TVNZ faces death by a thousand cuts

new-zealand-labour-party

Tue Mar 24 2009 13:00:00 GMT+1300 (New Zealand Daylight Time)

TVNZ faces death by a thousand cuts

Tuesday, 24 March 2009, 9:29 am
Press Release: New Zealand Labour Party

The Prime Minister’s announcement that the Television New Zealand charter is being axed is another step towards eventual sale of TVNZ, says Labour’s broadcasting spokesman Brendon Burns.

John Key says the TVNZ charter is being axed because it made no discernible difference to local television content.

Brendon Burns says this means the Government is abandoning any requirement for TVNZ to be a public service broadcaster.

“TVNZ has until now had a dual mandate; to make money but also to meet some public service broadcasting obligations. The charter was a key to that balance continuing.

“From here on, TVNZ is being told to simply concentrate on being commercial. Inevitably this will lead to it being no different to any other television broadcaster. The Government will then say there is no point in keeping it in state ownership.

“Questioned about possible sale last week, Broadcasting Minister Jonathan Coleman was cautious to only rule this out in the current term of government.”

Brendon Burns says while some charter funding was used inappropriately by TVNZ to support commercial programming, most of the $15m annual funding helped deliver the sort of content that no other broadcaster was likely to provide.

“We would be unlikely to have had coverage of the Royal memorial service at Windsor Castle for Sir Edmund Hillary without the charter. On Sunday it put to air the new Q + A political interview programme, featuring John Key as its first guest.

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“Last week it was 90 jobs and three per cent local content cut by TVNZ as it met government requirements to be commercially-focused. Now it’s the end of the charter which helped fund further local content. This is death by a thousand cuts to public service television. New Zealanders have every reason to ask how they will be ‘inspired on every screen’ when increasingly what is shown is solely decided by what makes a profit.”

ENDS

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