New public media entity could help non-government owned media, says RNZ boss

Thursday, 10 March 2022

TVNZ and RNZ’s merger into a new public media entity need not threaten non-government media companies, RNZ chief executive Paul Thompson says.

Broadcasting Minister Kris Faafoi announced on Thursday that the Cabinet had made the decision to merge TVNZ and RNZ into a new Crown entity.

A Cabinet paper said that RNZ and TVNZ would be disestablished by the time the new not-for-profit entity was fully operational in July next year, although Faafoi appeared less explicit on that point on Thursday.

A spokesman for Faafoi said the way in which the new entity would operate beyond then would be worked through by an establishment board that will be set up next month.

* Decision to merge TVNZ and RNZ draws mixed response

Faafoi indicated a central reason for the merger was to enable TVNZ and RNZ to make a stronger push into the digital space, to attract new and younger audiences.

Thompson said one of the reasons the Government had approved the merger was to make sure that investment in those new digital platforms would be “coherent and coordinated” and would deliver the best value to the public.

Government-owned media companies RNZ and TVNZ will be fully “subsumed” by July next year, a Cabinet paper indicates.

Michael Boggs, chief executive NZME, which publishes The New Zealand Herald, said it had concerns about the effect the merger could have on New Zealand’s media landscape.

“Additional government investment into this new entity can only add to the intense competition and cost pressures that already exist across New Zealand’s commercial media,” he said.

“With TVNZ seemingly no longer required to pay a dividend to government, this frees up millions for reinvestment into expanding the new entity’s digital platforms, commercial capabilities and journalistic talent pool – further increasing audience and competition for advertising revenues.”

Stuff chief executive Sinead Boucher also had a guarded response to the merger on Thursday, saying it was “keen to ensure that government intervention in the market does not undermine the commercial viability of our newsrooms and operations”.

RNZ’s Thompson said the main risk was that “an ascendant new public media entity takes the oxygen away from the rest of the media”.

RNZ chief executive Paul Thompson says the main media goal for any government needs to be supporting plurality.

But he said he was keen to avoid that.

“The way to ensure public trust in the media is to make sure there is a range of voices, perspectives and companies providing choice to the market,” he said.

“My personal view is this new entity needs to facilitate that. The overall goal of any government these days with regard to media should be to continue to support plurality in the market.”

Thompson noted the Cabinet paper acknowledged concerns, and that it said the new public media entity would be required to work collaboratively to support the sustainability of the broader media ecosystem “wherever this does not prevent it meeting expectations to earn commercial revenue”.

The paper noted some media companies had expressed concern about the potential impacts of a large public media entity, funded partly by commercial revenues “on the viability and sustainability of other providers, particularly in relation to competition for viewers and advertising dollars”.

NZME chief executive Michael Boggs was quick to voice concerns about what the new media public media entity could mean for commercially-funded journalism.

The Cabinet paper forecast tougher times ahead for the media.

The Covid pandemic had resulted in bigger audiences and increased profits for many media companies but had also sped up an underlying trend away from “traditional media”, it said.

That meant those recent gains were not sustainable and media organisations were likely to face “significant financial pressures in the future”, it said.

Thompson said it was a “great question” whether media diversity was strengthened or weakened by public media such as RNZ syndicating their work to other media outlets, but he thought such content-sharing arrangements could be useful.

There were other ways that public media could help support media plurality, for example by training journalists who might later work elsewhere, he said.

Thompson would not say whether he might put his hat into the ring to head the new public media entity.

There were “massive” differences in RNZ and TVNZ’s cultures that stemmed from their different charters, he said.

“I think the traditions that both organisations bring will be vital, but I think we've all got to be big enough and brave enough to create something new.”

Glen Kyne, general manager of Discovery Australia and New Zealand, owner of television channel Three, said a lot of questions remained about the merger.

“But what I would say is ‘so far, good’.”

Discovery was pleased that TVNZ would retain a strong commercial footing and continue to offer advertising, he said.

“We operate in a roughly $500 million to $550m TV-advertising market and the stronger that market is, the better for everyone in terms of being able to invest and grow within that market,” he said.

“We don't want TVNZ to be any less commercially competitive.”

Kyne said there were a few areas in which Discovery and TVNZ were already working together, and they had discussed sharing production studios and resources in the event that either had high staff absences due to Omicron.

“More collaboration is good. We think there are opportunities from a news-gathering point of view,” he said.

“Potentially we can do co-productions together where the public media entity tells the story for New Zealanders and Discovery helps tell that story overseas.

“It’s early days, but I think the signal of a move towards more cooperation and collaboration is interesting and good.”