Mediawatch

Long-awaited legislation to force big tech platforms to pay New Zealand media for the news they disseminate online is now before Parliament. It could give our media with much-needed money in years to come if it becomes law and also fill a funding gap for the government at the same time. But neither the media or the government have made much of it. Long-awaited legislation to force big tech platforms to pay New Zealand media for the news they disseminate online is now before Parliament.It could give our media much-needed money in years to come if it becomes law and also fill a funding gap for the government at the same time. But neither the media or the government have made much of it. "Google and Meta. Are you putting the hard word on them to secure deals to pay for content? Are you going to legislate?" Newshub Nation host Simon Shepherd asked the broadcasting and media Minister Willie Jackson when he appeared on the show a year ago. He said if the big tech platforms did not do deals with New Zealand's news media companies to pay them for the news that they carry on their search services and social platforms online he was prepared to draft a law to make it happen by arbitration "They've legislated over in Australia and Canada . . . and I want to see some fairness. I want to see all these Kiwi news organisations looked after. These big players have the funding and the resourcing to be able to do that," he said. There was some movement after that from Google, which has now done deals with almost 50 local large and small news media outlets, though the sums involved are confidential commercial secrets. One year later, Jackson was back on Newshub Nation earlier this month and that legislation to force the issue was still not out. But he said it was imminent."It has taken too long, but the main point is it's in now. Any right thinking person or right thinking party would support this," Jackson said. Income from these deals could be a significant source of revenue for cash-strapped media. But the Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill wasn't launched with a ministerial media conference or even a media news release. And there wasn't an awful lot of interest in it either from the media. Reflecting on that and his weekly column Knightly News, former New Zealand Herald editor-in-chief Gavin Ellis said that might be because the bill will just die if the current government's not re-elected in two months' time. National Party broadcasting spokesperson Melissa Lee told Stuff this week governments should not be involved in the business of the Fourth Estate. …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 a dire poll for Labour raising the spectre of a media-driven death spiral; a reorganisation at NZME; a plea for help from Discovery; a political apology from TVNZ - and does the demise of one cafe chain signal doom for the capital's CBD?In this week's edition of Midweek Mediawatch, Hayden Donnell talks to Mark Leishman about a dire poll for Labour raising the spectre of a media-driven death spiral; a reorganisation at NZME; a plea for help from Discovery; a political apology from TVNZ - and does the demise of one cafe chain signal doom for the capital's CBD? Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

The Women's World Cup 2023 attracted record crowds in the stands and on TV - both here and in Australia. It also delivered drama and off-pitch stories that livened up standard sports coverage. But will all that change the way the media cover sport? Mediawatch asks two journalists with an eye on the media on both sides of the Tasman.The Women's World Cup 2023 attracted record crowds in the stands and on TV - both here and in Australia. It also delivered drama and off-pitch stories that livened up standard sports coverage. But will all that change the way the media cover sport? Mediawatch asks two journalists with an eye on the media on both sides of the Tasman.The Football Ferns peaked in the World Cup in game one on day one - scoring their one and only goal of the tournament to defeat Norway. Even though it was all downhill after that - and then out - after just three group games, Kiwis bought into the Cup in a big way.Parts of the media not normally moved to mention women's football much suddenly couldn't stop - and it wasn't all about the winners. "All respect to the losers. Without you the tournament is nothing," said longtime Newstalk ZB sportscaster D'Arcy Waldegrave on his All Sport Breakfast show. "As of midnight on Sunday, only one team will experience the unadulterated joy of ascending their sporting Sagamartha - or Everest as the colonising empire called her," he said, unleashing some Kipling-esque emotions. But the losers were literally a big part of the World Cup story. All former winners were out by the quarter-final stage, including the incumbent champs from the United States whose official advert didn't date well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfTKdHXWdhoWhile the biggest teams getting knocked out early was a novelty, the World Cup also delivered unique off-pitch stories for the media. Morocco featured the first ever hijab-clad player in a World Cup. The so-called Reggae Girls from Jamaica, who knocked out Brazil, also had the most mothers in the squad. Unlike some other teams, they had to leave families and children behind because of the expense.What went right - and wrong? No major event goes off without a hitch. The deadly Queen Street shootings on the morning of opening day shut down the fanzone in Auckland. Less seriously, the Dutch weren't happy with a rock-hard cricket wicket in their Tauranga training pitch - and at least some of the Spanish squad found Palmerston North a bit too dull. And this week, Football Ferns captain Ali Riley revealed they were nearly late for that opener against Norway because their bus was stuck in Auckland traffic. …Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

