Broadcasting Minister Melissa Lee’s media plan waits on Winston Peters

Thursday, 11 April 2024

Broadcasting Minister Melissa Lee talks about Newshub closure.

Stuff understands Melissa Lee’s media proposal won’t be progressed until at least the end of the month.
It’s been 44 days since the Prime Minister told Lee to urgently get to work.
The proposals are gathering dust as major media companies announce drastic shut downs including the closure of the entire Newshub operation.

Broadcasting Minister Melissa Lee’s media proposal has been kicked into the long grass and will not be progressed until Winston Peters is back in town, Stuff understands.

Media companies believe help can’t come soon enough with the confirmed shut down of Newshub on July 5, 250 jobs will go, and TVNZ axing Sunday, its midday and evening news bulletins and Fair Go in its current form - though it gets a partial reprieve.

Winston Peters talks at the UN General Assembly. Lee’s proposals won’t see the light of Cabinet until he’s back in the country.

Warner Brothers Discovery originally announced the proposed closure of Newshub on February 28 and that’s when Lee was told by the Prime Minister to urgently get to work.

It’s been 44 days since then and the paper she prepared for Cabinet is sitting on Peters’ desk - and will be for some time yet.

The Foreign Minister is in the United States until April 14 but then - on the same day - the Prime Minister heads to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines.

Assuming Peters then travels to Turkey for ANZAC commemorations on April 25 he won’t be back in New Zealand until at least the final week of April - and only then will New Zealand First consider the option Lee has put in front of them.

Melissa Lee’s proposals put on ice until Peters says so.

Lee’s initial proposal considered the Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill, which media companies argue would help level the playing field with big tech companies like Facebook and Google which use their content for free.

“You’ll have to wait for my rangatira to come back” - Shane Jones.

It also looked at revamping the Broadcasting Act 1989 and interventions like scrapping Kordia transmission fees for broadcasters.

When asked about the issue, Peters’ de facto deputy Shane Jones told Stuff,“ all korero in Cabinet is tapu and all matters pertaining to media are covered by our rangatira.”

Jones expressed his condolences over the cuts at Newshub and TVNZ and hinted at delays until Peters is back: “It’s not a happy time for the people who have suffered job losses, I genuinely do feel for their circumstances, but in terms of the future of the media you’ll have to wait for my rangatira to come back.”

Winston Peters at NATO in Brussels. Lee’s proposals won’t see the light of Cabinet until he’s back.

NZ First’s Under Secretary for Media Jenny Marcroft said she wasn’t involved in helping shape Lee’s proposal and also suggested all signs point to Peters: “I am not specifically involved; it is for the leader’s office to make any changes, adjustments or support of the cabinet paper.”

Media and broadcasting are areas of keen interest to Peters’ and he oftens points to NZ First having had the most fulsome policies relating to the sector going into the last election.

The NZ First manifesto states that, “Declining revenue and a reduction in investment in journalism has seen the rise of clickbait journalism as mainstream media are pushed into a losing battle for viewership and listenership.”

The manifesto argues the need to sustain a diverse news and media ecosystem as it transitions to digital and that that will require collaboration across a range of outlets.

Last month Newsroom reported that Lee was sent back to the drawing board by Peters after she made a “rookie mistake” and failed to consult with NZ First before taking proposals to a Cabinet committee.

It’s not the first time Peters has taught his coalition partners a lesson for getting ahead of the process.

In 2017 when former Justice Minister Andrew Little revealed to Newshub - before consulting with Peters, that he would be repealing the Three Strikes law - Peters quickly put the kibosh on that.

Lee wouldn’t confirm to Stuff whether Peters is the reason the process has been held up,“It is a difficult time for the media. We are going through the Cabinet process and I’m not going to comment further.”

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated TVNZ was axing its youth-focused platform Re:News. It is only reducing the staff count from 10 to six. (Amended: April 11, 2024, 2.33pm)