National's plan dooms television to idiot box status

Alliance Party media release FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday 23 March 2009

The Alliance Party says the scrapping of the TVNZ Charter signals the end of any token commitment to meaningful public broadcasting in New Zealand.

However Alliance broadcasting spokesperson Sarah Campbell says the charter was a joke to start with, and never had the teeth it needed, failing to generate quality New Zealand content.

The degeneration of New Zealand television would now have nothing to stand in its way at all.

"Over the past decades we have seen the hollowing-out of informative and intelligent shows, funding for quality public interest programming slashed, and a gradual descent into moronic low grade commercialism."

Ms Campbell says the news is now just about celebrity gossip, political and corporate propaganda, and an endless cycle of crime horror stories that never bother to examine the social causes of the problem.

She says with the mass recent layoffs of print journalists, and the insatiable demand for profit, it was vital that New Zealand had a quality public broadcaster.

"The role of television to promote democratic debate has been killed off by a cash-driven, shallow media culture that does infotainment and reality TV."

The failure of the Charter and the proposed 'dual' role of TVNZ – both to turn a profit for the government and to provide public broadcasting – reinforces the need to establish an independent, state-owned broadcaster operating in a non-commercial, public interest framework, says Ms Campbell.

"This could deliver those goods which are essential to a civilised society, including providing programming connected to the arts, science, news, and ideas."

She says public broadcasters are an important part of democracy, providing for goods which cannot be met by privately-owned, profit-driven broadcasters.

"It is not always profitable to provide quality news, discuss important ideas, and nurture public dialogue."

The Alliance believes in the public ownership of significant broadcasting organisations in both radio and television.

ENDS

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