A guest post by Fish Across Face:
My name is a pseudonym, as I’m identifiable with a high profile local television show. For what it’s worth, publishing the following is an acknowledgement from our host that I have decades of experience in most areas of TV, radio, commercial production and so on. My name wouldn’t be familiar, but to kiwis, my content is.
This post addresses today’s failing media ecosystem, its relationship with the Left of politics, and how to fix it – from someone inside the tent.
Political Bias.
The charge of institutional media bias is denied because those guilty can’t see it. In my long experience, the partiality is often nurtured at the breast in the comfortable homes of those who can indulge their bright, inquisitive children. The fruit sets at school, and later ripens on the vine of tertiary media institutes.
In the workplace, the bias is sealed in with the subsidy – income guaranteed by governments of the Left, with few strings.
Any subsidised industry will fight to retain the oxygen of subsidy.
Examples.
RNZ Checkpoint presenter Lisa Owen was the left to Ryan Bridge’s right during their Magic Live days, so her politics are no secret. John Campbell’s corresponding views are now a matter of public record. So – the two leading RNZ voices are self-identified as left-leaning. I can advise that the vast majority of the company follows suit.
(Incidentally, ‘Checkpoint’ itself suddenly extended from one to two hours ‘to keep them honest’ – just after Chris Luxon became PM).
Meanwhile we recently discovered Maike Sherman was protected by TVNZ – the same organisation that deliberately misled viewers with an edited Donald Trump quote, BBC-style. Who are the people who did this? Do they still have jobs?
Nobody’s talking about that – or whatever it was that Lloyd Burr said to Maike Sherman in the first place.
1 News will make much of its integrity, but when it reported that the Haetea School mouldy lunch scandal was in fact the fault of the school, not the programme, this revelation was buried at the end of the bulletin. When the story first broke, it led the bulletin. It’s small wonder trust has declined.
Going back, Kiwiblog readers are familiar with the Public Interest Journalism Fund’s extraordinarily compromising requirements – blithely accepted by many.
Then there was the Bryan Bruce documentary about child poverty that coincidentally screened on TV3 three days before John Key went to the country.
I could go on. But instead of just pointing out the obvious, I’ve identified some challenges that news media – and media bosses in general – must deal with, in my opinion.
1: Issues to confront, to win back consumers.
1: New Zealand legacy news media tends to hold an overwhelmingly singular view of almost every major talking point, from Trump to trans issues. This ridicules the idea of a ‘plurality of voices’, and bores the consumer. This is partly why Newshub failed; its 6pm offering was routinely the same as TV1’s.
2: Te Reo Maori on radio and television. Without translation, the broadcaster is not communicating – which is its fundamental business. Consumers leave, not just because un-translated language confuses, but because questioning or complaining implies racism. Kiwis do not like to complain, or think of themselves as bigots.
3: Major newsrooms accommodating the views of extremist agitators as go-to commentators. This is a huge mistake; consumers will draw the conclusion that your editorial team believes radical opinions to be valid and interesting (See: Martyn Bradbury eventually sacked from Jim Mora’s ‘The Panel’ on RNZ).
4: Deliberate journalistic manipulation of subjects in the field, and/or employment of emotive language and editing to elicit a more sympathetic response to whatever the writer believes is the approved narrative. Trust me, it’s easy to do.
5: Downplaying, or complete omission of high-interest stories. The equally damaging opposite of this is over-indulgence; the late Kingi Tuheitia’s tangi is a prime example. Whilst an important story, it took up the first 15 minutes of every bulletin on TV1 News for a week.
All of the above has had the disastrous net effect of driving away prime target audiences; the older, the smarter, the wealthier.
2: Solutions to address balance (in no order):
1: Either radically reduce the reportage of low-value stories from Maoridom or shift them across to Maori platforms; that’s why they were created. The latest intrigues and squabbles are of little interest to mainstream consumers.
2: Replace unionised workers on both state broadcasters with contractors. The dynamic nature of the profession requires management to either remove public facing employees quickly, or work out a way to get them performing. In TV production, most NZ contracts dictate 1-2 weeks’ notice before termination.
3: Return to commissioning and programming content ordinary New Zealanders want – not what the commissioners and programmers want them to want.
4: Impose a moratorium on hiring new entrants for the professions coming out of the clearly partisan broadcasting schools. Instead, select cadets directly from Year 13 and train them in house.
5: Reduce the incessant talking points from known radical activists who do not represent mainstream views. Leave these to the minnow internet platforms.
6: For TVNZ, tap into the extensive back catalogue. The hard core of the audience enjoys nostalgia. This content often needs re-formatting, but on the up side it was often made using very high production standards.
7: Amalgamate TVNZ, RNZ and Whakaata Maori newsrooms. There is no risk of ‘losing another voice’ as the voices are synchronous. Cutting down duplication can release capital to reinvest elsewhere, reduce reliance on the taxpayer or return a dividend.
8: Take risks in programming and news gathering; media is a business of risk. There is no shortage of high-interest stories that are uncomfortable to document, but they’re often ignored because they might upset some of the loud voices in society.
9: Avoid hiring trouble. Knowing what to look out for is difficult because big personalities are involved, but there’s Paul Henry trouble and there’s Maike Sherman trouble. One attracts more than they repel, the other repels more than they attract..
10: Direct journalists and writers to cease using emotive manipulation to elicit a desired response. If it’s obvious, three strikes and you’re gone, and that goes for the manager. Journalists are not in short supply. Avoid blanket quoting from, subscribing to and eliciting opinion solely from well-known international left-leaning news outlets. The cumulative effect is that the consumer again sees a partisan viewpoint.
Summary:
There is shared concern – mainly among those who have the most to lose – that political interference in state media is afoot. Not so; the interference is an attempt to restore equilibrium, as opposed to just giving up and closing it all down – which is doable, but politically expensive.
For those in the media wondering how to repair the damage that has clearly been done over recent years, look no further than Mike Hosking. He is a maverick in media circles, often derided, yet commands by far the largest audience in the country.
With commercials.
Work it out.