A spike in shocking cases of exploitation has put the plight of migrant workers in the media spotlight. But these latest stories are part of a longstanding issue that's sometimes flown under the radar.A spike in shocking cases of exploitation has put the plight of migrant workers in the media spotlight. But these latest stories are part of a longstanding issue that's sometimes flown under the radar despite the efforts of a few journalists.On Monday, Nick Truebridge sat in the Newshub at 6 studio after it aired his story about 40 migrant workers holed up in a Papakura house without food. "I've got to say as a Kiwi it was pretty embarrassing standing there last night," he told presenters Samantha Hayes and Mike McRoberts. "I don't think any of us should accept this as normal."Truebridge followed that with another story the following night about four more substandard properties crowded with migrant workers.He took the Newshub camera on a tour of one of the houses, revealing crammed bedrooms and broken pipes leaking sewage under the house.That seemed less than ideal, and Truebridge explained the migrants had been subjected to these conditions after trying to find a better life under the Accredited Employer Work Visa Scheme.He's not the only one who's been covering the plight of workers suckered in by offshore immigration agents illegally selling non-existent jobs under that scheme, which Immigration NZ acknowledges is a "higher trust model" than the six visa options it replaced a year ago.At RNZ, Lucy Xia has been telling the stories of migrants allegedly exploited and left all-but destitute after being told they're heading into decent jobs.One of those victims, Keisha Kung, told Xia she survived on instant noodles and foraged food after travelling to Dunedin for work that never materialised.On Wednesday the New Zealand Herald's Lincoln Tan reported that 164 accredited employers are under investigation for migrant exploitation.At his newsletter The Kaka, Bernard Hickey has called the proliferation of immigration scams a symptom of our "churn and burn" economy."There was a time New Zealand, or at least its former PM John Key, aspired to become the 'Switzerland of the South Pacific' - providing high-value financial services to the world's richest families."Instead, we've become a version of the Dubai of the South Pacific - allowing fraudulent agents and fly-by-night firms to bring in desperate and poor workers with suggestions of high-paid jobs and residency, only to pull the rug out from under their feet and leaving them indebted and even more desperate," he wrote…Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Our World Cup runneth over - what legacy will it leave? Lifting the lid on exploitation of migrant workers and human trafficking.Mediawatch looks at media coverage of the FIFA Women's World Cup - and the legacy it might leave for our media. Also - persistent reporting that has lifted the lid on abuse of migrant workers and human trafficking in New Zealand. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Midweek Mediawatch: Colin Peacock talked to Mark Leishman while Australia's Matildas were playing England's Lionesses in Sydney and breaking TV viewing records. Also: election fever building in the media here; a frenzy over fruit and vegetables - and overwrought claims of collusion.Midweek Mediawatch - Mediawatch's weekly catch-up with Nights. This week Colin Peacock talked to Mark Leishman while Australia's Matildas were playing England's Lionesses in Sydney and breaking TV viewing records. Also: election fever building in the media here; a frenzy over fruit and vegetables- and overwrought claims of collusion. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Political calls to crack down on crime are echoing in our media ahead of the upcoming election - not for the first time. Two seasoned journalists showed this was part of a pattern in a report on crime coverage which recommended new approaches. It was commissioned five years ago - but never saw the light of day. Political calls to crack down on crime are echoing in our media ahead of the upcoming election - not for the first time. Two seasoned journalists showed this was part of a pattern in a report on crime coverage which recommended new approaches. It was commissioned five years ago - but never saw the light of day. Picture this: an election is looming and one of the electorate's top concerns is seemingly out-of-control crime.Pressure groups are hammering the message that offenders are getting off lightly.They've got support from National, repeatedly accusing the incumbent Labour government of being soft on crime.Expert, evidence-based analysis of criminal justice is increasingly drowned out in the media by a clamour for more