Media: Good journalism versus evil market

Carol Hirschfeld says she is careful in the work she takes outside Maori Television. Photo / Richard Robinson

An academic critic of New Zealand media says journalism is "heading for hell in a handbasket".

But Joe Atkinson says there is no point in asking media companies about the new direction or consulting them for a six-part Winter Lecture series he is organising.

"This is a timely series in a period of extreme upheaval for traditional media and the lectures will be of wide general interest," he said.

The six lectures at Auckland University from July 20 to August 24 will include appearances by academics and Gavin Ellis, a former editor-in-chief of the Herald.

Media businesses globally are adjusting to a new and rapidly changing dynamic.

Advertisers and media users are migrating to the internet and away from news towards entertainment. This is undermining the business plans that pay for journalism.

Atkinson said: "We understand the economics of the industry - the Fairfaxes of this world, and share funds - there is not much of a mystery to that. We know what [Rupert] Murdoch thinks.

"They [media companies] only care about the bottom-line profit ... Good journalism is an externality to the market - why would we consult them?"

He said that among the lectures would be a discussion about other options for funding journalism.

"The solution to the problem is not in a market system probably - or at least not in an unregulated market system like we have at the moment."

Many of us miss the long-form interview, but back in the 1990s - with the return of Ian Fraser - TVNZ found the audience was significant but not big enough.

Atkinson said the issue about the number of viewers was not irrelevant and there was a question whether you could put on serious television current affairs and get an audience.

There was a problem with the flight to entertainment and that fewer people were now interested in politics, he said.

The issue was whether this minority section of the audience was being served by the push to make them interested in info-tainment.

MEDIA MATTERS

The union representing journalists, the EPMU - led by Labour Party president Andrew Little - organised a less academic campaign back in 2007 called Media Matters.

Media companies were invited to take part in that conference.

There is no question that the journalism sector is in upheaval and the more debate on its parlous future the better.

You can argue that academics have been ignored in the development of media - apart from the approximate $11.9 million allocated to media studies last year.

But like Media Matters, the Auckland University lecture series seems unwilling to engage with business and takes the view that organisations with the largest capital investment are irrelevant and to be ignored.

In academia there seems to be a wish to align with bloggers and citizen journalists.

There are also some subjective judgments. Among the people chairing one of the lectures is Brian Edwards, a media trainer and former broadcaster who has also been a harsh critic of New Zealand media, but who has not been a broadcaster for many years.

I like Edwards - and he is popular with a certain demographic. Atkinson is clearly a big fan.

"He is still the best radio and television interviewer we have ever had and streets ahead of anybody else," said Atkinson, dismissing a suggestion that his was a subjective view.

"That is my objective judgment - the judgment of people who have done analyses of his interviews."

Atkinson was a harsh critic of Paul Holmes back in the 1990s. Nowadays he says Holmes is far from the worst example of people interrupting guests. He says he also likes TVNZ Q & A interviewer "Guy" Espiner.

MOONLIGHTING

Carol Hirschfeld has long been a regular on the emcee circuit where TV journalists and presenters turn themselves into faces for hire.

It's a lucrative sideline for TV folk. But some of the people attending a conference to support the Government's welfare working group were surprised to find it being facilitated by Hirschfeld, the head of programming for Maori Television.

A facilitator would not take a stance in discussions, but from her days on Campbell Live at TV3 and even on bro'Town, she clearly gave the event credibility.

Maori Television says Hirschfeld was doing the work in a private capacity, and as part of her terms it had okayed her role facilitating the conference run by the Institute of Policy Studies in Wellington on June 9 and 10.

Hirschfeld also emcees and facilitates other events. She insisted that the conference was not political, and says she is always very careful in the outside work that she takes.

Social Development Minister Paula Bennett - who appeared on Maori TV this week in Hirschfeld's (rather good) Tamariki Ora programme about child abuse - told the conference it was to help the welfare working group engage with individuals and organisations "in the conversation about creating a more sustainable and fair welfare system"'

Herald political correspondent John Armstrong wrote that critics saw Bennett's use of the working group as a vehicle for the beneficiary-bashing necessary to soften up the public to the merits of restructuring.

"Nothing those critics heard from Paula Rebstock, the working group's chairwoman, will have altered their view that this exercise is picking up where Ruth Richardson and Jenny Shipley left off nearly 20 years ago when they launched an unsuccessful offensive on the foundations of the welfare state," Armstrong wrote.

There will be people who would applaud cuts to welfare - some of them will be among Maori TV's viewers.

But given questions about Maori TV's relationship with the Maori Party over Rugby World Cup funding, it seems unusual to have a senior executive, executive producer and sometime presenter lending her credibility to a conference on welfare reform.

PEACE BREAKS OUT

A report from Sir Peter Jackson calling for changes to the New Zealand Film Commission repeats many of the same old gripes about the commission.

But with Jackson's name behind it, this report is sure to bring changes.

The Lord of the Rings director co-wrote the review of the commission with Australian academic David Court for Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister Chris Finlayson.

Producers approached by the Herald were generally supportive but said the industry criticism related to the past and new management had already resolved some of the issues while the report was being written.

But there are questions whether the Film Commission can be truly popular.

How can a funding body - with far more applicants than there are funds - avoid upsetting the industry it serves?

It will always turn away more people than it funds.

That said, the film folk are cautiously optimistic. Steven Gannaway of the New Zealand Writers' Guild said the report outlined exciting new strategies to kick-start a new era in New Zealand film-making.

"It's especially encouraging to see that the report recognises that more direct support of screenwriting talent is viewed as a vital component."

MORNING GLORY

A recent radio ratings report at Radio New Zealand - not the official Research International commercial radio ratings - is said to show Morning Report scoring well against its commercial rivals RadioLive and The Radio Network.

Details are not being released so it is hard to judge their significance and veracity. But insiders said RNZ management was cock- a-hoop with the results.

Ironically, senior bosses are also said to be looking forward to the departure of Morning Report host Sean Plunket - the star who has been a thorn in their side. It's a strange view to have when losing one of your main drawcards who has delivered good ratings.

I hear The Radio Network has been talking to Plunket. One suggestion is that he may be lined up for a Wellington breakout of Leighton Smith's show.

This article has been corrected from an earlier version. The Maori Television programme Tamariki Ora screened this week was about child abuse, not welfare reform.