Brit Bunkly
By Brit Bunkley
MEDIA commentator Professor Robert W. McChesney wrote in 2001 that "the rulers of New Zealand's media system could squeeze into a closet".
When he wrote this statement 15 years ago, NZ media was far more diversified. Since then, the size of the closet has become smaller. It may soon collapse entirely.
We now have a possible merger of two of the remaining large media news groups, NZME and Fairfax Media.
This potential merger has caused a group of distinguished newspaper editors to send a submission to the Commerce Commission stating that "the merger would see one organisation controlling nearly 90 per cent of the country's print media market (and associated websites), the greatest level of concentration in the OECD and one that is exceeded only by China".
In the meantime, Radio New Zealand may be forced to sell its Auckland office due to de facto funding cuts by central government putting its service into jeopardy. New Zealand media may soon become a virtual monopoly owned exclusively by financial institutions.
Why should we care?
Bill Rosenberg, who has pioneered media ownership analysis in New Zealand, says that the monopolising of media outlets has caused reporters to self-censor in order to ensure job security.
He also cites the "selection of staff (especially at senior levels) who will reflect the owner's philosophies".
In a survey of nearly 300 United States journalists and news executives, the Pew Research Centre found that: "Four in 10 (41 per cent) admit they have avoided newsworthy stories, while nearly as many acknowledge they have softened the tone of stories to benefit the (financial) interests of their news organisations".
Indeed, George Orwell wrote in the preface for Animal Farm in 1945: "The sinister fact about literary censorship in England is that it is largely voluntary. Unpopular ideas can be silenced, and inconvenient facts kept dark, without the need for any official ban."
This was edited out of the original publication.
In part due to the monopoly of media corporations, the goalposts of the "left/right" demarcation have shifted progressively to the right on economic issues.
Neo-liberal, trickle-down policies, once considered right-wing, are now centre stage. It is the air we breathe. (Briefly "neo-liberal" is defined as promoting self-interest by the adoption of free trade, privatisations, deregulation, tax cuts, flat taxes etc.).
Several centre-left mainstream commentators have lost their jobs at major print and televised media. They include Gordon Campbell, John Campbell and Chris Trotter who once regularly worked for The Listener, TV3 and the Dominion Post.
The interests of the few large investment conglomerates who control the media are obvious -- the bottom line. As the editors state in their submission to the Commerce Commission: "New Zealand already suffers from a dearth of serious content and analysis."
Many people think the media may not be telling us the whole story and have turned to the internet -- especially Facebook and Twitter -- for news.
"A majority of US adults -- 62 per cent -- get news on social media, and 18 per cent do so often, according to a new survey by Pew Research Center, conducted in association with the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. In 2012, based on a slightly different question, 49 per cent of US adults reported seeing news on social media."
Many have cited the fake media phenomenon. This often outrageous disinformation can have severe consequences, as with the story of Hillary Clinton allegedly leading a child-trafficking ring out of the Comet Ping Pong pizza parlour that led to a shooting.
An increasing monopoly of the media resulting in a narrowing of debate has contributed to the public's distrust.
Indeed, the world has had a major war thanks to "legitimate" fake news on weapons of mass destruction and a New Zealand election was swayed by a story about a fake $100,000 bottle of wine.
The tiny media closet in NZ is about to become smaller unless we act.
�Brit Bunkley is an internationally exhibiting artist. He recently retired from UCOL where he was Head of Sculpture since 1995, and has taught various political science courses.
Chronicle editor MARK DAWSON responds:
A monopoly in any area is something that journalists instinctively treat with scepticism and have a natural inclination to oppose.
So it may seem strange that I am writing in support of one: the merger of Fairfax and NZME, owner of the Chronicle, which is before the Commerce Commission.
I agree with a number of the points Brit Bunkley makes, and I think we would both agree that New Zealand needs a robust, well-resourced and independent media to keep Kiwis informed.
But how do we achieve that when we are competing for audience and revenue with a rapidly-growing and all-pervasive digital media (some of it awash with half-truths and "alternative facts").
The NZ news that you read every day, whether in print or online, costs money to produce and the economic model of our industry is under significant stress.
Faced with global players such as Google, Facebook and others emerging all the time, we need the strongest and most competitive homegrown media we can muster to maintain that independence, to maintain the journalists and resources needed to provide an accurate and objective service to communities such as Whanganui.
One merged company, admittedly dominant in the domestic marketplace, gives us the best chance.
It takes professional journalists bound by a code of ethics, and subject to the NZ Press Council and the laws of the land to preserve our free, independent media.
Fears have been expressed about one person taking ownership of a merged company and dictating the news agenda to suit his or her own ends.
Safeguards can be put in place to protect against this and, in my 44 years experience (the last 13 as an editor) the public's perception of interfering owners and publishers trying to influence editorial content is vastly over-stated.
The commission is due to rule on the merger in April.
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