Media minister dismisses claim Government ‘hands-off’ on the fourth estate

Tuesday, 18 June 2024

Media Minister Paul Goldsmith has rejected claims the Government is standing aside from the financial challenges facing the media industry, saying it is “actively considering options” to assist the media, but needs more time to make decisions.

The pressures on the sector were bought home in February, when television channel Three owner Warner Bros Discovery announced it would be closing its Newshub journalism arm.

Goldsmith said a reduction in advertising caused by changing consumer habits and by the current recession was putting the media industry under “real pressure”.

Appearing in front of Parliament’s Social Services and Community select committee on Tuesday as part of “scrutiny week”, Goldsmith rejected an assertion from Green Party MP Ricardo Menéndez March that the Government was taking a “hands-off” approach.

The Government invested more than $100 million a year in New Zealand On Air, provided $70m a year to RNZ and was “actively considering options at the moment for things that we might do for the broader media sector”, so was not hands-off, he said.

The immediate question facing the Government in relation to support for the media appears to be whether to advance the Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill, which was introduced by the previous government but which did not pass before the election.

The bill was designed force internet giants including Google and Meta to help fund journalism to the tune of tens of millions of dollars a year by requiring they strike licensing deals with media outlets on terms that could ultimately be set by a government-appointed arbitrator.

The National Party signalled when in opposition that it would not support the bill, but has since vacillated.

Goldsmith declined to comment on speculation that he would take a recommendation on whether to advance the bill to the Cabinet next week, saying the Government would make announcements when it was ready.

“I'm very conscious of the fact that many people in the sector would like to see government decisions on this ‘three weeks ago’,” he said.

But he said it was important that as a new minister, who took over the portfolio from Melissa Lee in April, he first met with people in the sector to “hear them out”.

“We're moving at a brisk pace. I'll have announcements to make soon,” he told The Post.

Goldsmith made clear to the select committee that he believed public trust in commercial media outlets could be undermined by direct financial support from the government.

“Right around the world, trust in the media is an issue, so direct government funding is complicated.”

Those trust issues were bound up in a general growing distrust of institutions, and politicians, that had increased in the Covid era, he said.

“You've got to be very mindful of that part of the equation.”

But Goldsmith indicated there were certain activities for which direct government support would remain an option.

Those included support for “relatively straight reporting” of court cases and local government matters, he said.

“Where it gets more difficult is if there are funds and there's a list of criteria around how you get those funds. That’s where you can get into ‘perception’ issues,” he said.

Goldsmith got in a dig at Labour’s broadcasting spokesperson, Willie Jackson, who introduced the Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill to Parliament last year and who arrived at the select committee hearing just four minutes before it ended.

Goldsmith described Labour as “shambolic”.

“It's a little bit surprising that the Opposition spokesperson didn't seem to make it to what I think is one of the most important opportunities in the year to hold the minister to account,” he said.

Jackson said he believed the opportunity to quiz Goldsmith on the media portfolio was at a separate hearing later in the day.