According to the respected Pew Research Centre, "In seven of eight [European] countries surveyed, the most trusted news outlet asked about is the public news organization in each country".
For example, "in Sweden, an overwhelming majority (90%) say they trust the public broadcaster SVT". In the United States, according to a nationwide survey, the PBS, or Public Broadcasting Service, which is a publicly funded non-profit organization, has been named the most trusted media organization for the 19th year in a row.
Not in Aotearoa New Zealand, however. In this country it is now the privately-owned Otago Daily Times that is the most trustworthy news brand (according to the latest AUT Trust in News in Aotearoa New Zealand report). Here's the point - if a public broadcaster is loss-making - like TVNZ - and also has failed the public by broadcasting biased propaganda - then it does not serve any economic nor social purpose. The entire point of having a public broadcaster - even if not making a profit - is to give a balanced portrayal of news and events - to delve deeply into both sides of an argument - which privately-owned outlets may not be doing. If reporting politically slanted content that represents the agendas of its journalists - and so is anti-the public interest - is the broadcaster's motivation, then we should not be subsidizing it to do so. We've already got the likes of Stuff to do that "job".
TVNZ has not given the public a Fair Go. It should have been investigated by its own now-defunct show. It has engaged in the same dirty business as the folks who that show once investigated. It has pushed a dodgy, cowboy-builder product onto unsuspecting customers, namely you and me. But we have wised up now. The only reason former PM Helen Clark, labelled the decline of its Sunday shows as "shameful" is because TVNZ represents her own partisan political interests, which is the very reason it should be liquidated.
Sources:
https://www.pbs.org/about/about-pbs/blogs/news/pbs-and-member-stations-named-most-trusted-media-organization-for-19-consecutive-years/
https://www.odt.co.nz/business/odt-remains-most-trustworthy-amid-exceptionally-worrying-trend
Not in Aotearoa New Zealand, however. In this country it is now the privately-owned Otago Daily Times that is the most trustworthy news brand (according to the latest AUT Trust in News in Aotearoa New Zealand report). Here's the point - if a public broadcaster is loss-making - like TVNZ - and also has failed the public by broadcasting biased propaganda - then it does not serve any economic nor social purpose. The entire point of having a public broadcaster - even if not making a profit - is to give a balanced portrayal of news and events - to delve deeply into both sides of an argument - which privately-owned outlets may not be doing. If reporting politically slanted content that represents the agendas of its journalists - and so is anti-the public interest - is the broadcaster's motivation, then we should not be subsidizing it to do so. We've already got the likes of Stuff to do that "job".
TVNZ has not given the public a Fair Go. It should have been investigated by its own now-defunct show. It has engaged in the same dirty business as the folks who that show once investigated. It has pushed a dodgy, cowboy-builder product onto unsuspecting customers, namely you and me. But we have wised up now. The only reason former PM Helen Clark, labelled the decline of its Sunday shows as "shameful" is because TVNZ represents her own partisan political interests, which is the very reason it should be liquidated.
Sources:
https://www.pbs.org/about/about-pbs/blogs/news/pbs-and-member-stations-named-most-trusted-media-organization-for-19-consecutive-years/
https://www.odt.co.nz/business/odt-remains-most-trustworthy-amid-exceptionally-worrying-trend
Professor Robert MacCulloch holds the Matthew S. Abel Chair of Macroeconomics at Auckland University. He has previously worked at the Reserve Bank, Oxford University, and the London School of Economics. He runs the blog Down to Earth Kiwi from where this article was sourced.
5 comments:
I'd be interested to know what percentage of the Sunday programme was locally produced. Watching it occaisionally over the past few years, a large part of most episodes I saw were lifted from 60 Minutes Australia (didnt see any credit) Couldnt believe they used last nights One 'news' to give themselves a tearful sendoff. Time to sell it, or turn it into a real public broadcaster.
Very well said Robert. The acid test is the ease in which Aunty Helen is given a MSM platform to promote her left wing views. These flourishing alternative platforms, like Breaking Views, have been created by the very people that have become the architects of their own demise.
There's that name again - Helen
Robert, we live in New Zealand, nothing to do with Aotearoa, unless I was asleep and missed the referendum on our Country's name change. Kiwialan.
The correct name for this place is the one that is contained in the piece of legislation that set the place up, the Constitution Act. We are New Zealand.
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