Shayne Currie: NZME Editor-at-Large on TVNZ launching an independent review into news content

TVNZ is set to launch an independent review of its news content to check for balance and bias.

This follows Media Minister Paul Goldsmith expressing interest in seeing trust in media improve - particularly for the state broadcasters.

NZME Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie says viewers have taken issue with the 'editorialising' of the news.

"The reporter comes in at the end and gives an opinion or analysis that the viewer might take issue with. The feedback that we get a lot of is - just report the news."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
You're listening to a podcast from News Talk zed B
follow this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
TV and zed's launching an independent review to check its
news for balance and bias. It follows Media Minister Paul
Goldsmith signaling his desire to see trust and media statistics
improve for the state broadcasters. Shane carries the Media Insider
at the held and with.

Speaker 3 (00:31):
Me Tonight, Hi Shane evening Ryan.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
So are they biased?

Speaker 3 (00:35):
It depends depends on the viewer right. Certainly. The feedback
that TV and Z will get, and all media organizations
generally will get, is that some people will like your story,
some people won't. And that is especially so with political coverage.
And I've noticed it just in the last two or
three years covering TV and Z quite closely. The number
of emails I receive about their political coverage especially is

(00:57):
quite telling.

Speaker 2 (00:59):
Are they doing too much editorializing off the back of
their coverage? Do you think?

Speaker 3 (01:04):
I think that's a really good point, I think, And
that's what the independent review will probably look at. A
guy from the XABC in Australia, a guy called Alan Sunderland,
and what's happening is generally speaking, the coverage of a
particular issue is probably okay. It's seen when the reporter
comes in at the end and gives an opinion or
analysis that the viewer might take asue. With the feedback

(01:28):
we get a lot of is just report the news.

Speaker 2 (01:30):
Yes, just to say the facts and then buger.

Speaker 3 (01:32):
Off and both sides or as many sides as possible
within reason. I mean with television you know better than
most it's what a two or three minute story. See,
there's a lot to cram in.

Speaker 2 (01:42):
I'm wondering, shame, whether this is an issue that's actually
not about today but about the last five years, you know.
I think their reporting has changed considerably, the same with
arn Z, and the stories you see and here today
are actually quite different to the ones you might have
heard during COVID. Yet, well, yeah, are they being punished
for perhaps some behaviors back then.

Speaker 3 (02:02):
I think what we saw in COVID was the making
within the sausage factory, right in terms of those daily
one o'clock press conferences, and the journalists and question lines
which were happening for many, many years previous and since,
were suddenly in the spotlight themselves, and people took exception
to some of the questions, the way the press conferences
were handled by the Prime Minister at the time, and

(02:24):
there were some other factors as well that led people
to think, you know, this was a bit of a
cozy club. Wrong in a lot of respects, but still
that's the perception that's emerged, and the media has been
fighting it ever since.

Speaker 2 (02:37):
They'll soon be sharing a building. Do you think arn
Z might get a bit of this review treatment.

Speaker 3 (02:41):
Too, well? I think aren Z's got its own issues
in terms of that, and possibly even bigger issues than
TV and ZAID. I think that with the TV and ZAID,
I mean Paul Godsmith, the Media Minister has asked both
of them to improve their trust levels. They will both
argue that they are near the top of most surveys,
but as public broadcasters, Paul Godsmam says, they've got to
do a lot better.

Speaker 2 (03:00):
Shane Carry, appreciate you on the show tonight, Shane Carry
Media inside It at the Herald. You can read his column. Well,
you do multiple columns per week, really, don't you, Shane.

Speaker 3 (03:08):
You're You're the busiest man in media right now.

Speaker 2 (03:10):
Mister Bridge. As Shane Carried for

Speaker 1 (03:13):
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