Mass Extinction of Public Broadcasting

15 July 2011

Mass Extinction of Public Broadcasting

The TVNZ charter has gone. Like the dinosaurs that so many have flocked to the Vector Arena to see, we knew its demise was imminent yet there was no spectacular eruption to accompany it. It went with barely a comment.

The Screen Directors Guild of New Zealand has argued vigorously that the charter and a dedicated public broadcasting channel provides a crucial home for content unique to New Zealand and not tagged to the commerical dollar, while creating a new archive of stories that are essential to building our identity. We believe that just as directors and other creatives in the industry draw on their experience of New Zealand to create their stories, audiences deserve to see them. A premium broadcast home builds audiences, is aspirational, creates new archive, drives audiences to new media/platforms and is where taxpayers can find reliable quality content.

SDGNZ President Peter Bell states:

"The National Government has presided over the systematic dismantling of Public Broadcasting in New Zealand. Hopefully its destruction will be short-lived and central government will again see the worth of having a public broadcasting channel in New Zealand, as every other western democracy does. We urge Minister Jonathan Coleman to fight the good fight for the industry. The recent phone hacking scandal in Britain is a prime example of why we need a strong non-commercial impartial public broadcasting channel."

TVNZ is now a purely commercial entity. The SDGNZ challenges the Government to think creatively rather than conservatively and look to the long term benefits that continued investment in TVNZ 7 will bring.

ENDS

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