Kerre Woodham: Where does the media go from here?

First up today, a suite of announcements around the media. Paul Goldsmith, Minister for Broadcasting, thank heavens, has agreed to progress the Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill. This was a bill initially proposed by Labour and rejected by National. Now, however, the coalition government, minus one of its partners, is progressing with amendments to support our local media companies to earn revenue for the news they produce and in effect, throw them a lifeline, help them survive. Paul Goldsmith says the key change, the reason why they are now supporting the bill, is adopting a ministerial designation framework. This will enable the Minister to decide which digital platforms are captured by the bill, allowing the government to manage unintended consequences.  

The unintended consequences are part of why ACT are not supporting the bill as David Seymour explained to Mike Hosking this morning. 

 

“It's not always obvious who needs who the most, and when it comes to digital media, whether it's the Herald online, or Stuff, or whatever, they are benefiting from being able to be found on Google, from having their stories shared on Facebook and Instagram, and I've heard from people who work on those companies, that they're trained to help enhance their visibility on these internet platforms so they get more readers.  

“Now, if you're going to try and strike a deal it's not actually obvious who should be paying who, for what service. But to put a politician in the middle trying to figure that out, well, that's the kind of policy we expect from the Labour Party and of course, the, the origin of it is a Labour policy, and I just think we’ve got to be honest about, you know, the problems with the media actually relate to the product. It's never been easier to share news, you know, it's not like you have to pay a network of thousands of school kids to deliver papers every morning. Anyone can start a media company. It's easy to communicate. The issue is, I don't think people want the product. And if you start trying to subsidise by pulling down other companies that are doing, well, you're just delaying the change that needs to happen that we need more journalism we can actually trust.” 

 

And therein lies the point really, is it just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic? One of the unintended consequences they were concerned about was that in Canada, Meta blocked users’ ability to share or view news content. And that led to a significant reduction in traffic to smaller independent media websites and the government having to bail them out. And if news disappears from social media platforms there's fears misinformation will take its place. Well, that's already alive and well and thriving in different corners of the Internet.  

Goldsmith says, however, they will ensure an appropriate independent regulator is appointed as the Bills authority. In addition, he points out much of the legislation underpinning the media landscape is outdated and stifling innovation. While full legislative review does take time, Paul Goldsmith said we're starting by removing outdated advertising restrictions for Sundays and public holidays. So basically, that means you can see your KFC, and McDonald's, and your Beds R US, and Tina from Turners on Sundays now, Christmas Day, and Easter.  

And don't you dare complain because nobody's watching terrestrial television anymore, or certainly not in the numbers to warrant any complaints to be taken seriously. The government's also going to tweak the eligibility criteria for the New Zealand's Screen Production Rebate for local shows with strong industry and cultural value. Why should international film producers get their rebate when local producers don't? So, Shortland Street gets a lifeline. Does this mean

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Carrywood and Mornings podcast from News
Talk sad B.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
First up today as suite of announcements around the media.
They happened yesterday. Paul Goldsmith, Minister for Broadcasting, Thank Heavens,
has agreed to progress the Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill.
This was a bill initially proposed by Labor and rejected
by National. Now however, the Coalition government, minus one of

(00:36):
its partners, is progressing with amendments to support our local
media companies to earn revenue for the news they produce
and in effect throw them a lifeline help them survive.
Paul Goldsmith says the key change the reason why they're
now supporting the bill is adopting a ministerial designation framework.

(00:57):
This will enable the Minister to decide which digital platforms
are captured by the bill, allowing the government to manage
unintended consequences. The unintended consequences are part of why act
are not supporting the bill. As David Seymour explained to
My Costing this morning.

Speaker 3 (01:18):
It's not always obvious who needs who the most, and
when it comes to digital media, whether it's The Herald
Online or Stuff or whatever, they are benefiting from being
able to be found on Google, from having their stories
shared on Facebook and Instagram. And I've heard from people

(01:40):
who work in those companies that they're trained to help
enhance their visibility on these internet platforms so they get
more readers. Now, if you're going to try and strike
a deal, it's not actually obvious who should be paying
who for what service. But to put a politician in
the middle trying to figure that out, well, that's the

(02:01):
kind of policy we expect from the Labor Party, and
of course the origin of it is a labor policy.
And I just think we're going to be honest about
the problems with the media actually relate to the product.
It's never been easier to share news. It's not like
you have to pay a network of thousands of school
kids to deliver papers every morning. Anyone can start a

(02:24):
media company. It's easy to communicate. The issue is I
don't think people want the product, and if you start
trying to subsidize by pulling down other companies that are
doing well, you're just delaying the change that needs to happen.
That we need more journalism we can actually trust.

Speaker 2 (02:40):
And therein lies the point. Really is it just rearranging
the detches on the Titanic. One of the unintended consequences
they were concerned about was that in Canada, Meta blocked users'
ability to share or view news content and that led
to a significant reduction in traffic to smaller independent media
websites and the government having to bail them out. And

(03:04):
if news disappears from social media platforms, there's fears misinformation
will take its place. Well, that's already alive and well
and thriving in different corners of the Internet. Goldsmith says, however,
they will ensure an appropriate independent regulator is appointed as
the bill's authority. In addition, he points out much of

(03:27):
the legislation underpinning the media landscape as outdated and stifling innovation.
While full legislative review does take time, Paul Goldsmith said,
we're starting by removing outdated advertising restrictions for Sundays and
public holidays. So basically that means you can see your

(03:47):
KFC and McDonald's, and your beds are us and your
TENA for turners on Sundays now, Christmas Day and Easter,
and don't you dare complain because nobody's watching terrestrial television anymore.
Or certainly not in the numbers to warrant any complaints
to be taken seriously. The government is also going to

(04:10):
tweak the eligibility criteria for the New Zealand screen production
rebate for local shows with strong industry and cultural value.
Why should international film producers get their rebate when local
producers don't, so Shortland Street gets a lifeline? Does this
mean it adds so much cultural value that it can

(04:33):
justify being publicly funded rather than standing on its own
two feet. It's an adult now, it's been around for
long enough. Should it still be living at home with
the government getting funded by the government. I don't know
that giving television the ability to advertise on Sundays and
public holidays is going to save it either. I'm not
sure the revenue that's going to come and is even

(04:54):
remotely going to help in terms of keeping traditional media
mainstream media alive, simply delaying the inevitable. Where do you
get your news from? Where do you get trusted sources

(05:17):
of information? Do you also go to places where you
find yourself railing at either the announcer or the tenor
of the interview or the information just so you can
hear another side or do you prefer to hear your
own views reinforced? Do you still check in with the

(05:42):
mainstream media websites? Is there anyone still getting a newspaper delivered?
When my mum gave up her subscription, I thought, well,
that's it. That's the end of that. I thought to myself,
is it just going to have to transform itself completely

(06:06):
in terms of not only how it delivers news, but
what it delivers, what sort of information you want?

Speaker 1 (06:14):
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