Broadcasting Minister Willie Jackson answering questions in Parliament. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Broadcasting Minister Willie Jackson answering questions in Parliament. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Broadcasting Minister Willie Jackson has been forced to back down on comments he made In Parliament yesterday suggesting that New Zealand radio and television were not trusted.
He said yesterday the reason for the planned merger between the TVNZ, a state-owned commercial broadcaster, and Radio New Zealand, the ad-free state-funded broadcaster was that there was that people no longer trusted New Zealand television or New Zealand radio.
Today in Parliament he said in response to questions from National's Melissa Lee that he could have put it better.
"This was no reflection on RNZ and TVNZ, but a reflection that the whole media landscape has changed, with audiences now more likely to be engaged with streaming services or social media than traditional media," he said.
Surveys had shown that RNZ and TVNZ were New Zealand's most trusted media.
But overall trust in media was slipping, both domestically and internationally, "and this Government wants to do something about it."
Melissa Lee has highlighted the fact that officials have prepared no regulatory impact assessment on the establishment of the merged entity under the Aotearoa New Zealand Public Media Bill (ANZPM).
National broadcasting spokeswoman Melissa Lee. Photo / Mark Mitchell
She took up an offer by Jackson yesterday in Question Time to look go to his office to look at a business case for the merger prepared by Tracey Martin's committee. But most of it had been redacted.
She said it was "beyond the pale" that there was no available cost-benefit analysis to show what the merger was going to do to the media landscape, be it the commercial sector, ethnic or community access radio.
"I think it is appalling."
"Nothing has given me confidence that the Government has looked into the impact of the merger."
Meanwhile, the select committee hearing submissions on the legislation enabling the merger heard that it was being advanced on the basis of scant information about its impact.
Concerns were raised by a vast range of interests on Thursday, including media competitors in commercial media, independent screen producers, screenwriters, community radio, and ethnic radio.
Dr Gavin Ellis and Dr Anne Bardsley giving evidence to the economic development, science and innovation select committee. Photo / Committee's Facebook stream
The most comprehensive written submission to the committee was made by Auckland University's Koi Tu: The Centre for Informed Futures.
Speaking on its behalf in person, Dr Gavin Ellis was surprised at the lack of information.
"I'm surprised that Parliament does not have the unredacted business case," said Ellis, a former editor-in-chief of the New Zealand Herald. "In fact, I'm somewhat speechless that it doesn't.
"For Parliament to process this legislation from a position of knowledge, then the more financial information the better, because we all know traditional media finances are on a progressively steep downward trend.
"Of course, the multinational social media platforms that are sucking half of our advertising revenue are part and parcel of that but that's for a different day.
"As far as this exercise is concerned, the more financial information you have, the better you will be to make an informed decision."
He raised concerns about the robustness of the model for the merged entity. He said that the model, an autonomous Crown Entity, would still allow the relevant minister to add additional functions or remove some.
He said such changes should be made in the public view of Parliament, not the by minister.
He said Koi Tu was in favour of the new entity but protections for it should not be left to the goodwill of the current or future governments.
"I always use a particular filter and I'm sure he won't forgive me but I call it the Trump Filter."
It was not a matter of what the Government or the next government would do with the law.
"It's what the Government 10 years from now will do with it because this will be around for 20 to 30 years on the basis of previous legislation."
The News Publishers Association general manager Brook Cameron, representing media organisations including NZME, Stuff and Allied Press, said the APZPM should be subject to specific oversight by the Commerce Commission to ensure it was not having a distortionary impact on competition in the New Zealand media market.
It also said ANZPM's ongoing operations should be subject to all the prohibitions in the Commerce Act on anti-competitive conduct.
It wanted the entity to have no cross-subsidisation of commercial activities with public funding and to have a requirement to make a commercial rate of return.
