‘Flashpoint’ in a foreign news story usually brings to mind the Middle East or the border between North and South Korea. It is not a term usually associated with New Zealand but last week it was there in headline type.
News outlets around the world carried reports of the hikoi and protests against Act’s Treaty Principles Bill, with the overwhelming majority characterising the events as a serious deterioration in this country’s race relations.
The Associated Press report carried the headline “New Zealand’s founding treaty is at a flashpoint: Why are thousands protesting for Māori rights?”. That headline was replicated by press and broadcasting outlets across America, by Yahoo, by MSN, by X, by Voice of America, and by news organisations in Asia and Europe.
Reuters’ story on the hikoi carried the headline: “Tens of thousands rally at New Zealand parliament against bill to alter indigenous rights”. That report also went around the world. So, too, did the BBC, which reaches 300 million households worldwide: “Thousands flock to NZ capital in huge Māori protest”.
The Daily Mail’s website is given to headlines as long as one of Tolstoy’s novels and told the story in large type: “Tens of thousands of Māori protesters march in one of New Zealand’s biggest ever demonstrations over proposed bill that will strip them of ‘special rights’”. The Economist put it more succinctly: “Racial tensions boil over in New Zealand”.
In the majority of cases, the story itself made clear the Bill would not proceed into law but how many will recall more than the headline?
Readers of the New York Times were given an even bleaker view of this country by their Seoul-based reporter Yan Zhuang. He characterised New Zealand as a country that “veers sharply right”, electing a government that has undone the “compassionate, progressive politics” of Jacinda Ardern, who had been “a global symbol of anti-Trump liberalism”.
Critiquing the current government, the Times story stated: “In a country that has been celebrated for elevating the status of Māori, its indigenous people, it has challenged their rights and prominence of their culture and language in public life, driving a wedge into New Zealand society and setting off waves of protests.”
Christopher Luxon may have judged ‘limited’ support for David Seymour’s highly divisive proposed legislation as a worthwhile price to pay for the numbers to give him a grip on power. For his part, Seymour may have seen the Bill as a way to play to his supporters and hopefully add to their number.
Did either man, however, consider the effect that one of the most cynical political ploys of recent times – giving oxygen to a proposal that has not a hope in hell of passing into law – would have on this country’s international reputation?
Last week’s international coverage did not do the damage. Those outlets were simply reporting what they observed happening here. If some of the language – “flashpoint” and “boiling over” – look emotive, how else should 42,000 people converging on the seat of government be interpreted? The damage was done by the architect of the Bill and by the Prime Minister giving him far more freedom than he or his proposal deserve.
Nor will the reputational damage melt away, dispersing in as orderly manner like the superbly organised hikoi did last Tuesday. It will endure even beyond the six months pointlessly given to select committee hearings on the Bill. International media have been alerted to the story and they will continue to follow it. Many have staff correspondents and stringers in this country or across the Tasman who will be closely monitoring events. Australia’s ABC last week signalled ongoing protest and its story on the Treaty Principles Bill would have left Australians bewildered that a bill “with no path forward” could be allowed to cause so much discord.
“The Treaty Principles Bill may be doomed,” said the ABC’s Emily Clark, “but the path forward for race relations in New Zealand is now much less clear.”
So, too, is New Zealand’s international reputation as a country where the rights of its tangata whenua were indelibly recognised by those that followed them. Even though imperfectly applied, the relationship is far more constructive than that which many colonised countries have with their indigenous peoples.
We are held by many to be an example to others and that is part of the reason New Zealand has a position in the world that is out of proportion to its size and location.
Damage to that standing is a very high price to pay for giving a minor party a strong voice…one that will be heard a very long way away.
Audiences
The latest audience survey figures have provided some good news for radio but only a little solace for print.
The latest GfK commercial radio survey is the third consecutive measure to show overall audience growth. This year the weekly 10+ audience has grown by 36,000 to 3.44 million or 74 per cent of the population.
The gain may be modest – and it is only a shave above the same quarter two years ago – but it shows that, of all the traditional media, radio is proving the most resilient. In the current climate, even flatlining would be a plus.
NZME’s NewstalkZB continues to hold the highest share with a weekly cumulative audience of 646,600 and a station share of 14.1 per cent (slightly down on the last survey). However, in the 25-54 age group that is the abiding interest of the bright young things in advertising agencies, the top slot is held by Mediaworks’ The Rock with just over 300,000 listeners and NewstalkZB sits at eighth. ZB’s Mike Hosking remains king of the roost with more than 19 per cent of the breakfast audience.
Radio New Zealand’s latest survey was released today. Although its total average weekly audience is down by about 5000 (to sit at 489,600), it has made gains in the Auckland market (up 8000).
RNZ’s Morning Report has gained total weekly audience since the last survey and now sits at 355,300. Most of that gain was in Auckland and at the expense of Wellington and Christchurch. Saturday Morning also gained overall (up 5.8 per cent) but Checkpoint was down in all three centres, with a total decline of 13 per cent.
A separate survey by Verian shows that each month RNZ is engaging with a record 80 per cent of New Zealanders 18-plus, three years earlier than the public broadcaster had targeted.
The picture is not so rosy for print publications.
Year-on-year the average issue readership for all daily newspapers has dropped from 1.05 million to 980,000. The New Zealand Herald dropped 19,000 to 513,000 while The Press shed 11,000 to sit at 91,000 and The Post dropped 11,000 to finish the year at 113,000.
It was better news for the Waikato Times and Otago Daily Times. The former dropped only 2000 readers year-on-year (now 49,0000) and the latter only a thousand (now 87,000).
There was a glimmer of good news in the Sunday market: The Herald on Sunday increased readership year-ono-year from 292,000 to 311,000 but the Sunday Star-Times dropped 11,000 to 178,000.
The good news glimmer also carried over to the magazine market where, year-on-year, the New Zealand Listener has gained an extra 4000 readers to sit at an average issue readership of 207,000.
The news is not so good for the remainder of the weeklies. The New Zealand Woman’s Weekly dropped a whopping 59,000 readers but remains the best read weekly at 400,000. Its fall was closely followed by that of TV Guide which dropped 52,000 to 287,000 readers. Woman’s Day shed 34,000 readers to sit at 339,000.
In the monthly magazine market the number to look for was that of North & South, which last week announced suspension of its print edition. Its publisher, School Road, told RNZ: “On the back of flat advertising sales and increasing pressure from advertisers, we have decided it’s time to get serious about the digital offering for North & South.” In fact, the latest survey shows increased readership for the magazine. Since last year its audience has grown from 127,000 to 139,000 – not enough, it would seem, to stave off the financial pressures.
Biggest winners in the monthly market was Stuff’s NZ House & Garden (up 39,000 to 401,000) and Mindfood (up 36,000 to 228,000). The biggest loser was The Australian Women’s Weekly which, in the course of a year, has shed an astronomical 178,000 readers. Its average issue readership now stands at 299,000. Its market share has dropped from 11.5 per cent to seven per cent. Perhaps they have cut the New Zealand print run.
The survey does contain a word of encouragement for that bi-monthly battler New Zealand Geographic. On the back of publisher James Frankham’s plea for reader support comes news that its year-on-year readership is up from 376,000 to 387,000.