National says 'giant' new public media entity could threaten diversity of voice

Friday, 15 November 2019

National Party leader Simon Bridges says a single public broadcaster would be 'too powerful' and 'bad for democracy'.

The idea of merging RNZ and TVNZ into a new public media entity has been snubbed by the National Party.

Its broadcasting spokeswoman, Melissa Lee, said it would be concerned by the impact on media plurality.

RNZ reported on Thursday that the Cabinet would soon consider a plan to merge the broadcasters into a single organisation that would receive funding from both the Government and advertisers.

Broadcasting Minister Kris Faafoi has not denied he is considering such a proposal but described the apparent leak as 'unhelpful'.

Media 'plurality' could be threatened by RNZ, TVNZ merger, says National.

* TVNZ chief executive Kevin Kenrick breaks silence on public media merger

* Government to consider replacing RNZ and TVNZ with new public broadcaster**

Lee indicated it was an idea that was unlikely to get cross-party support.

'We would not be for a big, massive media entity that would be created as a result of merging TVNZ and RNZ because that would dwarf any other media organisation,' she said.

That would be a threat to 'diversity of voice', she said.

National Party broadcasting spokeswoman Melissa Lee says merger of RNZ and TVNZ might seem 'hypocritical'.

Lee said it could also be seen as hypocritical, given the Commerce Commission had not given the green light for private media businesses NZME and Stuff to merge.

That might send the message 'no you cannot merge but we can', she said.

What was required was an environment where all media could thrive and there was plurality, Lee said.

'If we decide to prop up one entity making it more like a monopoly, other media might not be able to compete.'

It is not yet clear whether television channel Three owner MediaWorks, which is seeking to exit television, is of the same view.

Chief executive Michael Anderson has lobbied for TV One to drop advertising and he has kept the door open to a change of heart on its own plan, if the Government's media policy changes.

Anderson has said MediaWorks is 'reserving judgement on any government policies until there is something concrete to judge'.

Lobby group Better Public Media, which supports more investment in public broadcasting, welcomed the idea of a 'multiplatform' public broadcaster on Thursday.

But chairman Peter Thompson warned that merging RNZ into an organisation that also received funding from advertising would carry big risks.

Lee said there had been a lack of transparency from the Government, saying a ministerial advisory group set up to advise it on media funding appeared to have stopped taking minutes last year when it realised its deliberations could be subject to the Official Information Act.

Faafoi said on Thursday that the process being run to present options to the Cabinet was being run under his ministerial responsibilities and was 'completely his own'.