The chief of the country's most powerful media watchdog says we need new laws now to hold media to account in future. The outgoing government had a plan for one single body to oversee rules for all media, including the internet, but that slow-moving overhaul looks stalled. What does the Broadcasting Standards Authority want from our new rulers? The chief of the country's most powerful media watchdog says we need new laws now to hold media to account in future. The outgoing government had a plan for one single body to oversee rules for all media, including the internet, but that slow-moving overhaul looks stalled.What does the Broadcasting Standards Authority want from our new rulers? This week the Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA) issued its latest batch of rulings for this year on formal complaints it received earlier in 2023. It's an interesting bunch. The Authority declined to determine one about Country Calendar depicting deer being hunted and shot and processed at an abattoir - just the reality of life in Aotearoa New Zealand, the Authority decided. It also declined to determine a complaint about undecided people being excluded from TVNZ's pre- election opinion polls - and one alleging a character described as "effing annoying" in a book review on RNZ's Nine to Noon breached standards for offensive and disturbing content. (To be clear, "effing annoying" is exactly what was said on air - not the f-word variant itself) But the Authority did uphold a complaint against Newstalk ZB host Mike Hosking, who told listeners during a teachers strike "people who go on strike have always been on full pay. They're supported by the unions'". Mike HoskingThat was "materially inaccurate" and misleading the Authority said - even though some listeners did get in touch afterwards who knew that wasn't right. A majority of the Authority also upheld, though only in part, a complaint about a discussion on TVNZ's Marae show about freedom of expression in the wake of provocateur Posie Parker's visit to New Zealand. Rainbow community activist Shaneel Lal had "strayed into the realm of personal attack," the BSA said - though not all its members considered it a breach of standards. The BSA also considered a complaint about Mediawatch which was a response to our analysis of another decision made by another media complaints body. The Media Council had found a Stuff news report about the safety of puberty blockers lacked balance. The BSA found the live Midweek Mediawatch discussion about that was sufficiently balanced and focused on the implications of the decision for journalists and it did not result in unfairness…Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

This week the country's biggest arts funding agency published a plan to boost coverage of culture which has been dwindling in our media. Music reviews and writing used to be eagerly-read and hotly-contested in our papers and magazines. We ask a former entertainment editor where that went and what could bring it back.This week the country's biggest arts funding agency published a plan to boost coverage of culture which has been dwindling in our media.Music reviews and writing used to be eagerly read and hotly contested in our papers and magazines. We ask a former entertainment editor where that went and what could bring it back.Back in July, arts funding outfit Creative New Zealand inadvertently picked a pretty intense week to release a new survey called Visibility Matters - which showed media coverage of culture was dwindling.One day earlier the media published a flood of stories about the crimes of multi-millionaire arts patron Sir James Wallace - described by many in the media as a "worst kept secret" while his name was suppressed. But the Visibility Matters survey's finding that arts and culture got just half of the space in our media that is devoted to sport these days - that was not news to people in the arts. That report was prompted in part by longtime arts writer Mark Amery, now the co-host of RNZ's Culture 101, every Sunday at 1pm here on RNZ National. At the time he told Mediawatch one of the problems was that arts events with a PR push behind them did get coverage in advance - but critical analysis of them was harder to find. "Too much preview, not enough review" in other words. Creative New Zealand followed up Visibility Matters with another report this week - New Mirrors - all about ways to strengthen arts and culture media in Aotearoa New Zealand.It suggests setting up a new funding pool devoted specifically to culture reporting and establishing an agency modelled on the Science Media Centre, aimed at helping news outlets facilitate and organise their arts coverage. Chris Schulz, a former entertainment editor for The New Zealand Herald and Stuff, is relieved that others are jumping on the bandwagon he boarded some months ago.He's written several times about the dearth of music journalism in New Zealand on his Substack blog Boiler Room, noting that several major music festivals received no mainstream media coverage, and musicians are struggling to get more than a single interview after releasing albums.That marks a stark change from when he started in journalism…Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Parties seal the coalition deal to end long limbo for media; watchdog warns media laws need urgent upgrade; media tuning out of music journalism; Covid response reckons ramp up in inquiry season. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Midweek Mediawatch - Mediawatch's weekly catch-up with Nights. Colin Peacock talks to Mark Leishman about the ongoing process of forming a new government testing the patience of political reporters - and the audience. Also: more financial woe for media companies, 123 years of history ends in Invercargill - and Australia's rugby boss meets a sticky end. Midweek Mediawatch - Mediawatch's weekly catch-up with Nights. Colin Peacock talks to Mark Leishman about the ongoing process of forming a new government testing the patience of political reporters - and the audience. Also: more financial woe for media companies, 123 years of history ends in Invercargill - and Australia's rugby boss meets a sticky end. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