punitive measures.On the back foot and losing the public debate, Labour starts talking up legislative changes to lengthen sentences and increase penalties for crimes that hit the headlines most often.That, of course, is a description of the 2002 general election, where the Sensible Sentencing Trust and National Party leader Bill English spearheaded a tough on crime narrative following a number of high-profile murders.If it sounds familiar, it's because history repeats and everything old becomes new again in the justice debate from the 1990 election, where the National Party campaigned on a 'return to a decent society' to the upcoming one in October.All that is spelled out in a 227-page report titled 'Developing good practice in criminal justice and journalism'.It was commissioned in 2018 by the Safe and Effective Justice Advisory Group (Te Uepū Hāpai i te Ora), and written by the current editor of Newsroom Pro and former editor of the Sunday Star-Times, Jonathan Milne - and by David Fisher, a senior journalist at the New Zealand Herald and former chief reporter at the Herald on Sunday."It is important our audiences are able to form an accurate picture of the communities in which they live through the media they consume. Surveys on public perception of crime show this is not the case. The surveys also show our communities develop these inaccurate perceptions through the media they consume," the report concluded. The report calls for reporters to include context and facts about crime - to explain the 'why', rather than just the 'what' and the 'how'…Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Reporters' report on crime coverage urges new thinking - and highlights electoral 'crime crackdown' pattern; RNZ's Richard Sutherland calling it quits after 30 years; free sports streaming options on the up.Mediawatch looks at a report by two senior journalists on how to report on crime and punishment without amplifying the public fear of it and we hear from RNZ's outgoing head of news about his 30 years in the business- and why he's not the only senior news leader leaving the media lately. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

RNZ's head of news Richard Sutherland's called it a day after more than 30 years in the news. He's worked at almost every major news broadcaster in the country and led the outfit representing their mutual interests, the Media Freedom Committee. But he's not the only news leader to leave the business lately amid warnings about the increasing intensity of it.RNZ's head of news Richard Sutherland's called it a day after more than 30 years in the news. He's worked at almost every major news broadcaster in the country and led the outfit representing their mutual interests, the Media Freedom Committee. But he's not the only news leader to leave the business lately amid warnings about the increasing intensity of it."Have years of low pay, low esteem, and lay-offs taken such a toll on journalists that they have become incapable of viewing the world as anything but a grim, dark place?" former New Zealand Herald editor Gavin Ellis asked recently"Our news outlets are pervaded by negativity," he wrote, citing the cost-of-living crisis, crime, inequality and a pandemic that has "left a residue of anxiety."The following week - under the headline 'There must be more to life than this' - he hinted at the toll on senior news leaders, some of whom had decided to quit lately. At the Herald, long-serving chief editor Shayne Currie stepped aside to write about the media instead as an editor-at-large. Miriyana Alexander, head of premium content at Herald publisher NZME resigned last month to take a break. TVNZ producer Sam Robertson, in charge of Breakfast for years, resigned recently - and the CEO Simon Power also resigned at the end of June. Also in June, the former head of news at MediaWorks Dallas Gurney left the business entirely. Along with his partner, he bought the shop in the Northland beach town of Whananāki for a complete change of scene. MediaWorks and TVNZ are also looking for new chief executives. Why is this happening now? While senior execs are much better paid than those who work hard for a lot less in their newsrooms, commercial media have endured static or falling revenue for more than a decade, Ellis wrote. "Newsrooms have been depleted by recurring rounds of cost cuts to sustain the journalism that was the reason they got into it in the first place," he added. Today's digital platforms are always pushing for ever bigger audiences, and news deadlines have effectively collapsed. "Emails mount up during the so-called working day," said Gavin Ellis, which means working into the night. …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 one news broadcast foregrounding climate while another hones in on cellphones and Chris Luxon misspelling 'cat', before delving into a leaked letter hinting at unrest at Stuff - and how the media hounded a mayor's dog out of her office. In this week's edition of Midweek Mediawatch, Hayden Donnell talks to Mark Leishman about one news broadcast foregrounding climate while another hones in on cellphones and Chris Luxon misspelling 'cat', before delving into a leaked letter hinting at unrest at Stuff - and how the media hounded a mayor's dog out of her office.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details