MEDIAWATCH: How TVNZ will damage Public Broadcasting after amputating news

Concerns for public broadcasting as TVNZ propose more changes – E Tu

Workers at TVNZ have today been notified about an upcoming change process at TVNZ which union members are worried could lead to further job losses as the state-owned broadcaster.

Management have initiated this process with the claim they need to increase their annual earnings by $30m, by either increasing revenue or reducing costs.

Earlier this year, TVNZ cancelled significant news and current affairs offerings as a cost-saving measure. E tū Negotiation Specialist Michael wood says today’s development demonstrates a worrying trend at TVNZ.

“E tū members at TVNZ and across media have been campaigning hard to ‘Save our Stories’ so that New Zealanders continue to have access to media that informs and holds power to account,” Michael says.

“As such we are concerned that TVNZ is looking into further significant changes that could lead to even larger cuts than we have already seen.

“The good news is that because union members at TVNZ have successfully campaigned on this issue, and defended their rights in the Employment Court, there is now a proper process in place to have union members at the table and involved in discussion about possible change at a much earlier stage.

“We will be taking this process seriously. An ongoing move towards a digital future at TVNZ is a reality, however we will fight hard to ensure that as this change happens, TVNZ fulfils its obligations to New Zealanders by ensuring that it produces high quality content, by skilled and experienced media workers. TVNZ, and the Government as the sole shareholder, cannot and must not use this process to walk away from news and current affairs, and telling the stories that matter to New Zealand.”

Michael says that further cuts at TVNZ demonstrate the need for rapid Government intervention to save our media landscape.

“Decent journalism is an absolute necessity in a well-functioning democracy. That’s why TVNZ needs to be supported as a public broadcaster.

“It makes no sense to allow such a crucial tool for information and accountability to gradually wither away as the traditional commercial model for media becomes less financially sustainable in the digital age.

“TVNZ, and the wider media landscape, must be supported by the Government to thrive – and we should all be gravely concerned about a future where purely commercial interests dictate the way we conduct our public discourse.”

Just like TDB warned you, here come the Paywalls!

If you look at how hell bent this Government is on user pays and privatisation…

Bishop talks up value-capture & congestion charging

Bishop talks up value capture and congestion charging

Infrastructure, Housing and RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop gave a major speech about infrastructure to Local Government New Zealand in Wellington on Friday, including:

talking up the use of value capture, congestion charging, water meters, tolling, and Public Private Partnerships (PPPs);

…the question has to be asked how soon Paul Goldsmith will start pushing for paywalls for TVNZ.

Paywalls are increasingly being used from the Democracy Project to all Newspapers and many media outlets meaning poor people don’t get access to public information which adds to their reliance on misinformation and disinformation.

TVNZ using Paywalls would be a means for National to argue people are showing their trust in TVNZ while providing a revenue stream.

National wants user pays to replace public funding, so why wouldn’t they try Paywalls on as a means to undermine accountability and do it cheaper.

The Paywalls are creating two classes of citizen, those with the money to see facts, those too poor and are reliant on lies.

The truth is behind a Paywall, the lies are for free.

The Democracy Project at Wellington University is the new dystopian information paywalled reality we now live in.

We need a new public broadcasting model or we will disintegrate as a democracy.

Less than 50% of revenue for American Newspaper in the 1800s was generated by advertising revenue, over 50% was subsidised from civic movements because media always needed subsidisation because of the importance of its role in shaping Democracy.

Readers were citizens needing informing, they weren’t just consumers.

I drop this note because the Reactionary Right always scream media should stand on its own when it never could.

We are a sparsely populated country on two huge Islands, we have always needed the State as the foundation upon which everything is built because the advertising model was never going to work here.

The market is broken with social media giants taking content and not paying for it while draining the exisiting advertising market.

TVNZ is being lined up for privatisation and paywalls.

At a time when disinformation and misinformation is rife and warping disgruntled citizens into foaming redneck Qanon antivax crackers, we need an information landscape better than paywalled elitism.

How to Save TVNZ and Public Broadcasting?

We need a mix of ideas:

Fund TVNZ 1 commercial free – If we can have commercial free radio, why not commercial free TV? By removing TV1 from the ratings you can focus more on quality public broadcasting that can critique the economic culture. Allow TV2 and Duke to be the advertising spaces.

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. If you do agree and sign up, you are entitled to funding and must have a Kiwi Journalism flag on your site to show you are obliged to the Journalistic Principles Code of conduct.

You would have an awareness campaign to urge NZers to ‘read between the flags’ for trusted information.

Promoting Journalism in the Pacifc to counter other influences – I think one way NZ could uniquely promote its interests into the Pacific could be via Journalism. AUT run the excellent Pacific Media Centre to promote quality Journalism throughout the Pacific. What if NZ saw the promotion of quality Journalism as a craft throughout the Pacific as a strong way to counter corruption and external influence? Scholarships, Pacific News Media websites and support of local ethical journalism, these could be the pillars of promoting corruption free politics and holding those Governments to account. Promotion of Journalistic standards throughout the Pacific could counter external influences and promote NZs strategic interests.

Māori Media – Māori TV & Māori Radio need a baseline increase rather than extra budget for collaborations because the bigger players give very little back.