!

Her shrug and claim that this is the market working misunderstands the enormity of what is happening here!

Her argument that no one watches TV misunderstands that all of Newshub’s journalism features online and influences well beyond the TV screen in the Lounge Room!

Why bother having a Minister of Broadcasting if all she does is fiddle while the industry burns?

The problem is we have a Government that wants you to be dumb and fractured and arguing amongst yourselves rather than holding them to account.

This will begin a dangerous slide. The Fourth Estate aren’t just any other ‘business’ they are critical to the functioning of our democracy.

We have an obligation to try and save Newshub the way we would have an obligation to repair the Cook Strait Ferries or the Harbour Bridge.

The way we do that is:

1 – Dump the Korda transmission fees.

2 – Make TV1 advert free and allow that revenue source to transfer to Newshub.

3 – Get NZ on Air to fund ‘Read between the Flag’ Kiwi Journalism that can get funding by following NZ Journalism standards.

There are ways to protect and save our Fourth Estate even if we don’t agree with their editorial approaches.

Fighting for Newshub is a fight for the institutions that hold the powerful to account, we all have an interest as citizens to ensure it doesn’t shut.

Democracy Dies in Darkness and we have a Minister of Broadcasting turning off the light!

 

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60 COMMENTS

    • But why are we the only country in the world that expects state funded media to pay a dividend to the government.

      • Uncle Tom Cobbly – TVNZ needed to pay the dividends due to its’ near monopoly position within TV broadcasting, plus the Government paying very high salaries to staff…it is a trade off, lower salaries = no dividends, higher salaries = dividends.

    • Why should we the taxpayer finance a failing business model that has been too slow to react,too slow to spot the critical signs of change.

      • Yes, we should not fund Charter schools, quite right Bob. Idiot, incompetent and financially illiterate this Coalition of chaos government

      • Because the corrupt people you salivate over need to watched and I sure as hell don’t want private media being the only answer. That brought us Rupert Murdoch.

  1. Yes another vacuous Minister..

    Lee always was an air-head, is still an air-head and always will be an air- head..

    Like about 99.9% of the current crop of Ministers in the Coalition of
    Chaos, she doesn’t know what the fuck she is doing…

    What, i say, is the point of her existence in Parliament apart from being a self serving ticket-clipper of the taxpayer’s money..

    Fortunately, they will all be gone in under 3 years…

    That’s why Clusterfuxon is now talking about 6 year ‘aspirational goals’, a stupid nonsensical expression when obviously unachievable with what they are proposing.

    He’s trying to con enough of the electorate that him winning the next election is a given….

    The mad deluded flailings of someone who is already on the way out!

    Started , farted, slipped, and fell…

    • That’s the problem though. People like Trevor and Bob the First just parrot Luxon’s messaging. Regardless of actual numbers Luxon talks shit and they lap it up.

    • Yes, she is useless, but we already knew that the problem is they (the Coc) are getting rid of the other parties’ policies but have nothing decent to replace them with but weasel words. You get what you voted for.

    • Great rant. At this point I don’t think I’m in a position to judge Lee’s handling of broadcasting. But what I do know about her is that she was one of only eight MP’s who found the courage to oppose the inclusion of gender identity in the legislation batting “Conversion Practices”, which may result in prosecutions of any parents or medical practitioners who are reluctant to embrace medicalization of a child’s gender dysphoria.

    • Complete and utter nonsense Grant the Coalition of the Competent doing what needs to be done,full marks to them.

  2. Lee has said that she finds it boring discussing these things, in which case she shouldn’t be in the job.

  3. Just like the Cook Strait ferry, there is a private operator functioning in parallel with the disaster that is KiwiRail and turning a profit doing it. Bluebridge.

    RCR (Rabbit Hole Radio) was always doomed because it just wasn’t catering to a wide enough audience, but The Platform is doing quite nicely providing balanced interviews of interesting people across a wide spectrum of opinion. You should give it a go – your numbers would skyrocket! 😉

    • “Balanced interviews”

      Insert Tui ad here.

      Andrew your own bias seems lost on the fact Martyns invited guests come from both sides of the political spectrum. Rather than searching every possible nook and cranny to bring Martyns political views down and promote your own right wing neoliberalism and privatization.
      Try looking past your bias- give it a go- this site will open your mind.

    • But is the platform profitable or propped up by Wright Foundation.
      It would not survive if it had to be commercial

      • Plunket’s uncertain future with the talkback station followed concerns from advertisers about the discussions taking place on air.

