Media funding
Radio NZ reports:
At the same time, RNZ will have its budget cut by $18m over four years – $4.6m a year – around 7 percent of its current $67m allocation.
This means they will still be getting $62 million a year. In 2017 they got $35 million. Any other media organisation would love to have revenues in 2025 that are 77% higher than in 2017.
Even if you take inflation into account, Radio NZ funding next year will be 38% higher than in 2017.
Budget 2025 includes $6.4 million over four years to hire journalists in heartland New Zealand for reporting on councils and courts.
Minister for Media and Communications Paul Goldsmith said the funding will help communities stay informed and hold decision-makers to account.
'It will get funding into regional newsrooms so that more local frontline journalists can report on the things that matter to their audiences.'
The money will expand two existing programmes – Local Democracy Reporting and Open Justice – which the minister said had an emphasis on 'reporting, rather than opinion'.
These two areas are the rare areas of media worth funding centrally. As Goldsmith says they are old fashioned reporting, not opinion. But they are also vital parts of New Zealand that need sunlight. We want media reports of court cases, and decisions by Councils.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scoop
8 hours ago
- Scoop
Poor Countries Set To Pay $22billion For China Debt
Article – RNZ New research from the Lowy Institute shows the world's poorest countries will make record high debt repayments to China this year. , RNZ Pacific Senior Journalist New research from the Lowy Institute shows the world's poorest countries will make record high debt repayments to China this year. The research, released last month, showed China is set to call in US$22 billion for debts from 75 countries assessed by the World Bank as the world's poorest and most vulnerable in 2025. Ten Pacific nations were on the list. China's foreign ministry, meanwhile, denies Beijing is responsible for developing debt. Lowy research author Riley Duke said China had shifted from lead bilateral banker to chief debt collector for the developing world. 'Because of the large amount of lending that China did in the mid-2010s, and the way it structured its loans through its Belt-and-Road initiative, this year, it is seeing a huge spike in repayments,' he said. For Pacific countries that had borrowed from China, Duke said repayment strain was already an issue. He identified Tonga, Samoa and Vanuatu as being at higher risk due to respective loans. In Tonga, the impact of Chinese loans had been a 'big political issue' this year. Duke anticipated that about 15 percent of the government's revenue over the next few years would be devoted to debt repayments. 'Last year, Tonga spent more on its debt repayments than it did on health for its citizens,' he said. 'And so when we look at the….forward outlook, there are more challenges on the horizon. There are key development issues across the Pacific that countries and their governments and their people want to be dealing with. 'But instead, these debt burdens are there and they're persistent. 'Again, just to focus on Tonga…. [it] ran five successful budget surpluses in the lead-up to having a big wave of Chinese debt repayments coming in. 'But then it faced huge economic costs from the pandemic, from the earthquake, from cyclones, and so that wiped out all the money that [the government] had put aside.' Duke believed the amount of China's lending into the region was less than a quarter of the level it was in the mid-2010s. 'I'd be surprised to see any new large loans from China in the region, and I think related to that is the broader topic of whether Pacific countries should take on lots of debt. 'Pacific countries have large financing gaps. There's a lot of infrastructure that needs to be built, and sometimes loans are the best way to do that, and ultimately that just comes back to the quality of the project. 'People are a bit afraid of debt, and I think it's a bit…of a dirty word, but if a loan is taken out to finance a project that is good for economic growth, good for a Pacific country [because] it drives connectivity [and] it drives the economy, then it's a good loan, and it's good debt to take on, and it will pay itself back.' He said there had also been a shift in how China engaged with the region. 'China's main form of engagement with the Pacific 15 years ago was lending. I think 80 percent of all of China's development financing to the region was in the form of loans, and that's fallen off dramatically since around 2018.' That shift was due to a range of factors, including increased financing options for Pacific governments, Duke said. 'In 2010, China might have been the only partner offering large-scale infrastructure financing. 'Australia is now offering more financing in that space. The World Bank is offering more financing in that space; there's climate funds that are also offering adaptation projects and adaptation infrastructure. 'So there are more options on the table for Pacific countries than there was previously. And I think that is part of the reason that China's lending has declined.' China's foreign ministry denied Beijing was responsible for developing debt. 'China's cooperation on investment and financing with developing countries follows international practice, market principles, and the principle of debt sustainability,' spokesperson Mao Ning said. 'A handful of countries are spreading the narrative that China is responsible for these countries' debt. 'However, they ignore the fact that multilateral financial institutions and commercial creditors from developed countries are the main creditors of developing countries, and the primary source of debt repayment pressure. 'Lies cannot cover truth and people can tell right from wrong.'
