Author: Gavin Ellis

Gavin Ellis is a media consultant, commentator and researcher. He holds a doctorate in political studies. A former editor-in-chief of the New Zealand Herald, he is the author of Trust Ownership and the Future of News: Media Moguls and White Knights (London, Palgrave) and Complacent Nation (Wellington, BWB Texts). His consultancy clients include media organisations and government ministries. His Tuesday Commentary on media matters appears weekly on his site www.whiteknightnews.com

Hero to zero: Google still comes out the winner

Will the problems facing New Zealand news media never cease? No sooner had they adjusted to a world ruled by ‘clicks’, than that world is faced with the prospect of ‘zero clicks’.

Not long ago, I was watching an electronic tickertape in a newsroom telling brow-beaten staff which of their stories were ‘trending’ online (and, by implication, what was too boring to justify a reporter’s attention). In another media organisation I saw similar information scrolling across the bottom of newsroom screens. ‘Clicks’ was what it was all about – analytics showing, minute-by-minute, how many people were reading respective news stories on their phones, iPads, or computers.

Some of those ‘clicks’ were directly on news media’s own websites and apps. Many more, however, were through intermediary search engines. The undisputed leader of search was Google. It even went beyond search by proactively looking for the topics that interested you and feeding relevant stories to you via Google Discover.

For some people, Discover became their only source of news. It was convenient and, because it targeted specific areas of interest, it was material they wanted to see and read. Some news media organisations saw that as a helpful way of reaching an audience and came to rely on it for ‘clicks’. A shame, of course, about all those stories that people should know about, but which sat outside their personalised search algorithms.

Then along came Generative AI and speculation that services like ChatGPT would smash Google’s dominance. The soothsays did not, however, reckon with the ingenuity and strategic skills of the people at 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway in Mountain View, California. The headquarters of Google’s parent, Alphabet, went into overdrive to head off the generative AI newbies before they could establish a ruinous foothold.

The result was Google’s AI Overviews, which was rolled out to 100 countries last year.

You have probably seen the result, perhaps without realising what it was. You simply read it and thought: “Gee, that’s a useful summary”. So useful, in fact, that you didn’t bother clicking on any of the search results below it. Continue reading “Hero to zero: Google still comes out the winner” →

Far-reaching consequences of cloaking this man’s past

New Zealand’s Supreme Court last week re-affirmed the absolute right to a fair trial. In the process it denied citizens another fundamental right in an attempt to hide the past from jurors.

The court handed down its decision in an appeal over a takedown order that required Herald publisher NZME and other media to remove all stories relating to the previous convictions and character of a man now serving his second open-ended sentence of preventive detention.

The takedown is now moot because Damon John Exley (pictured above) has already been convicted and sentenced in the case during which the take-down order was made and then successfully appealed by NZME. Exley (also known as John Douglas Willis) was granted leave to take the matter to the Supreme Court, which elected to continue the appeal because it “raised a point of public importance”.

That process meant a takedown order remained in force during his trial on charges of rape, assault with a weapon, and abduction while an escapee from Rimutaka Prison where he was already serving a term of preventive detention. However, the jury was aware of some of his past convictions because the Crown had been given leave to introduce a list in what is known as propensity evidence.

Last week the Supreme Court found in Exley’s favour and said the Court of Appeal had been wrong to quash the takedown order. It found that the was “a real risk to Mr Exley’s fair trial rights if the material was accessed by a juror”.

The judgement has far-reaching effects because it found the right to a fair trial is absolute and the test to be applied “does not involve the balancing of the right to a fair trial against other rights, including freedom of expression”. It overturns the previous two-step test that first assessed whether continued publication represented a real risk of prejudice to a fair trail, but which then asked whether a takedown order would be a reasonable limitation – set out in Section 5 of the Bill of Rights Act  – on the right to freedom of expression. That limitation requires that it be “demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society”. Continue reading “Far-reaching consequences of cloaking this man’s past” →

TVNZ’s digital war calls for urgent reinforcements

Like it or not, the Government must step up and help Television New Zealand compete in the fight for its life.

The state-owned broadcaster is in what military strategists would call a perilous situation: With weakened supply lines, it is facing enemies on both flanks and a pincer movement that could squeeze the life out of it.

On one flank it has Sky TV, which last week pulled off a brilliant tactical move in which it was effectively gifted the valuable brand equity that continues to reside in Three despite its financial woes.

On the other flank are streaming services which – in spite of fighting their own battle royal – take increasing numbers of viewers from traditional providers.

The pincer movement could place TVNZ in an existential crisis within an alarmingly short period of time Continue reading “TVNZ’s digital war calls for urgent reinforcements” →

Media in peril if Trump playbook falls open here

Observe carefully how American President Donald J. Trump systematically weakens the ability of journalists to hold him to account. He is creating a playbook for others to follow.

It would be easy to tut-tut, shake one’s head, and utter statements about “poor America”. Yes, the United States will be much the poorer through the actions of the most undemocratic president it its history. However, our concern should be driven as much by self-interest as concern for the good people in the country formerly known as Land of the Free.

Trump’s assault on media could be replicated in New Zealand. Perhaps not by our current government, but by the politicians we have yet to meet.

For that reason, we need to develop a Trump filter and ensure we develop safeguards that prevent the misuse of power we are seeing played out in Washington. The protections will need to be robust. Who would have imagined that the Constitution of the United States and the First Amendment would have proved impotent in the face of presidential assault?

Trump has employed multiple levers to weaken and intimidate his country’s news media: De-funding, withdrawal of accreditation, intimidation, and ‘lawfare’ (the use of legal strategies to harass and silence news media). Continue reading “Media in peril if Trump playbook falls open here” →