Goldsmith vs Luxon

Stuff reports:

Online radio stations and TV news shows could soon be regulated in the same way as terrestrial broadcasters currently are.

Media and Communications Minister Paul Goldsmith said the likes of The Platform, Reality Check Radio, and Herald Now are currently not covered by the Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA), even though some competitors are.

“It’s not obvious to me why one group of people who are broadcasting in a very similar way should be subject to the BSA and another group shouldn’t be,” he said.

Because one group need to get a broadcasting licence from the government, and the other does not.

But the best solution would be to have neither group subject to the BSA, and just have the Media Council as an industry self-regulator for everyone.

The comments come after Prime Minister Christopher Luxon told The Platform founder Sean Plunket that he had “sympathy” for him over what he called the BSA’s “overreach”, following revelations the agency was looking to widen its remit to include online media networks.

When asked if he agreed with Luxon’s comments, Goldsmith replied, “I always agree with the prime minister in the general sense,” but added, “the world has changed significantly”.

This is very messy.

The PM has clearly said that the BSA is overreaching, while the Communications Minister seems to be defending the BSA and saying it isn’t right that some media who produce video and audio are not covered by the BSA.

Surely they can all agree that any changes to what the BSA covers should be decided by Parliament, not the BSA?