Background During the
2017 New Zealand general election, the
Labour Party campaigned on expanding public broadcaster
Radio New Zealand's (RNZ) services. Following the resignation of
Clare Curran as Minister of Broadcasting, her successor
Kris Faafoi consulted an advisory group consisting of representatives from media companies and public service agencies to explore options for public broadcasting in New Zealand. By mid November 2019, the advisory group had identified three options: merging RNZ and
TVNZ's newsrooms, allocating more funding to
New Zealand On Air, and merging RNZ and TVNZ into a new public media entity. In January 2020, the
New Zealand Cabinet considered a proposal to strengthen public media by merging the two public broadcasting services RNZ and
TVNZ into a new public media entity. On 9 March 2022,
The New Zealand Herald reported that Cabinet had approved a plan that would see both Radio New Zealand and TVNZ disestablished to create a new entity. Under this new structure, former RNZ properties such as RNZ National, Concert, and RNZ News would remain commercial free while TVNZ's properties would receive some commercial funding but would be exempt from paying a dividend to the Government. The new entity would be a not-for-profit model with a public interest emphasis. On 10 March, Faafoi confirmed that the Government would set up a new board to establish ANZPM. The board would be tasked with ensuring that the new entity fulfilled several obligations including adhering to the
Treaty of Waitangi, collaborating with
Māori media to promote Māori storytelling and broadcasting, promoting diversity and representation, broadcasting across the Pacific Ocean, and producing content in Pacific languages, the
Māori language, and
English. While RNZ chief executive Paul Thompson expressed support for the Government's public media expansion plans, the opposition
National Party's broadcasting spokesperson
Melissa Lee described the merger project as wasteful and claimed that it would lead to "fewer voices" in New Zealand's media. On 26 July 2022, the Government's Aotearoa New Zealand Public Media Bill passed its first reading at the
New Zealand Parliament. The
Labour,
Green, and
Māori parties supported the legislation. The bill's sponsor Jackson claimed that the bill would allow public media to keep delivering for future generations while combating misinformation in increasingly competitive media environment. The opposition
National and
ACT parties opposed the bill, claiming that it would lead to less diversity within the
New Zealand media landscape and also questioned its independence from the Government. The Public Media Bill was referred to Parliament's Economic Development, Science and Innovation select committee, with a six-month period for people to make submissions regarding the bill. By early October 2022, the Aotearoa New Zealand Public Media Bill had received 980 submissions. Submissions supporting the new public media entity claimed that it would strengthen public media while submissions opposing the legislation claimed that the new media entity could distort the media market, undermine commercial competitors, and be subject to political interference. TVNZ CEO
Simon Power and RNZ CEO Paul Thompson supported the new proposed public media entity but expressed concerns about its editorial independence and public trust. In addition,
New Zealand Media and Entertainment editor Shayne Currie and MediaWorks CEO Cam Wallace called for a thorough cost-benefit analysis of the proposed media entity. That same month, Myles Thomas of
Better Public Media defended merger process on the grounds that the new public media entity needed to focus on serving audiences rather than fulfilling a commercial goal like the current TVNZ. On 15 October, former
New Zealand First cabinet minister
Tracey Martin, who was leading the RNZ-TVNZ merger process, defended the Government's decision not to conduct a cost-benefit analysis of the merger process. Earlier, the National Party's broadcasting and media spokesperson
Melissa Lee had questioned Jackson on whether there had been no regulatory impact statement or cost benefit analysis of the RNZ-TVNZ merger process, which was estimated to cost NZ$370 million. Jackson later confirmed that the Government had not conducted a cost benefit analysis on the grounds it was unnecessary. On 22 October, Lee confirmed that the National Party would reverse the Government's proposed merger of RNZ and TVNZ on the grounds that it lacked widespread support and could reduce public trust in the media. Lee also claimed that a majority of the under 1,000 submissions were opposed to the merger process. Lee suggested that a National-led government would investing in helping local media create more local content. In addition, ACT's associate finance spokesman
Damien Smith opposed the RNZ-TVNZ merger process on the grounds that the public was preoccupied with the "cost of living crisis" caused by rising inflation. By 15 November, RNZ and TVNZ had spent a total of NZ$1,023,701 on the public media merger project; with TVNZ spending NZ$592,424 between 1 March and 31 October 2022 and RNZ spending NZ$431,277. At the time, Jackson estimated that the merger process would be completed by July 2023. National's broadcasting spokesperson Lee stated that her party would reveal the proposed merger if they were elected into power at the upcoming
2023 New Zealand general election. In December 2022, Jackson defended the public media merger process during a heated televised interview with
TVNZ journalist
Jack Tame on TVNZ's Q+A Show. Jackson defended the ANZPM's commitment to editorial independence and questioned the motives and impartiality of his host. In response,
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern expressed disagreement with Jackson's remarks but defended his competence as Minister of Broadcasting. By contrast, National's broadcasting spokesperson Lee described Jackson's interview as a "trainwreck" and accused Jackson of interfering with ANZPM's culture, operations and decisions. Jackson subsequently apologised for his conduct during the interview but defended the proposed public media entity and accused the New Zealand media of fomenting opposition to the merger effort. Supporters of the new public media entity including journalist
Claudette Hauiti defended Jackson's conduct during the TVNZ interview. Hauiti argued that certain minorities including
Māori,
Pasifika and 'tāngata whaikaha' (people with disabilities) were not getting adequate coverage within the current media environment. She also claimed that TVNZ lacked the trust of Māori due to the elimination of their Māori Programmes and Pasifika departments and their Māori language news service
Te Karere.
Public opinion In November 2022, a public opinion poll conducted by the
New Zealand Taxpayers' Union and Curia found 22% supported the RNZ/TVNZ merger, 54% opposed merging the two state broadcasters, and 24% were unsure. By contrast, a Research NZ poll commissioned by
Better Public Media found that 44% supported the RNZ/TVNZ merger, 29% opposed the merger, and 26% did not know. The Research NZ poll was conducted between 15 and 19 December 2022 and relied on a nationally representative sample of 1,000 individuals.
Scrapping On 8 February 2023, Prime Minister
Chris Hipkins announced that the merger of TVNZ and RNZ would "stop entirely" due to the Government shifting its focus to "cost of living issues." Hipkins confirmed that the leftover money would be redirected. He also confirmed that the two public broadcasters would receive additional funding to support their operations including NZ$10 million for Radio New Zealand. Hipkins also confirmed that the Broadcasting Minister Faafoi would explore options for funding a way to reach underserved audiences. In early April 2023, Radio New Zealand reported that the cancelled public media merger had cost NZ$19.6 million. NZ$12 million of this amount went to contractors and consultants. NZ$2.6 million went to offices and overheads while NZ$3 million went to compensate TVNZ, Radio NZ, and
New Zealand On Air. ==Notes and references==