Scoop has an Ethical Paywall
The Spanish example of fixing public television
The Spanish example of fixing public television
But is it too late to save TVNZ?
by Lindsay Shelton
Jane Reeve’s documentary about her father Sir Paul Reeves made engrossing viewing on Maori Television the other night. A reminder, not that it’s needed, that Maori Television has become New Zealand’s public television channel.
It’s no longer possible for any of us to oppose the government’s not-so-hidden intention of selling TVNZ. With its diet of the crassest shows from other places, it long ago abrogated any claim to being a public television service.
But of course even TVNZ in its current “enfeebled state” (the quote is from Denis Welch) could be given another chance. A recent decision in Spain points the way that New Zealand could follow.
The Spanish government has announced a plan to shakeup its public television service. It has decided that after more than 50 years on the air, the state-owned broadcaster TVE should start to fulfil its mission to be a public service television station.
It wants its public broadcaster to have no commercial breaks, to show programmes that focus on political debate and education, and to give “access rights” to social agents such as political parties and trade unions.
El Pais, the eminent Spanish newspaper, reports that the public broadcaster has been told to stop competing with private networks for audience share. One of the ways it’ll achieve this – another government instruction - is to stop showing lowbrow reality shows or gossip programmes.
How will Spain pay for a non-commercial public television network?
One of the ways will be that the privately-owned commercial stations will be partly funding state-owned television through an annual tax. The Spanish government also wants to collect money from telecommunications companies that provide audiovisual services to homes.
The telecoms are fighting the proposal. But the private networks are mostly in favour of the initiative, because it means one less competitor at a time of diminishing advertising revenues.
The head of one of the commercial networks said the plan highlights the need for public and private television to have different goals. “In Spain, public television has become just another commercial station,” said the head of TeleCinco. Sounds familiar indeed.
Of course, as I said at the beginning, things aren’t as bad in New Zealand as they were a few years ago. Maori TV has taken over the public broadcasting role and it’s filling it with the most lively imagination and flair. And with faces and voices and stories which are almost entirely our own. It’s doing what TVNZ has never been able or willing to do.
Its success and its popularity make it unlikely that the government will follow the Spanish example. So who’ll be bidding for TV One and TV Two?
ENDS
Lindsay Shelton
Wellington Scoop Editor
Lindsay Shelton started work as a journalist with the Dominion, then the Sydney Morning Herald and later TVNZ, where he was editor of network news. Then he became the first Marketing Director of the NZ Film Commission. He's been editing Wellington Scoop since November 2008.
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