Opinion: It’s some time in the past, however again in 2011 I discovered myself enmeshed within the so-called Cuppagate row that set the stage for John Key’s return to Authorities. Chances are you’ll bear in mind.
A contract digital camera operator inadvertently left his microphone mendacity on a café desk on the finish of a excessive profile election marketing campaign media stunt, a publicised assembly between Key and the chief of the Act Occasion, John Banks.
I point out this now, as a result of the following brouhaha taught me an essential lesson: that on the subject of the crunch, many within the public belief journalists even lower than they belief politicians. I labored for the Herald on Sunday. I obtained a duplicate of that accidentally-recorded dialog, as did TV3.
Even if neither the Herald nor TV3 printed its contents, we had been wrongly accused of intentionally recording a non-public dialog (to which your complete media had been invited!) and vilified. Lots of our readers had been upset at us, however Key and Banks and their events climbed within the polls.
Though the digital camera operator subsequently sued Key for $1.25m for defamation, and received a confidential payout, that’s not what anybody remembers.
Yesterday, as many amongst us reeled on the unhappy information of the proposed closure of Newshub, the nation’s largest privately-owned TV information community, Act’s new chief David Seymour got here out firing – in opposition to the media.
Particularly, in opposition to government-owned TVNZ for investing an excessive amount of of its income in aggressive programming, reasonably than in paying dividends.
The Affiliate Finance Minister has requested recommendation on whether or not TVNZ ought to begin returning a dividend to the federal government, to assist degree the taking part in area. “I believe there’s a query mark round whether or not the federal government’s possession of 1 TV channel and the poor returns it’s demanded as a shareholder has really contributed to an uncompetitive market.”
I spoke with Seymour this morning. He has delegated duty for state-owned enterprises and Crown-owned firms like TVNZ. He reveals the coalition authorities is embarking on a evaluation of all of them, their return on funding, and the worth they do or don’t present to taxpayers. Why does the Authorities even personal them?
Will this put the sale of TVNZ again on the desk? “I haven’t raised that matter with some other minister or mentioned it, however I’m simply requesting data from the Treasury so I’m knowledgeable for a debate that will or could not occur.
“Act’s views in regards to the function of the federal government proudly owning industrial firms are hopefully fairly extensively recognized. Act would say that the SOE mannequin is a creature of its time within the Eighties, designed to unravel a distinct set of issues from from what we could face now.”
Now, don’t get me fallacious, TVNZ’s return on funding is definitely a really professional query. Certainly, previous and current bosses at TV3 and Newshub have raised related questions on having to compete for promoting {dollars} in opposition to an successfully state-subsidised broadcaster. If TVNZ is to reap the advantages of not paying dividends, they’ve argued, then it ought to function as an ad-free public broadcaster.
For what it’s price, TVNZ beforehand paid dividends, however the Key Authorities agreed in 2013 that in return for relinquishing an previous workplace block to create space for the brand new Worldwide Conference Centre subsequent door, the broadcaster might pause dividends and reinvest the cash in refurbishing its Auckland studios and in digital transformation. Since then, it has solely paid dividends in 2016 ($13m) and 2021 ($15m).
However the truth that Seymour ought to reply to 1 cash-strapped information organisation’s deliberate closure by (seemingly) proposing to dip into the steadiness sheet of one other cash-strapped information organisation – that tells me one thing.
The general public don’t love and belief journalists as a lot as we within the commerce generally suppose they do, and are in no hurry to hurry to our rescue. Cuppagate confirmed us that. And Seymour clearly is aware of that.
The actual fact is, any media organisation like TV3 or TVNZ that depends too closely on glitzy, high-priced model promoting will likely be struggling proper now. Subscription fashions like that operated by Newsroom (and naturally by day by day newspapers) will assist, however won’t ever absolutely fund massive broadcasters within the method to which they’re accustomed.
To that extent, scale could also be much less of a bonus in information media than it’s in different industries. We don’t manufacture widgets that may be made and shipped cheaper in greater numbers; we distribute our product on-line and there are fewer economies of scale there. Therefore the media’s growing fragmentation.
Because the introduction of the web and social media, advertisers want not be joined on the hip with information media. Certainly, it’s little greater than a historic quirk that newspapers began carrying promoting, as soon as upon a time three centuries in the past, and journalism grew to become reliant on that to pay its payments.
The Prime Minister and the Act chief each made it abundantly clear yesterday that the taxpayer is not going to journey to the rescue of the media enterprise mannequin, not beneath this administration. And large, broadcast, model promoting is dying, to the detriment of Newshub, TVNZ and different free-to-air broadcasters.
Certainly, TVNZ has been quietly shedding a big swathe of its center administration – and it will likely be in even deeper monetary bother if it’s requested to renew paying annual dividends to the Authorities.