Lizzie gets it

So much spin around Bauer. If they’d taken the wage subsidy they still would’ve had to top up to 80%. Govt destroyed their revenue when they went level 4 because advertising died. Then they hammered them again by banning non-daily publications. Churlish to take no responsibility.

— Lizzie Marvelly (@LizzieMarvelly) April 2, 2020

It’s fair to say Lizzie is generally a fan of the Government, so good to see her calling them out over their spin on Bauer closing.

Also the Government has been lying over the issue as Rebekah White points out:

"They didn’t enter a conversation about becoming an essential service, they didn’t seek to continue to operate in lockdown," says @jacindaardern.

This is absolutely false.

Bauer, via the MPA, were seeking essential services status last week. https://t.co/7Er8FYASen

— Rebekah White (@RebekahWh) April 2, 2020

Now if Bauer were seeking essential services status that shows they might have given it a go at carrying on if they were given it.

@duncangreive lol Kris Faafoi says "no one from Bauer ever lobbied his office" which is absolutely true…

…bc the magazine industry were lobbying Jacinda Ardern, the minister for arts, instead. We're not broadcasting. Surely he knows about this. It's very bad faith.

— Rebekah White (@RebekahWh) April 2, 2020

The decisions on which media were essential was made by the Ministry of Culture and Heritage, which reports to Ardern not Faafoi. So it is indeed disingenuous for Faafoi to say Bauer never asked for help.

Also Newshub reported:

Some of New Zealand’s most loved magazines, including The Listener, Next, Metro and Women’s Day have become the latest casualty of COVID-19 with news publisher Bauer Media folded, effective immediately.

But Newshub can reveal the Government turned down a last ditch Hail Mary request by Bauer Media to throw the business a lifeline. …

“Bauer contacted the [Finance Minister] and told them they weren’t interested in subsidies,” Ardern said.

“They didn’t enter a conversation about becoming an essential service, they didn’t seek to continue to operate during lockdown, and they didn’t want to use the Government support to keep their doors open.”

But Newshub can reveal Bauer asked the Government to bail it out – to buy its magazines and to save jobs as a last minute lifeline, for bottom-dollar.

So the Government implied Bauer had not sought any assistance at all, when in fact they had specifically asked Robertson to bail it out or buy the magazines.

Now as it happens I don’t think the Government should have bailed them out. I think they should have reversed the ban on them publishing. But the key point is the Government wasn’t telling the truth when they said Bauer never sought assistance.