"The BSA chose, for its precedent-setting foray into digital jurisdiction, the loudest, best-funded, most politically connected antagonist available."

#BryceEdwards, 2026

https://www.democracyproject.org.nz/p/democracy-briefing-the-bsa-is-dead

I'm not sure that's fair to the BSA. As Edwards says, the BSA opened itself up to complaints about digital broadcasts in 2020. I doubt it was their desire that the first actionable one happened to be against The Pratfarm.

(1/2)

#DemocracyProject #NZPolitics #BSA #ThePlatform

Democracy Briefing: The BSA is dead. Now what?

The announcement was brief: a ministerial press release, mid-afternoon, a few paragraphs.

The Democracy Project

Just listening to Duncan Greive's 7 May special edition of The Fold on the government's decision to abolish the BSA;

https://thespinoff.co.nz/podcasts/the-fold

I stand corrected on my suggestion that the BSA could theoretically accept complaints against podcasts. Greive mentioned that "on demand" services are specifically exempted from BSA jurisdiction. Confining them to regulating only live broadcasts.

(1/?)

#MeaCulpa #BSA #TheFold #TheSpinoff #podcasts

| Podcasts | The Spinoff

The Spinoff

So if there is a media regulator empowered by the state, it needs to be very carefully designed. Its power constrained and tightly focused. Its purpose, structure and operations regularly reviewed. Ideally by a review board including representatives from media entities and civil society orgs (eg Better Public Media, InternetNZ), as well as Parliamentarians.

We need to pressure the government to put this new body in place as part of abolishing the #BSA. Not after, maybe never.

(7/7)

#PolicyNZ

"Removing content standards such as accuracy, balance and fairness, I think invites a significant political risk. You could end up with a rogue media operator with significant market power that chose to ignore them, with impunity. And I think that's politically dangerous, democratically it's indefensible."

#DrPeterThompson, 2026

https://www.rnz.co.nz/podcast/mediawatch?share=bdb1a4a8-a91f-48a0-ac5e-f81f354a7021

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/594762/mediawatch-putting-down-the-watchdog

This is a very complicated issue, and I'm still figuring out what I think.

(1/?)

#BSA #MediaWatch #RNZ #podcasts

Mediawatch podcast

A critical look at the New Zealand media.

RNZ

" This is the sequence: tikanga #Māori called "mumbo jumbo" → #complaint filed → #BSA asserts #jurisdiction#government #kills the BSA.

That is not a #policy timeline. That is a #protection #racket."

https://www.themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz/the-watchdog-they-shot-how-paul-goldsmith-handed-sean-plunket-a-licence-to-hate-7-may-2026/

"Founded and operated by Ivor Jones — tohunga mau rākau wairua, kaitiaki of Māori communities, and holder of a Bachelor of Social Sciences (Psychology) from the University of Waikato — The Māori Green Lantern is not a commentary platform. It is a systematic accountability operation. "

"The BSA, established under the Broadcasting Act 1989, was Aotearoa's only legislated broadcast standards body with the power to receive complaints, investigate breaches of accuracy, fairness, and balance, and penalise broadcasters, as documented in the BSA's own jurisdiction ruling. It emerged from the post-Rogernomics deregulation era — explicitly because unregulated broadcasting produced harm. That history is being deliberately erased."

"In 2024, BSA research found that 79% of Māori, 85% of Pacific Peoples, 76% of Asian New Zealanders, and 75% of Muslims feel exposure to offensive or discriminatory content is a problem in New Zealand broadcasting"

"Imagine you live in a neighbourhood where a pack of dogs — some feral, some pretending to be pets — have been digging under the fence, biting children, fouling the water.

"For decades, the neighbourhood employed a kurī — a watchdog, te mana whanonga kaipāho — trained to hear the difference between barking and biting, between debate and dehumanisation.

"Then, one afternoon, the landlord — Paul Goldsmith, Media and Communications Minister — walks out with a press release and a pat on the back for the feral dogs, and shoots the kurī.

"Not because the kurī was failing. Because the kurī bit back."

"The Watchdog They Shot: How Paul Goldsmith Handed Sean Plunket a Licence to Hate" - 7 May 2026

While Māori radio news goes silent and mātauranga Māori is left unguarded, a white supremacist neoliberal government gifts its loudest bigot a free pass — and calls it freedom. One independent voice remains standing.

The Māori Green Lantern

"If the BSA disappeared tomorrow, Aotearoa would lose more than a complaints office. We’d lose one of the few free and accessible ways for ordinary people to challenge harmful or unfair media content, and one of the few institutions charged with balancing freedom of expression with the rights and dignity of others."

#NZPol #BSA #PublicBroadcasting #Regulation #Colonialism

https://e-tangata.co.nz/comment-and-analysis/who-benefits-if-the-bsa-is-scrapped/

Verrassing(?) Bindend studieadvies #BSA zorgt niet voor studiesucces 🤦

https://esb.nu/bindend-studieadvies-zorgt-niet-voor-studiesucces/

Bindend studieadvies zorgt niet voor studiesucces - ESB

Het bindend studieadvies heeft als doel om de slagingspercentages te verhogen en de studieduur te verkorten. Worden deze doelen bereikt?

ESB

Maybe media in Aotearoa would benefit from a cross-party working group on media? One that oversees media regulation covering print, broadcast and digital media, as well as public media, in a holistic and coherent way.

It's role could be to find consensus on media legislation so it doesn't become a political football, subjecting people and organisations working in media to constant, whiplash-inducing changes of policy direction? Eg the future of the #BSA;

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/media-technology/592650/what-is-the-broadcasting-standards-authority-and-why-is-its-future-in-doubt

#NZPolitics

What is the Broadcasting Standards Authority and why is its future in doubt?

<i>Explainer</i> - Who decides who's a broadcaster, and who regulates the media in New Zealand? It might all be about to change.

RNZ

Het beste van Serge: Schaf het bsa af en IJdele hoop, goor lef en misplaatste trots

Blogger Serge neemt even een blogpauze, liet hij in een eerder blog weten. Als langstzittende blogger bij Profielen, heeft hij een indrukwekkend aantal blogs geschreven. Blogs die de moeite waard zijn om te herlezen of te ontdekken. In zijn voorlopige afwezigheid op de Profielen website, kiezen wij als redactie om de week onze twee favoriete blogs van Serge uit. Olmo Linthorst, redacteur, keek naar de discussie onder zijn blogs. Schaf het bsa af en laat het onderwijs zijn werk doen De beste […]

https://profielen.hr.nl/2026/blog-serge-het-beste-van-serge-schaf-het-bsa-af-en-ijdele-hoop-goor-lef-en-misplaatste-trots/