        Banks’ on-air discussion wasn’t the first time Magic Talk had been accused of, and lost money due to, racist comments. In December, the Broadcasting Standards Authority fined MediaWorks $3000 and ordered Plunket make an apology for his “offensive and harmful” interview with an iwi leader.

        The BSA, in its December ruling, said Plunket amplified racism and insulted Te Whānau ā Apanui during an interview about iwi-led roadblocks during the Covid-19 lockdown.

  4. A classic gNat. Pull the ladder up of you’re not with ‘the team’. She was never that great on Asia Downunder either – her sidekick was the brains behind that mostly. Aside from the fact that the media ‘landscape’ has changed since she thought she was the best thing on two legs. Still does!

  5. No more money for a sinking lid failing business model….Let TVNZ sink or swim.

    Great news hearing Shortland Street is up for review, waste of money that program, had a good run, time to scrap it.

    • WTF, haters and wreckers destroying our institutions. Leave Shorties and Coro alone. We’ll need something to waste our time on when all the news is gone.

    • WTF, haters and wreckers destroying our institutions. Leave Shorties and Coro alone. We’ll need something to waste our time on when all the news is gone.

    • Yep and no more money for the National , Act, or N.Z First parties either…
      Let’s level up the playing field…sink or swim.

  6. What is even the point of TV3 today. Warners, desperate to save their investment, have cut out the hugely expensive heart of their channel. Whether this is part of a global conspiracy to keep me dumb, ill-informed and compliant I don’t know. I’m not sure TV3 journalism was preventing that anyway. For example, last night I saw a ‘news’ item where the PM of England, who I do know, was wearing some kind of shoe that some people I didn’t know reckoned he shouldn’t have worn but he should have stuck to his normal shoe and now those people think that no one will buy the kind of shoe he wore any more and then he had to apologize for not wearing the shoe he normally wears. Without TV3 i would have missed that. I do believe that TV3 will soon fold completely and be off the air before 2026.

    • Yes Peter, the TV News is trite. Not only TV3 but TV1 also. Formulaic programming. A commentator a few weeks ago on TDB offered a breakdown not far from the fact: a couple of hard news stories, watered down to the point of irrelevance, a couple of soft news items, a sob story, and a feel good human interest story, often about animals. God knows where the PM of England shoe story would fit in. The latter I suspect. The remainder of the news hour consists of sport, weather, promos and advertising. Beamed into living rooms for eons we know no different, except for those who have long abandoned free-to-view TV. It would be different if TV3 news offered a point of difference. It doesn’t. I certainly wont miss it. An assault on democracy? I’d have to agree, a long bow at best. In fact, the way that the TV news is currently programmed and formatted I’d say helps KEEP a good many dumb, ill-informed and compliant, not the contrary.

      As for the ‘critical content’ of TV3, the serious public interest journalism if you could call it that, well, where’s there’s a voice there’s a way.

    • Yes, I saw the same item. Riveting stuff, the fate of nations. Oh my god, shoes!
      I gave up on TV3 when they fired their Dunedin-based journalist, and yet they employ TWO co-presenters in their Auckland studios, each a comfort person for the other. The southern South of no interest to them; so no tears from me if, as it now seems, they are about to sink. Martyn, you are far too Auckland-centric.

  7. Yes, and so does Chris Bishop talk a load of kaka, saying they spoke to landlords to justify changes in tenancy laws not exactly evidence based using anecdotes. And then to bring back the old mums and dads (a john key tool) but they failed to say the mums and dads live in America.

  8. Yes, Grant and they will blame their coalition partners for not being able to achieve their so-called targets and political agenda. But they had targets last time and didn’t achieve them and Luxon will try and use these to justify a return at the next election. However, the targets have hairs on them as mentioned by a health expert they only measure who gets treatment and not who doesn’t get treatment. They do the same in social housing cut the waiting list by changing the criteria and locking out thousands of desperate NZers and again the same practice was done for legal aid making it income tested not taking into consideration inflation. These are serious equity and inequality issues arise from this approach.

  9. Clare Curran’s Thought for the Day (may well be) : “What goes around, comes around”. Think on’t, Melissa!

  10. Lee is not going to save a business whose product no-one wants. It‘s Newshub‘s fault no-one wants it just like all the failing businesses in the High Court liquidation lists. No-one is rushing to save them and this poor news performer shouldn’t get any different treatment.

  11. Why bother with any of them? None of them is doing a credible job.
    They are the most pathetic lot of posers to ever grace the govt. benches.

