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

Why we should treasure our magazines

I searched for a better metaphor than ‘hiding their light under a bushel’ after I remembered they were on public display. However, when I saw how the Whitcoulls national chain has relegated them to retail obscurity, I decided it was appropriate after all.

I’m talking about magazines. More specifically, the homegrown general interest magazines now facing an uphill battle to survive in printed form.

They struggle to stand out in the diminished (and in the case of Whitcoulls, almost hidden) space devoted to periodicals. They are overwhelmed by a multitude of special interest and foreign titles – cars, cars, cars and a heady mix of pseudo-psychological wellbeing and celebrity.

And they are further hampered by an unsympathetic NZ Post which, while it has doubled the price of mailing a letter, has tripled the cost of sending local magazines to subscribers.

Our magazines deserve better. And they deserve far better support from the New Zealand public. Not as a form of charity but because these publications are good, damned good.

I am not going to talk today about local titles aimed at women. My wife Jenny Lynch (a former editor of the New Zealand Woman’s Weekly) is a better judge of those than me. She is impressed by much of what she sees.

I am devoting this commentary to four titles: the weekly New Zealand Listener, the monthlies New Zealand Geographic and North & South, and the quarterly Metro.

Each, in its own unique way, makes an important contribution to New Zealand culture and to the chronicle that will become our collected past. So do others that I would include had I the time and space.

The mix in each of the four titles is eclectic. It has to be. We do not have the population to support narrowly focussed publications. No niche is big enough. Continue reading “Why we should treasure our magazines” →

You don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone

News media are good at telling us about other people but not so good at explaining the importance of their own existence. That has to change.

The standing of journalism has been undermined by characterising government funding of it as bribery. That has to change.

The New Zealand public either do not know or wilfully choose to ignore the fundamental reason why journalists are a vital part of a democratic society. That, too, has to change.

Unless the general public starts to value the role of professional journalism and demand its survival (and improvement) they are in danger of waking up one morning to find it gone or, if not gone, then reduced to the point where it can no longer hold power to account.

Today Koi Tū: The centre for Informed Futures has published a position paper on the media titled If not journalists, then who? It is a rhetorical question because there is no viable substitute for the role of the journalist in a free society.

I am an honorary research fellow at Koi Tū and I am the principal author of the paper. Today’s commentary, however, is written in my private capacity and should not be seen as necessarily reflecting the views of Koi Tū.

I don’t intend to use this commentary – delayed a day to coincide with publication of the paper – to set out its contents. You can read the paper here: informedfutures.org/if-not-journalists-then-who Rather, I want to discuss how I hope it will be used in essential development of public dialogue, the formation of government policy, and actions by the media themselves. Continue reading “You don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone” →

Temporary unilateral change to International Date Line: Tuesday Commentary published a day late

I have unilaterally decided to move the International Date Line to allow the Tuesday Commentary to appear a day later in order to cover the release of a paper on media policy by Koi Tū: The Centre for Informed Futures.

I was the principal author of If not journalists, then who? which explores the current state of news media in New Zealand, the existential threats they face, and how an extinction event can be avoided. 

The paper will be released on May 1, so the Tuesday Commentary will be published on Wednesday this week. To avoid untold confusion, I have refrained from calling it the Wednesday Commentary. It seemed easier to move the International Date Line.

Only kidding about the date line. Do NOT alter your flights.