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. 

Newshub Bailout Looms?

I've been closely following statements by New Zealand cabinet ministers, about the plight of TV3's News operation and its planned shutdown by Warner Bros. Discovery. It's looking increasingly likely that this private company will be getting a taxpayer funded bailout. It makes my blood boil.

These were people who championed lockdowns and the jab. They're the lowest of the low. 

This latest government hasn't been in office very long, so it's about time they learnt to read the room. TV3 are loathed by the majority of the people. Bail them out at your peril as if you do, your re-election chances will plummet. Use taxpayer funds to deliver long awaited improvements to the country's infrastructure instead. 

Just watch the outrage if Newshub gets bailed out 

TVNZ Crisis

First it was Warner Bros. Discovery announcing the closure of New Zealand's TV3 news department; now state owned TVNZ are about to make major cuts to their news section.

Hah, brilliant, these people conspired against the people, now they're about to lose their jobs, well, boohoo, they'll get no sympathy from me.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/501094/tvnz-results-show-steep-drop-in-profit

Fresh Faces: New Zealand TV News Presenters

In general I don't hold out much hope for the mainstream media free-to-air TV news. However, two people in New Zealand that I can stand to watch are Jenny Suo who reads the news at 10:30pm on TV1, while Oriini Kaipara can often be seen reading the news at 4:30pm over on TV3. 

They don't get everything right, sometimes both mispronounce words. Recently, I heard Ms Kaipara refer to Hanmer Springs as Hamner Springs. That grated a little. Another common mistake presenters make is calling the Cawthron Institute, Cawthorn. Grr. But the two at least try to sound clear, and slow down to say each word. Quite often, these days presenters enunciate just a slurry of flubber, you'd be lucky to know what was being said. They must have their mouths full of marbles while speaking. So, with these two there is hope, we just need both channels to start reporting fact instead of government propaganda.

Latest Political Poll New Zealand

I don't trust the latest public opinion polls as published by TV3's Newshub. That's not because they have National too low on 29%, but because their results show Advance NZ not registering at all. That I don't believe, right now Advance NZ are everywhere and they're packing halls. It is simply not credible to think they're not registering. And I'm going to stick my neck out and say I don't believe National are so low either. If true, it would be a first as voters always return to National when times are tough and that's right now, with New Zealand's biggest economic crisis in its entire history.

What's going on? The media are rigging things, that's what. 

AM Show aka NatTube

I can report progress on my survey of the AM Show on New Zealand's TV3 and whether they're really National Party TV.

What I do is throw dice to determine which day and what hour I'll be surveying. The first hour drawn was today, Wednesday the first day of November. The time surveyed was one hour between 8 and 9am.

Early days I know, but so far there is no evidence of bias. If anything the bias is pro Labour. I divide up which side is being mentioned, National or Labour (Labour includes all parties in government), and whether they're treated predominantly positively or negatively.

During the one hour in question, Duncan Garner talked for 40 seconds predominantly positively about Labour. He did not mention National and nor did Mark Richardson. The news segments presented by Amanda Gillies contained initiatives announced by Labour and these were handled even-handedly.

My readers will be aware that when I surveyed NBA games I found obvious bias, proving NBA regular season games are rigged. Well, so far no obvious bias from the AM Show. I'll keep randomly sampling. Funny thing was my wife saw my survey sheet ready on the coffee table and she left a note and a hand drawn emoji warning me not to get too upset with Mark Richardson as he's known to be a Nat. I called her to thank her for being so thoughtful but she needn't have worried, Richardson didn't offend.

More on this later and a report on the overall results.

AM Show aka National Party TV

The AM Show is a New Zealand weekday breakfast TV show. It's a lightweight attempt at current affairs, most of the guests are conservative and the views expressed are generally right-of-centre. That said, I think in the run up to the recent General Election and in the weeks after they've crossed the line and become an organ of the National Party. To recap, National are now in opposition as they lost the General Election and are out of office.

How I think the AM Show tried and still tries to support National is in the relentlessly favourable coverage they provide. This support extends to all levels, even right down to captions, with the National party leader Simon "Bill" English being described recently as 'National Leader' instead of Leader of the Opposition. With the former title one could be confused about his actual role.

So what I'm going to do is run a survey just to check if I'm right. I'll listen to three hours of the AM Show, each separate hour chosen randomly on any given day (also chosen randomly). What I'll be listening for is either National being mentioned or the government which could be Labour, NZ First or the Greens. How many times does the AM Show mention either and in what proportion?

Then I'll be listening for generally favourable comments. How I'll determine this will be going by how the commentator leaves the viewer or listener (the show is also simulcast on radio).

