StrypeyJust when I think I've plumbed the depths of David Seymour's cluelessness, he responds to the NewsHub announcement by saying he'll save them by making TVNZ pay a dividend to Treasury again. This is the publicly-owned TV broadcaster that lost NZ$17 million in the first half of last year. Even Winston, who railed against the "mainstream" media through the election campaign, thinks that's dopey.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/focusonpolitics/audio/2018928273/when-no-news-is-bad-news
Like a lot of people, #NewsHub's closure has got me thinking about media funding again.
The Public Interest Journalism Fund was NZ$55m over 3 years. Round it up to 60, and round the population down to 5 million and that's $4 per kiwi per year (20÷5). Less than a coffee or a beer.
A small price to pay to help keep hundreds of journalists employed, not to mention freed up to work on public interest projects, instead of whatever clickbait brings in advertising for their employers.
(1/5)
Some people were suspicious of the PIJF because it came directly from the general budget. Making a big chunk of income for the news media industry subject to budget decisions by the government of the day. Fair enough.
So what if the government subsidised public interest media production in Aotearoa - not just journalism - by charging telecos a levy of $1 a week on all net connections? With the money ring-fenced and administered by an autonomous NZ on Air type funding body (NZ Online?).
(2/?)
I couldn't find exact numbers for net connections in NZ with a quick web search. But including both mobile contracts, and fixed line connections at both homes and commercial premises, there's probably one for every person in the country.
Let's use a conservative estimate of 3 million connections across the country. A levy on those of $1 a week, or $52 a year, would provide just over NZ$150 million per year in public interest media funding. More than 7 times the yearly size of the PIJF.
(3/?)
People struggling with the cost of living might balk at $1 a week but keep in mind they may not be the ones who have to pay it.
Unlike the old TV license, this isn't a levy on the owners of net-connected devices. It's a levy on companies that provide access to the net. Yes they'll do their best to pass it on to customers. But as players in one of NZ's few truly competitive markets they can't just set prices. If even one company absorbs the cost to gain competitive edge, most will follow.
(4/5)
Another way for telecoms companies to get some of the money back would be to employ local media producers to work on public interest projects, and apply for funding from NZ Online (or whatever it's called). The value of a net access service is massively subsidised by the producers of all the works that a net connection gives customers access to. Why shouldn't the companies who sell net access help to fund the production of some of those works, one way or another?
(5/5)
'What’s Really Killing the News Media?'
"... it was this over-reliance, this extreme dependence, on advertising revenue, and indeed this extreme commercialisation."
#VictorPickard, Professor of Media Policy and Political Economy, University of Pennsylvania2024
https://techwontsave.us/episode/205_whats_really_killing_the_news_media_w_victor_pickard
"But the way it gets framed... is that [going after FB and Google] is the silver bullet, this is what will save journalism... And that's a dangerous argument to make, because it completely diverts our attention from what we really should be focusing on. And that is to try to find non-market means of support for the journalism that democracy requires."
#VictorPickard, Professor of Media Policy and Political Economy, University of Pennsylvania2024
https://techwontsave.us/episode/205_whats_really_killing_the_news_media_w_victor_pickard
"...we all learn in school that democracy requires a free and... functional press system. But now we have the data to show what happens to local communities when they lose their local newspapers, and sure enough, we see that they're less likely to vote, less civically engaged, less likely to run for office. Yet we see higher levels of corruption... [and] extremism..."
#VictorPickard, Professor of Media Policy and Political Economy, University of Pennsylvania2024
https://techwontsave.us/episode/205_whats_really_killing_the_news_media_w_victor_pickard
Newsrooms in Aotearoa are bleeding staff - again - and some are holding up the Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill as the solution, based on the supposed success of the similar Australian law, the News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code. Now Meta have announced a game of chicken with the government there over whether they have to comply with that law;
Australia: Labor holds Dunkley seat, Meta bails on news deal
Australia correspondent Chris Niesche looks at the relief within Labor at managing to hold the seat of Dunkley at the weekend's by-election. Where does that leave Peter Dutton's Liberals? And Meta has announced it'll stop paying Australian publishers for news and shut down the news tab it had set up. What impact could that have on the media landscape?
To be fair to Melissa Lee, news media have been in crisis for at least a decade, and Labour failed to get any of their proposed solutions over the line. Their last attempt, the #FDNBB, was too little too late. Yet Lee is allowing it to continue through Parliamentary process, putting a deeper examination of the problem and potential solutions on the public record.
Broadcasting Minister Melissa Lee responds to Newshub shut down
A week after the pending demise of Newshub and the loss of 300 jobs was made public, the Broadcasting Minister is finally fronting up for a live interview . Warner Brothers Discovery, which owns Newshub, plans to axe all local news and current affairs programs by June 30th. Network bosses told staff, advertising revenues have dissolved more quickly than expected, meaning the channels current business model is not financially sustainable. That same week, web news service Stuff also made staff redundant. Meanwhile, TVNZ lost almost 17 million dollars in the 6 months to December. Its CEO has signalled strongly that cuts are coming. Media and communications Minister Melissa Lee speaks to Lisa Owen.
Future SprogLabour did put money into funding news media and oh wow the amount of complaining and conspiracy theories that ensued!
(Also a lot of quality journalism.)
@futuresprog
> Labour did put money into funding news media
True, and yes, a bunch of good projects got funded, like Local Democracy Reporting. But it was clearly a bandaid, not a sustainable long term solution.
"People who are in tech are part of an industry that has largely redefined news media around the world... they make a lot of money from news media, but they don't like when news media uses the tools - that people in tech would probably say that 'we' gave to them - to report on the creators of these tools, and the people who have set up the media revolution that has... come with... online and social media."
#EoinHiggins, 2021
Hurricane Daveosaurus@strypey I do a lot of research on Papers Past. The news media have ALWAYS been dependent on advertising revenue. A lot of papers 100-150 years ago were a single sheet with one side (pages 1 and 4) completely covered with advertising and about two thirds of pages 2 and 3 for editorials, news and reports from further away. Each town had its own paper and local businesses were strongly encouraged to support it with advertising.
@Daveosaurus
> The news media have ALWAYS been dependent on advertising revenue.
For as long as there's been systematic archiving of it, perhaps. But if you listen to the podcast episode, Victor gives an overview of the history of news media commercialisation just before he makes that statement.
@strypey Is there a text version somewhere?
@Daveosaurus
> Is there a text version somewhere?
Not that I've been able to find, but you could read the relevant chapters in his book, which is called Democracy Without Journalism?: Confronting the Misinformation Society.