    There’s not one decent professional amongst them. All old has-beens from key’s govt. Or newbies so wet behind the ears you wonder how they find their way to the airport.

    All that can be said is that they appear to be typical of politicians the world over. Are there any very good politicians left, anywhere?

    • https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/patrick-gower-defends-newshub-from-keyboard-warriors-after-confirmed-closure/CVLG2X52VBEVLNO5MAALKPJYV4/

      Gower grew up in New Plymouth where his father was a fitter and turner at a power station, and his mother was a doctor’s receptionist.[3] He had a Roman Catholic upbringing and schooling, having attended St Joseph’s Catholic School and Francis Douglas Memorial College.[3]

      He has a BA with honours in politics from Victoria University of Wellington, choosing the university because it was near Parliament. While he attended Victoria University he got involved in Salient magazine.[4] After finishing his politics degree, he studied journalism at Auckland University of Technology.[3]

      Journalism career
      Gower started his journalism career working the graveyard shift (6pm–1:30am) at The New Zealand Herald,[3][5] later becoming one of the newspaper’s two police reporters. He subsequently moved to the UK and worked at Jane’s Police Review.[3] Once back in New Zealand he worked again at the Herald, covering politics and working under Audrey Young.[3]

      Later he made a move to television journalism and began working at 3 News, where he was initially a political reporter. He has said that the transition involved a big change in reporting styles:
      I always said that in print it’s like working with a scalpel, because you can really get into the nitty-gritty, and you can be really specialised and direct. And you can work with complex issues really easily. In TV you’ve got to drop the scalpel, and they hand you an axe. It can be really effective to use, but it’s nowhere near as delicate as working in print.[4]

      Bob the keyboard warrior! What was it you are well known for again?

  12. A good media is starting to report the Coalition of Chaos’s failings and the Coalition doesn’t like that.

    Shutting them down will fix that

  13. since when is ‘letting the market decide’ a good idea??
    examples please
    this govt is wedded to policies that are PROVEN not to work

  14. ” Fighting for Newshub is a fight for the institutions that hold the powerful to account, we all have an interest as citizens to ensure it doesn’t shut.”

    ” Democracy Dies in Darkness and we have a Minister of Broadcasting turning off the light!”

    Its not just Lee that is doing nothing deliberately but there is no stampede to rush in and save TV3 news by this government because it suits their agenda to kill off more and more public broadcasting and the steady erosion of viable current affairs that used to provide stories behind the news and the effects on real people of austerity and the class war being waged ended some years ago , look at 7 Sharp and news bulletins that have simply become social media magazine clickbait shows that simply insult thinking peoples intelligence ….those that choose to be informed by TV networks.

    ” ” The Fourth Estate aren’t just any other ‘business’ they are critical to the functioning of our democracy. ”

    How is it critical when they are guilty of the following suppression of news in a major conflict and the fallout that this is generating including New Zealand’s own failure to stand up and take action ?

    And when the boards of these media entity’s are stacked with Neo liberal appointee’s by LINO and the Nasty Natz.

    The fact that what is left of media news has been supressing the coverage of the war in Palestine and is promoting IDF and American propaganda at a foreign powers request was a far more serious and concerning development that many seemed to have missed in the hysteria being articulated by a number of high profile media celebrities who really believed they were untouchable.

    We have all sat by and watched democracy dying for a number of years now and that is increasing each time we have a government like we have now who run rough shot over our rights and the rule of law and force legislation through the parliament without the ” democratic ” oversight and we have done NOTHING to stop it.

    TDB has been raising concerns for many years now but doesn’t sadly have the reach or funding to have any impact or influence.

    Its all over with a collective whimper.

  15. Let’s face it there are only a few in parliament capable of being representatives of the people in a practical way. It’s mostly smoke and mirrors. So I think, after reading blogs for quite a time, reading, listening, watching. and back to thinking, that our present situation is so dicey that it’s time for some Sun Tzu thinking.

    We have to understand the other side and work round them. The foundations of our democracy haven’t had an overhaul for so long, and actually needs base isolators to withstand the societal, political, and economic shocks that it was already receiving back in the 1980’s which increased exponentially with the onset of computers and the world wide web, internets and cellphone devices and now AI – and the distractions along the way; wokeness, trans-sexuality (taking the place of sex-laden obsessions and witch-belief), space exploration and anything scientific that can be turned to gold.

  16. Live TV is a dying medium – it is “brave” of National to get the media offside so carelessly, but some rebalancing of the news market was probably necessary in a small place like AoNZ; it’s been propped up by public funding for ages.

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