This week the people who make the local stuff for our screens big and small urged the powers-that-be to tax the likes of Netflix and Disney Plus to fund it. But producers here can already get tax breaks and public funding, so can they really persuade the incoming government to make the streaming services another source of funds? This week the people who make the local stuff for our screens big and small urged the powers-that-be to tax the likes of Netflix and Disney Plus to fund it. But producers here can already get tax breaks and public funding, so can they really persuade the incoming government to make the streaming services another source of funds?The annual conference of Screen Producers NZ - still known by historic acronym SPADA - kicks off with a lecture which honours pioneering local moviemaker John O'Shea - a champion of the local industry since the days when film was the entire screen industry. This year TVNZ's John Campbell conducted a sitdown chat with James Cameron, the Hollywood titan who made Titanic, Terminator and Avatar and who now lives and works mostly in New Zealand. John Campbell put what he called the standard "Kiwi cultural cringe" question for famous foreigners to James Cameron: What do you make of the place?Cameron said he loves it and planned to become a New Zealand citizen next year. The news made TVNZ's 6pm bulletin that night and New Zealand Herald website rushed it out as urgent news - though the 'I love being a Wellingtonian' headline might have miffed people across in Wairarapa where Cameron has owned land and homes for some time. James Cameron only had good things to say about filmmaking facilities and talent here - but he also warned it's not cheap to film here and that New Zealand competes with the likes of Australia (which this year increased its rebate) and even faraway Croatia.That pointed to the key issue for the local screen producers after the disruption of Covid: how to finance productions? Cameron - whose first film was 15 minutes long and funded by a dentist - said the Screen Production Rebate incentives productions can claim here were critical. International productions can get up to a quarter of their spending back - and New Zealand-made films can get two-fifths.Tax breaks for hugely profitable offshore movie studios have been controversial in the past. Amazon Prime got a $100 million boost to film The Lord of the Rings television series here - and even that wasn't enough to stop it going offshore after one series. But James Cameron was prepared for John Campbell raising that last Thursday. …Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

As we wait for a new government, one election did deliver a clear-cut result this week - Forest and Bird's Bird of the Century poll. The winner had considerable offshore input thanks to a celebrity comedian's campaign which generated heaps of media exposure - but also some claims of media manipulation. As we wait for a new government, one election did deliver a clear-cut result this week - Forest and Bird's Bird of the Century poll. The winner had considerable offshore input thanks to a celebrity comedian's campaign which generated heaps of media exposure - but also some claims of media manipulation. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Media campaign of the century; producers push for tax on streamers; the legacy of a 'true newspaperman'.This week, Mediawatch looks at producers putting pressure on the incoming government to tax the likes of Netflix and Amazon - and the legacy left by old-school newspaper editors. Also: as we wait for a new government, one election did deliver a clear-cut result this week Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Long-serving Southland Times editor Fred Tulett has died - leaving a legacy of more than 50 years in journalism in which he mentored many top journalists who followed in his footsteps. Long-serving Southland Times editor Fred Tulett has died - leaving a legacy of more than 50 years in journalism in which he mentored many top journalists who followed in his footsteps. On Wednesday last week the Southland Times filled its front page with news former editor Fred Tulett had died, aged 77. News of Fred's death also spilled over onto page two of Southland Times paper last week. "News of Fred Tulett's death relegated a strong story about the financial struggles of medical trainee interns to page 3. He would have gone crook about that," his Times colleague Michael Fallow noted in a separate obituary - A titan of old-school journalism - published in Stuff's papers last weekend. Fred had edited the paper for 15 years following stints at Wellington's Dominion, the notorious tabloid Truth and several papers in the UK. At his funeral in Alexandra, Stuff's chief publishing officer Jo Norris recalled Fred's remarkable scoop about suspected Israeli agents being spirited out of the country after the Christchurch quake in 2011. Soon after, Fred made headlines himself by personally sampling the synthetic cannabis product Kronic and then calling for it to be banned immediately in his paper's editorial the next day. But Fred's best-remembered scoop was one that came out of the blue in 1984 when he picked up a ringing phone at the Dominion Sunday Times. It was Naomi Lange - wife of then PM David Lange - on the line. This was at a time when their marriage was on the rocks. She spilled the beans to him about David's adultery and Fred put it in the paper - but not before pondering the public interest in the exposure of this. Almost 20 years later, when Fred was at the Southland Times, the story of an affair involving Auckland mayor Len Brown made nationwide headlines.But this time the story was being peddled by political opponents of Len Brown who was facing re-election. At that time Fred Tulett spoke to Mediawatch about whether the public interest would be served by this private situation being revealed in these circumstances. "Of course, it's our business. We're talking about a high profile politician that people have had to make judgments on in deciding whether or not to vote for him. And this is all about people being able to make informed decisions about what's going on. Let's be realistic about this," Fred told Mediawatch at the time. …Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

In this week's edition of Midweek Mediawatch, Hayden Donnell talks to Mark Leishman about allegations of foreign interference in the Bird of the Century vote - and dubious concerns about the general election result.In this week's edition of Midweek Mediawatch, Hayden Donnell talks to Mark Leishman about allegations of foreign interference in the Bird of the Century vote - and dubious concerns about the general election result.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

The news media see themselves as the eyes and ears of the public - but so far political leaders have mostly turned a deaf ear to their questions about forming the new government. How are they handling the silent treatment? The news media see themselves as the eyes and ears of the public - but so far political leaders have mostly turned a deaf ear to their questions about forming the new government. How are they handling the silent treatment? Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details