New public media fund allocates $1 million to regional reporting
Monday, 27 May 2019
New Zealand media have launched a $1 million pilot scheme aimed at boosting the reporting of local democracy issues as part of RNZ/NZ On Air $6m Innovation Fund, announced in last year's budget.
The Local Democracy Reporter pilot aims to fill gaps in the reporting on local bodies and other publicly-funded organisations, mostly in the regions, brought about by significant decreases in reporting numbers in traditional media.
In New Zealand, the partnership has been negotiated between the Newspaper Publishers' Association (NPA), RNZ and NZ On Air.
The concept is similar to a partnership forged in the UK between the BBC and British publishers under which 150 reporters have been hired across Britain to strengthen the reporting of local issues. The British scheme has been funded from the BBC's broadcasting licence fee.
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Stuff editorial director Mark Stevens said the trial was a boon for local journalism.
'Journalism is a vital part of any democracy and it has been challenged in recent years, most notably in small town New Zealand.'
He said the funding goes some way toward filling gaps in the reporting of local authorities.
'The initiative has been driven by industry collaboration and we're very grateful for the support of RNZ and NZ on Air.'
RNZ chief executive Paul Thompson said RNZ had already brokered a number of content-sharing partnerships with different media and the Local Democracy Reporter service was an extension of that.
'We've changed the thinking in an industry that has been highly competitive in the past to enter new content-sharing partnerships that have proved to be mutually beneficial and of significant public value,' Thompson said.
'The objective is to give the New Zealand public an independent, impartial news service, delivered on as wide a range of media platforms as possible. To extend this in partnership with the newspaper industry is an important step forward.'
While local democracy reporters will be employed by newspaper companies, all the stories generated by these reporters will be made available to RNZ and other qualifying media, including competitors.
NZ On Air chief executive Jane Wrightson said it was a timely intervention.
'NZ On Air's role is to ensure public media funding addresses gaps in the market. It has become increasingly clear that New Zealanders want and need more reporting on the issues at home that affect them, and that the commercial news market is finding it difficult to meet these needs,' Wrightson said.
NPA editorial director Rick Neville said the new reporters would be required to report solely on publicly-funded local institutions like local councils, council committees, community boards, council-owned commercial enterprises, district health boards, local trusts, publicly-owned ports and the like.
To qualify for Local Democracy Reporter funding, the participating news organisation must belong to the NPA and satisfy stringent criteria.
The reporters would be trained in multi-media journalism and their content would fall under the jurisdiction of either the Media Council or Broadcasting Standards Authority.
The salary costs of the eight reporters was expected to take up the largest share of the $1m fund, with the balance covering the costs of the service manager to be employed by RNZ, and other RNZ costs.
The funding was guaranteed for 12 months, with funding beyond that dependent on the success of the pilot.