TVNZ to retain 1News website

TVNZ has revealed it wants to retain a “reduced” version of the 1News website as the broadcaster pushes ahead with major changes to its business.

The decision to cut their website was always deeply insane.

Newshub was the 3rd biggest news site in the country and 1News was the biggest. Losing both would have been an enormous blow to Fourth Estate Journalism.

The true reason TVNZ are leaning into video is because they can streamline advertising directly into the content.

It’s purely cost cutting and penny pinching, fuck the impact on the wider media eco-system.

They have backed down because of the backlash but the solutions all reek of desperation and fear.

A spokesperson for TVNZ confirmed a series of changes today. They include

Nothing is clear because they are terrified the Union will attack them as savagely as they got attacked in the last round of cuts.

How to Save TVNZ + 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, the advertising flow would immediately go to Newshub and allow them to stay on air. You save two birds with one stone.

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.

Current policy is simply adding more money to Corporate News to cover the news they should be covering anyway and to fund echo chambers of elite opinion so that the Spinoff Story gets posted on RNZ who then co post it on Stuff who then co post it on newshub.

It’s the same people saying the same thing to the same echo chambers.

The last election was a warning that disinformation campaigns can wreck the trust in our system, a strong public broadcaster alongside an expanded NZ on Air journalism fund paid for via taxes on the social media currently gutting traditional journalism would be a bold vision that would seek to genuinely rebuild public broadcasting.

Unfortunately the Political Right want to keep you stupid and want to leash the fourth estate if not kill it off altogether.

We currently have  a Broadcasting Minister who has washed here hands of the media meltdowns and actively wants the free market to kill off Newshub and mutilate TVNZ.

Democracy dies in darkness and all this Government is doing is turning off the lights.

 

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