I'd like everyone to be aware that #Newshub (formerly 3News, formerly 3 National News) has built up an archive which encompasses 35 years of News, Current Affairs, sports, culture and other newsworthy events that are part of New Zealand history.
This archive is now property of Warner Brothers Discovery. Its future has not been decided.
I happen to be of the opinion that it should be preserved as part of the public record. Regardless of profitability of the news operation that produced it.
Just when I think I've plumbed the depths of David Seymour's cluelessness, he responds to the NewsHub announcement by saying he'll save them by making TVNZ pay a dividend to Treasury again. This is the publicly-owned TV broadcaster that lost NZ$17 million in the first half of last year. Even Winston, who railed against the "mainstream" media through the election campaign, thinks that's dopey. https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/focusonpolitics/audio/2018928273/when-no-news-is-bad-news
Like a lot of people, #NewsHub's closure has got me thinking about media funding again.
The Public Interest Journalism Fund was NZ$55m over 3 years. Round it up to 60, and round the population down to 5 million and that's $4 per kiwi per year (20÷5). Less than a coffee or a beer.
A small price to pay to help keep hundreds of journalists employed, not to mention freed up to work on public interest projects, instead of whatever clickbait brings in advertising for their employers.
A friend called the closure of #Newshub last year—looks like he was right. In fact, he wasn’t even sure if there still will be a #TV3 come the end of the year.
"As one famous Australian constitutional lawyer said, and it remains the case even under MMP... NZ is an Executive paradise. The sovereignty of Parliament in NZ - which means Parliament can pass any law it likes - is actually the sovereignty of the Executive, not of the Parliament. And that is why so many Opposition MPs have such a frustrating life, because they have very little influence over anything."
Could a staff buyout save NewsHub? When Stuff was facing a similar fate at the hands of overseas owners, a member of staff bought it for $1. It's now a much better news service for being journalist-driven, instead of profit-driven. It would be even better if it put social enterprise principles into its constitution to enshrine that.