Better Public Media looking forward to better public media

Better Public Media looking forward to better public media.

20 October 2017

The Better Public Media Trust congratulates the winners of the 2017 election – Labour, NZ First and the Greens.

“After nine years of slow destruction of public broadcasting and media we can finally look forward to better public media in New Zealand,” said Myles Thomas, BPM Director. “While the National Government has overseen the repeal of the TVNZ Charter, the closure of TVNZ 7, loss of quality television documentaries, evening current affairs plus much more, and the slow strangulation of RNZ and NZ on Air – the new government marks a turning point. We look forward to a government which genuinely cares about the state of New Zealand’s media – both public media and problems with the commercial media business model.”

Both NZ First and Labour produced ambitious and exciting media policies this election, recognised with an 8 and 7 out of 10 in the BPM election score-card. Both were written with input from Better Public Media and both aim to create a non-commercial public service media platform that includes at least one television channel.

NZ First would utilise the Telecommunications Development Levy to partly fund the removal of advertising from TVNZ1. This would allow viewers to turn on their favourite channel to watch a NZ version of the BBC or ABC in Australia.

Labour’s policy would increase funding to expand RNZ so it can create a digital television channel and new content initiatives. Labour would invest specifically in investigative journalism.

The Greens also signalled inflation-adjusting RNZ’s budget to pre-funding freeze levels, and like Labour, a specific investigative journalism fund.

Maybe New Zealand television will be worth watching again?

"We would like to thank Labour, NZFirst and the Greens for their commitment to supporting journalism, ensuring Kiwis have something decent to watch on television, that RNZ stays strong, and that future generations can enjoy New Zealand content for all Kiwis without marketing," said Mr Thomas.

"We have been waiting a while to say this - Better Public Media looks forward to seeing better public media in New Zealand."

Ends

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