Media lobby group a welcome watchdog

new-zealand-labour-party

Mon Jul 11 2011 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)

Media lobby group a welcome watchdog

Monday, 11 July 2011, 3:17 pm
Press Release: New Zealand Labour Party

Clare CURRAN
Spokesperson for Broadcasting
11 July 2011

Media lobby group a welcome watchdog

On-going concerns about cuts to local free-to-air television content are well-founded, Labour’s Broadcasting spokesperson Clare Curran says.

Former NZ On Air chairman, David Beatson, and various academics and industry stakeholders have called for a lobby group to be set up to monitor challenges the non-commercial sector is facing in the digital environment.

“There is increasing pressure on free-to-air networks to compete commercially. As it is NZ On Air funds just a fifth of local content. That in itself shows the existing funding pool is less than adequate,” Clare Curran said.

“This Government has already moved to centralise TVNZ in Auckland – with the sale of Avalon Studios - and signalled the demise of TVNZ7.

“Any more cuts will have a huge impact on local production and the people who work in it.

“Labour has always argued that a public television service is essential and that a lobby group - like the Public Media Foundation mooted by Mr Beatson - is a much-needed ‘watchdog’ for the industry,” Clare Curran said.

ENDS

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