This of course, was hot air.
But many in the beltway, sadly, had their sense of humour, if not the absurd, surgically removed at birth, so took it seriously.
No such thing is going to happen for a series of pretty obvious reasons, none of which I will bore you with.
But the earnestness with which they grimaced was based on the idea that there are those who can, and do, threaten public broadcasters.
The latest is Mr D. Trump of Washington, who has signed an executive order to stop funding PBS, among others.
Like everything else, this is heading to court and may well win, because the argument of weight appears to be public broadcasting and its funding is a congressional thing, and therefore an executive order from the bloke in the corner office doesn’t count.
The Trump argument, and this is worth pondering, is that public money undermines independence, and the media is vastly changed in recent years, and a government operation isn't necessary.
I have some sympathy for that.
Public radio here has the Concert programme. It plays a lot of classical music and very few people listen to it. Why are we paying for it?
Commercial radio doesn’t cover everything, like children's educational programming for example. But having said that, I don’t think public radio does that either. In America, publicly funded television invented Sesame Street. That’s of value.
Here we have NZ On Air. Why do we have that, as well as publicly funded TV and radio? Why don’t we just have a funding system for product we want to promote and tender it to those who want to run it on their platforms?
Is it a fair question to ask here that although they claim neutrality, would a snap poll of people on the street suggest RNZ and TVNZ are neutral?
Is the BBC seen as neutral? Is the ABC in Australia a bastion of straight-down-the-middle balance?
As always with Trump the seed of a half-decent thought is lost in the noise and bluster.
But ask yourself the question - what is so unique about public television and radio, whether here, in America, or Britain, or Australia, that it needs so much of our money?
Mike Hosking is a New Zealand television and radio broadcaster. He currently hosts The Mike Hosking Breakfast show on NewstalkZB on weekday mornings - where this article was sourced.
No such thing is going to happen for a series of pretty obvious reasons, none of which I will bore you with.
But the earnestness with which they grimaced was based on the idea that there are those who can, and do, threaten public broadcasters.
The latest is Mr D. Trump of Washington, who has signed an executive order to stop funding PBS, among others.
Like everything else, this is heading to court and may well win, because the argument of weight appears to be public broadcasting and its funding is a congressional thing, and therefore an executive order from the bloke in the corner office doesn’t count.
The Trump argument, and this is worth pondering, is that public money undermines independence, and the media is vastly changed in recent years, and a government operation isn't necessary.
I have some sympathy for that.
Public radio here has the Concert programme. It plays a lot of classical music and very few people listen to it. Why are we paying for it?
Commercial radio doesn’t cover everything, like children's educational programming for example. But having said that, I don’t think public radio does that either. In America, publicly funded television invented Sesame Street. That’s of value.
Here we have NZ On Air. Why do we have that, as well as publicly funded TV and radio? Why don’t we just have a funding system for product we want to promote and tender it to those who want to run it on their platforms?
Is it a fair question to ask here that although they claim neutrality, would a snap poll of people on the street suggest RNZ and TVNZ are neutral?
Is the BBC seen as neutral? Is the ABC in Australia a bastion of straight-down-the-middle balance?
As always with Trump the seed of a half-decent thought is lost in the noise and bluster.
But ask yourself the question - what is so unique about public television and radio, whether here, in America, or Britain, or Australia, that it needs so much of our money?
Mike Hosking is a New Zealand television and radio broadcaster. He currently hosts The Mike Hosking Breakfast show on NewstalkZB on weekday mornings - where this article was sourced.
6 comments:
The reason they need our money is that many of the culprits couldn't get a job anywhere else, so have to be subsidised and supported by the State. The bias and editorialising caused me to cease listening to ALL radio years ago, with a massive benefit to my blood pressure and equanimity. At least on Breaking Views I can parade my own bias without costing the taxpayer!
I'm encouraged to hear so many colleages saying that they have given up on TVNZ and RNZ because of their blatant left wing bias and the Maori crap taking precedence.
However, recently I was very disappointed, and angry, with almost disbelief to learn that a very intelligent colleague had never heard of He Puapua, or had any idea of what it contains.
I blame the aforementioned entities for this failure to be balanced or reasonable in reporting what's really going on in NZ.
I have watched over recent years, other formally respected media companies offshore eg the BBC, ABC, Canadian BC etc move towards the left to lesser or greater degrees.
I simply don't trust any of them entirely and seek diverse reports from independent sources.
Al Jazeera has replaced TVNZ in many households.
Mike, even your Newstalk ZB shows it's bias in its news bulletins and your failure to address Maori and the race issues in interviews, probably to protect the PIJFunding that NZME has received.
Why should the public own / fund any such venture? Usually propaganda. A fact-based news agency might be useful, but some can't even identify or define a fact.
Eight reasons why tvnz/rnz should be defunded: John Campbell, maiki Sherman, mingi Forbes, Corin dann, Tova o’brien , jack tame, paddy plonker Gower,
The eight names mentioned above are the tip of the iceberg. Many more behind the scenes as well
Quite right. Can also add jenny may, hilary Barry and their ilk into the mix.
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