For example, imagine a new road is being announced. What I think the AM Show do is boost National but detract from Labour. What they'd say is something like this:

"Labour has announced a new road, 'bout time I'd say, where's the money coming from? (Labour spokesperson comes on and makes sense in pointing out National failed to build the road). Trust Labour to have not done their sums."

Then when National have their say (remember National had planned this road but never built it):

"The very capable Steven Joyce will be all over this, over to the money man, what about this then (Steven Joyce speaks with little interruption). Well that's the final word then, trust National to sort this mess out."

Clearly in such an exchange the intention is to create a generally favourable impression of National, wouldn't you say? I don't know why New Zealand puts up with it, there could be a good argument for having TV3's licence to broadcast suspended.

And a sidebar, the presenters are white and middle class. Duncan Garner is the so-called 'star' who wrote an offensive and deeply racist opinion piece for the Sunday Star Times awhile back, while the sports guy is a former cricket player for NZ. Cricket is largely white and who you know not how good you are largely determines selection. His name is Mark Richardson (you are not expected to recognise the name and few know what he has done despite his repeatedly reminding the audience he once played for NZ's biggest sporting chokers) and he openly endorsed National prior to the election.

When TV3 next goes bust, I suggest the frequencies be allocated to Radio New Zealand and let them run a TV news channel.

Duncan Garner

Duncan Garner's recent rant in a Sunday paper in New Zealand was definitely racist. More telling is that he defended his words on the AM show the next day.

He's all façade. He's also lightweight as he goes on an on and on. Massively. (Yes I'm copying his poor style).

I have found a very good slap down here: https://discrepancie.wordpress.com/2017/10/07/im-not-racist-but-an-open-letter-to-duncan-garner/

I see parallels between Garner's snake imagery and that used by Fritz Hippler in the Nazi propaganda film The Eternal Jew (1940). Hippler depicted rats running in the sewers, a clear reference to the notion of the wandering Jew. Garner doesn't want wandering mobs of the wrong type of person in his queue at Kmart.

Polls: National or Labour in Front?

There are conflicting poll results leading up to this years general election in New Zealand. TV1 has Labour in front while TV3 say National has extended its lead in front. They can't both be right. To find what the problem is I'd suggest looking at the sample sizes and methodology behind each poll. My guess is that TV1 is biased toward the large metropolitan areas while TV3 is biased toward the regions. Considering there are far more people living in cities, I'd pay more attention to the TV1 poll results.

Something else to think about, NZ First usually does better on election day. A myriad of reasons for this, including when asked people won't admit to supporting NZ First, or they're older people and always leave the answer-phone on and so can't be polled.

My money is still on a Labour/NZ First coalition. Labour on 40% plus NZ First's 9%, = 49% and with lost or wasted votes a majority in parliament. This MMP is a stupid system foisted on us by the Greens way back in the day, it's brilliant that same system is going to dump on them. Ha ha you bunch of naysayers.

Edge TV, Get Better or Shut Down

Pity the New Zealand television viewer relying on free to air broadcasts. What they get served up is genuinely dreadful and Edge TV, the television arm of a radio station, is the worst on offer amongst a bad bunch.

Edge, I have a twelve year old who says they can do better than you, and you know what, that twelve year old isn't wrong. I remind this child that it is a bunch of eight year old children running the station, that's why it is so bad. I'm probably being a bit harsh on the abilities of those just eight years old.

Here's an idea, how about some variety, not those boring songs you insist on regurgitating. My twelve year old suggests Elvis Presley. Edge, did you not know the youngsters are into older stuff these days.

Mark Weldon

TV3 is going bust. Maybe not right now but it has to happen. The latest news is that Mark Weldon has resigned. He's the MediaWorks CEO. Weldon has been the architect of much of the malaise and his going could be a good thing, but it could also mean the organisation is in chaos. Time will tell no doubt.

Four is becoming Bravo. This couldn't get any worse. I don't want reality TV 24/7. MediaWorks have failed to convert its younger viewers into reliable viewers when they get older. They needed to work on that, not throw the baby out with the bath water (no pun intended).

TV3

What is going on over at TV3? They've now lost news co-anchor Hilary Barry.

TV3 news has always been better than TVNZ. Now their morning TV show, Paul Henry 6-9am which also features Barry, has made an impact. But the rest of the programming is dire to say the least. It looks like they're going bust.

Why can't TV3 make money? The radio side of MediaWorks is reported to be profitable, you'd think the television side of the company could manage that, hmm?

I have no idea but I'll sit and watch with interest.