{"id":1530906,"date":"2024-03-03T00:47:17","date_gmt":"2024-03-03T00:47:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/?p=97632"},"modified":"2024-03-03T00:47:17","modified_gmt":"2024-03-03T00:47:17","slug":"rnz-mediawatch-nz-media-facing-an-apocalypse-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2024\/03\/03\/rnz-mediawatch-nz-media-facing-an-apocalypse-now\/","title":{"rendered":"RNZ Mediawatch: NZ media facing an apocalypse now?"},"content":{"rendered":"
For years news media bosses warned the creaking business model backing journalism would fail at a major local outlet. It finally happened this week when Newshub\u2019s owners proposed scrapping it. Then TVNZ posted losses prompting warnings of more cuts to come there. Can TV broadcasters pull a crowd without news? And what might the so-far ambivalent government do?<\/em><\/p>\n After Warner Bros Discovery top brass broke the bad news to staff on Wednesday, Newshub at 6 that night became a news event in itself.<\/em><\/p>\n RNZ MEDIAWATCH:<\/strong> By Colin Peacock<\/a>, RNZ Mediawatch<\/a> presenter<\/em><\/p>\n After Warner Bros Discovery top brass broke the bad news to staff on Wednesday, Newshub at 6 that night became a news event in itself.<\/p>\n In her report, political reporter Amelia Wade reminded viewers more than 30 years of TV news and current affairs — spanning the entire period of commercial TV here — could come to an end in June.<\/p>\n Before TV3 launched in 1989, state-owned TVNZ had been the only game in town.<\/p>\n But for most of its recent history, TV3\u2019s parent company MediaWorks was owned by private equity funds and it was hamstrung with debts.<\/p>\n There were periodic financial emergencies too which seemed to signal the end.<\/p>\n In 2015, the boss Mark Weldon axed the current affairs shows Campbell Live<\/em> and 3D<\/em> and replaced them with ones that didn’t pull in more viewers or pull up many trees with their reporting.<\/p>\n \u201cReports of our death at 6pm have been greatly exaggerated\u201d, host Hilary Barry responded to reports 3 News<\/em> might be for the chop the following year.<\/p>\n But Weldon persuaded the owners to stump up a significant sum to launch Newshub<\/a> instead.<\/p>\n When the huge global company Discovery bought MediaWorks loss-making TV channels in December 2020, many in the media were pleased a major media outfit was now in charge.<\/p>\n Using the Official Information Act, Newsroom later reported the Overseas Investment Office fast tracked Discovery’s application<\/a> and sought no guarantees of a commitment to local news.<\/p>\n\n