Coronaviral home truths

TUESDAY COMMENTARY

I now know why they are called ‘home truths’. They reveal themselves while you are banged up in your house waiting for the plague to go away.

I have learned a few home truths about the media since going into voluntary isolation even before the Covid-19 Level 4 lockdown order was issued. Age was the reason I turned my back on human contact weeks before the café doors slammed shut but it also means I’ve seen a few media institutions come and go over the years.

Journalists have learned to go with the times – yes, mainly go. They have been constantly told they need to adapt with technology, with competition, with changing markets. They have learned to roll with punches and that, for many, has meant accepting some things that leave a bloody taste in the mouth.

So, from the safety of my bubble (or, more accurately, the serenity of my study where the only danger lies in refusing Rufus his cat treats), I have had time to reflect on the past, to gather a few home truths that just might be useful lessons for the future. Continue reading “Coronaviral home truths” →

Trust is a percentage gain

 

Public trust is a percentages game. A survey released last week tells us 53 per cent of New Zealanders trust overall news sources most of the time.

That isn’t a particularly high number, but it ranks well against other countries. We sit behind Finland (59 per cent), equal with The Netherlands, and ahead of Germany (47 per cent), the United Kingdom (40 per cent) and Australia (38 per cent). We are well ahead of the United States, where a dismal 32 per cent of the population trust most news most of the time. America, though, has become a very strange country under the leadership of President Trump. And when it comes to the news sources New Zealanders personally use, the percentage who trust it jumps to 62 per cent.

Our ranking will help to validate the campaigns being run by news media to demonstrate to the public that they are the trusted sources to news. Continue reading “Trust is a percentage gain” →

Welcome relief for broadcasters but print remains hard-pressed

The Government’s $50-million media package announced today has bought broadcasters some time, but it could put nails in the coffins of some of our print titles.

Little in the package assists newspaper and magazine operations to overcome the disastrous decline in retail advertising that accompanied the Covid-19 lockdown. Continue reading “Welcome relief for broadcasters but print remains hard-pressed” →

Finally…someone gets tough on Facebook

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is rightly being praised for her handling of the Covid-19 pandemic but she needs to get over her Millennial attitude to social media and join Australia in making them pay their way.

Canberra has announced a tough mandatory code to make Facebook, Google and others pay for the news content that have been pillaging from news media’s digital platforms. New Zealand should do the same, preferably adopting the same code for a trans-Tasman approach to regulating companies that thought they were beyond the reach of mere governments. So far, our government has gone no further that saying ‘we’re looking at it’ but characterising it as ‘a longer-term measure’.

Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg wants a code developed by July and, if the tech giants do not negotiate payment rates in good faith, rates will be imposed. There will be heavy financial penalties for non-compliance. Expect the code to be in place before the end of the year. Continue reading “Finally…someone gets tough on Facebook” →