New Zealand's Media Landscape

New Zealand is not out of the woods yet. Noises are being made by politicians that NZ is back on track, no more unicorn kisses and rainbow hugs. But, it's not as simple as that as NZ no longer has an independent and fearless media.

Recently, TV3 shut down their news operation and now the whole platform has been sold to Sky NZ. Sky have said they have no real interest in news (I'm paraphrasing), so TV3's nightly news is produced by Stuff and that may be ending soon.

Stuff own most of the newspaper titles across NZ, significant amongst these are The Press of Christchurch, and The Post in Wellington.

Then, we have the New Zealand Herald, known as Aunty Herald due to its tone of being that Aunty that's always telling everyone off. It is the newspaper of record and now under a new board after a corporate coup. But it has been sliding for a while, so the jury is out on whether it will survive.

Newstalk ZB is a talk radio platform and dominates the airwaves. But it is just a rehash of the same claptrap you'd find in the newspapers.

TV1 is state owned and follows instructions from the government, it is a cockwomble media organisation.

There are one or two independent voices, the Otago Daily Times being one, but they're very tame.

The sum total paints an ugly picture. All of the above survive because the taxpayer keeps them alive. They do this through government agencies advertising across their platforms. Without this money, they'd all become extinct, overnight.

There have been some interesting developments; such as the online Centrist which gives readers a condensed version of news content. 

And then on YouTube there is The Platform, but it does very little reporting of its own, and its so-called stars are all locked in to prevailing opinions. They sound desperate to be liked and cling like limpet mines to those they perceive as the great and good. They are all products of a system that is dying, so they will also die, they have nothing new to offer.

In this desert, and with the internet now being heavily censored, the country has to try and survive. I am somewhat pessimistic about whether this is possible. 

Stuff For Sale

The New Zealand media company, Stuff is for sale. It's a silly name and an even sillier company. Their main rival, NZME has offered $1 for it. I'll go $10, don't say I'm a skinflint. What do you say eh? C'mon Stuff owners, give me a call.

Why is Stuff going bust I hear you ask. People like to say it's because of technology, the age of television and the internet. While Stuff does have a busy website, they rely heavily on newspapers. Yes, that's part of the story, but their failure has to do with other factors as well; a lack of professionalism, no local news, lack of analysis, and a tendency to fawn and suffocate over who happens to be in power at the time. Stuff has become a sycophantic weasel and no-one trusts them. I don't blame the readers shunning them and these days never buy their newspapers myself.

Climate Strike

The event is planned for March 15, 2019. Supposedly this event is being organised by school children without the endorsement of schools. In New Zealand at least; who is really behind the planning for this event? What are their politics exactly and what are their credentials for safely managing a nationwide campaign?

I've noticed a decided lack of information about this. I don't believe for one minute that children are capable of organising a nationwide political campaign. The children are being used as pawns. Disgraceful.

Are valuable learnings possible? As things stand there is no valuable lesson as schools are not on board with it. Without classroom time examining all the angles of the debate, the whole exercise amounts to brainwashing.

The media has been complicit in this brainwashing. We need to know who the adults are behind this event and who is to be held accountable if anything goes wrong. Media, start being the professionals you claim to be.

Quick! Save the Planet: Stuff's Campaign

New Zealand media group, Fairfax are promoting the Quick! Save the Planet series through its newspapers and Stuff.co.nz website. It's meant to awaken concern and inform about climate change, and offer ways to effect change. In so doing, I assume they expect this will result in saving the planet from its imminent demise.

It won't do anything of the sort and campaigns like this are misguided at best, and at worst extremely foolish or even stupid. Okay, I accept they have to sell newspapers, they're largely failing and they'll all have to shut up shop within my lifetime, but the desperate will do anything to survive.

The problem with this campaign is twofold; the first is with the hysterical nature of the title. Any solution is certainly not quick, and the planet doesn't need saving. Most people intuitively know this and so when reading they're likely to skip. Only the converted will read, and so no progress is made at all.

The second problem is more serious and lies at the root. This sort of scaremongering results in polarisation of opinions and climate change extremism. Any not fully on board with the most extreme climate alarmists are instantly labelled 'climate change deniers.' Heretics in other words.

Of course there is no real debate about climate change being real, no-one with half a brain is debating it. What is up for debate is the extent to it and whether the effects are adverse at all. And if they are adverse, how bad exactly and can it be managed? What doesn't help is when someone enters the debate talking practical matters, and they're shouted down and accused of being a 'denier.'

What we are witnessing folks, is the development of a new religion; in my book Snob's Guide to New Zealand, I call the religion Eco. I describe how this new religion functions. It seems Stuff and Fairfax have adopted the faith.