Tag: Willie Jackson

There’s a kind of hush all over the Digital News Bargaining Bill

New Zealanders can be forgiven for being unaware that their government had made good on its plan to make social media and search platforms pay for the news they use. The proposed legislation caused hardly a stir when broadcasting minister Willie Jackson introduced it to Parliament last Thursday.

Only Businessdesk’s media writer, Daniel Dunkley, provided a summary of the Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill. His story rated a brief in Shayne Currie’s Media Insider column in the Weekend Herald and the same day The Post acknowledged the Bill with a highly critical commentary by Dr Eric Crampton, chief economist at the free-market thinktank The New Zealand Initiative, who called it a “shakedown racket”.

The subdued reaction may reflect a view that the Bill will die with the current Labour-led government. That was the view of Newsroom co-founder Tim Murphy when I polled media leaders on the introduction of the proposed legislation. The only other media boss to respond was Radio New Zealand CEO Paul Thompson, who sees the Bill as a sound approach that will benefit a number of outlets. However, he doesn’t see it becoming law “any time soon”, nor as a panacea for all the news industry’s problems.

For all that, the Bill deserved a far better public airing than it has so far received, not least because it also announced an end to direct public funding of private sector news operations. Continue reading “There’s a kind of hush all over the Digital News Bargaining Bill” →

TVNZ board needs expertise, not ideology

I am hoping beyond hope that speculation over changes to the Television New Zealand board are wide of the mark. I’m banking on the conjecture being a product of the mischievous side of Willie Jackson’s personality that keeps people guessing.

The Minister of Broadcasting and Media, in a recent interview with the New Zealand Herald’s editor-at-large Shayne Currie, made it clear he wants to see change and a much stronger commitment by the state-owned broadcaster to a “New Zealand identity”.

His interview with Currie left no doubt that changes to the TVNZ board, whose members come up for re-appointment or replacement on June 30, will be political appointments. Unlike commercial boards, where replacements are usually sought out by existing directors and confirmed (or rejected) by shareholders, it is Jackson’s office that is managing the process with both TVNZ and replacement directors at Radio New Zealand. Continue reading “TVNZ board needs expertise, not ideology” →

The art of turning good news into a train wreck

This is an on-the-one-hand-but-on-the-other-hand commentary.

On the one hand, legislation forcing ‘big tech’ to pay for the news they appropriate from New Zealand media is welcome. On the other hand, fence-sitting for the past two years robbed the Ardern Government of an opportunity to give the move true international impact.

The government has had a soft approach to the social media platforms and search engines (save for the Christchurch Call on harmful content) because it relies heavily on them for direct contact with the electorate. The Prime Minister has 1.9 million Facebook followers and 1.7 million on Instagram. She may wish to suggest her 800,000 Twitter followers follow her elsewhere as Elon Musk turns it into a swamp.

The government could – and should – have collaborated with its Australian counterpart at the beginning of last year to pass identical legislation on both sides of the Tasman forcing ‘big tech’ to negotiate deals or face compulsory arbitration. Such a united front would have sent a stronger message to Meta, Alphabet et al than this country could do alone. It would also reinforce a determination to take an international approach to regulating those who believe they are laws unto themselves. Continue reading “The art of turning good news into a train wreck” →

Heavy work ahead on Public Media Bill

Today the Aotearoa New Zealand Public Media Bill will be introduced to Parliament. It will have a long journey before it is fit for purpose.

The Bill gives effect to the Government’s plan to replace TVNZ and RNZ with a new entity designed for the digital age, but the legislation as it stands does little more than cement the two public broadcasters together.

On first reading (mine, not Parliament’s), it looks like a legislative instrument to give effect to the merger, but its stated intent and functions are much wider. This is supposed to be the legal foundation upon which a new age of public media is to be built.

The general policy statement accompanying the Bill says: “This Bill seeks to strengthen the delivery of public media services by establishing a new public media entity.” It may achieve the latter, but it falls far short of guaranteeing its objective. Continue reading “Heavy work ahead on Public Media Bill” →