Frank Newman: Calling out media bias

People with absolute power can absolutely not be trusted. That's why we need an independent press.

Most people are inclined to give others the benefit of the doubt and hope for the best. But we are now past doubt and hope as far as the mainstream media in New Zealand is concerned.

There have always been some within the media who have used their position of influence to advocate their political perspective or persecute others. Previously though, these individuals had been more of a localised stain operating at the fringe and posed no real threat to the integrity of media industry which largely remained true to their professional ideals of accuracy, fairness and balance. Not so today. Now the only ones claiming the media are accurate, fair and balanced are the media organisations themselves.

How can any media entity claim with any degree of credibility, to be free of political influence when they receive state funding with political strings attached? A stinging attack came recently from former Labour cabinet minister, Dr Michael Bassett, when he said,

"Their gig is to bribe the media in the run-up to the next election in the hope that they will save Labour. This is happening in two ways. First, the direct distribution of cash from the Public Interest Journalism Fund aimed at keeping the media on side until the next election. All the big daily papers have dipped into it already, and applications are now open for a further swag of taxpayer money.

 

"The second way the government is trying to keep the media on side is by over-paying them for printing the masses of Covid announcements. I’m reliably informed that the government negotiated none of the regular discounts available to those who advertise on a grand scale in newspapers and TV. The expectation is that none of the media greedies will bite the government hand that feeds them. Or not very hard. If my information is correct, it is corruption, pure and simple."

 

The first of these points is bad enough, but at least it is transparent. Anyone who wants to look can see the amount of funding provided and the strings attached.

 

But if the second is taking place, if the government has paid above the odds for advertising, then it is tantamount to a back-handed subsidy and would be corruption.  I guess this is something the media is not likely to be investigating anytime soon!

 

What we can say with some certainty is that the public are turning away from the former mainstays of news delivery, and in large numbers.

 

Normally that signal is something those media bosses would take notice of, and do something about. The problem now in New Zealand is the Government is the marketplace, so keeping their audience happy becomes less relevant than keeping the government happy.

 

Those media entities that are benefiting from the handouts may privately say they have to take the money to survive, but let's have some public honesty. Let's stop pretending they are upholding the virtues of accuracy, fairness and balance, and admit they have been bought-off with government money.

 

Let's also strop pretending that governments are virtuous and place the greater good above their own political longevity.  There is nothing virtuous about using other people’s money to advance political agendas, regardless of whether those agendas are left or right.

 

It's hard to believe that Donald Trump’s seemingly outrageous claims of bias and fake news that were so incredible a few years back are now credible when applied to the New Zealand media.

 

It really is time for the public to hold the media to account and call them out when they fail to uphold the principles of accuracy and impartiality.

 

My question to readers is this: Is it time to establish a public interest media watch organisation to call out media bias and speak out on behalf of the many who are demanding better from our media?

 

Frank Newman, a political commentator and investment analyst, is a former local body councillor.