Scoop
8 hours ago
- Scoop
This Year's Te Matatini Biggest Yet
Article – RNZ The festival brought just under $24 million into Taranaki. , Māori issues reporter A new impact evaluation report on this year's Te Matatini shows that the 2025 festival was the biggest to date. The report showed that Te Matatini o Te Kāhui Maunga held in February in Ngāmotu New Plymouth, brought just under $24 million into Taranaki – $3 million less than forecasted but still the highest contribution from a festival to date. Tane Morgan is a director of New Plymouth based Proof & Stock Coffee which had a stall at Te Matatini. Over the festivals five days they sold 100kgs worth of coffee, he said. At WOMAD – the only festival in the region of a comparable size – Proof & Stock might go through 35kgs over three days, he said. Morgan said unlike WOMAD or a concert Te Matatini had a 'peaceful flow about it'. 'The fact that no one was drinking and it had like this unique flow about it, everybody was taking their time there was a lot of courtesy… you could just feel it.' Morgan said the festival certainly had an impact of the local economy in Taranaki – especially for hotels and camp grounds – but the impact was relative to what you were selling. Cafe's and restaurants in the city center might not have seen the same return on their investment, he said. 'I don't think that the cafe's really benefited from it, but if you were at Te Matatini and you were a vendor or stall holder you would have seen good margins, that's the consensus that the town was kind of saying. 'A lot of the businesses here were ready for the influx but they didn't quite see a return on their investment in terms of people out wining and dining.' As well as their stall at Te Matatini Proof & Stock also has a coffee shop in New Plymouth, which Morgan said was quieter than during the festival. But Morgan said his team had an amazing time at the festival. His staff included included some local students learning on the job. 'They walked out with a pocket full of cash and all this confidence they can use into the future,' he said. Hāwera-based Kiri Erb owns and operates Tika Cafe and Catering and worked providing kai for the festival and for the competitors who were based out of Hāwera. She told RNZ being awarded a kai stall was both a privilege and a challenge. The scale of the event meant she had to boost the her staffing numbers from 32 to 50 so the business could accommodate the masses at the Bowl of Brooklands in New Plymouth and the restaurant in Hāwera. Erb said it was an experience her and the team will never forget. 'This is an experience that will live in memory banks forever. We've taken videos of us working during that week, we had rōpu that would come in and they would perform for us… and we'd go back an look at those. Our hearts still really sing.' 'We all just feel incredibly lucky.' Erb said. Te Matatini chief executive Carl Ross said the iwi of Taranaki had done a fantastic job catering for a growing festival. 'The Matatini brand internationally has just got so big now, [its] becoming an economic powerhouse for our country, how do we actually utilise what we have now to be able to provide the Matatini festival in the best condition that we can do.' There has also been an increased interest in kapa haka among non-Māori, 44 percent of attendees in 2025 were Pākehā up from an average of 27 percent over the last decade of festivals. Ross said over the years he has noticed more and more people from diverse communities wanting to share the Matatini experience. Of the $24m brought into the region more than $2m came from teams traveling to Taranaki to compete and another $17.4m was spent by their supporters. It's getting more and more expensive to send a team to Te Matatini and some regions don't have that kind of money to spend, Ross said. 'We could have up to $160,000 to move a single team into a rohe and that's with just three supporters per kaihaka (performer).' Te Matatini now is looking to the future and ensure the festival can be enjoyed by everybody, he said. 'Te Matatini and our Board are still in discussion's on how we can also ensure that we can meet the needs of our smaller rohe, because that's a question that was burning straight after the festival. Did we have our infrastructure in place to be able to try and do this in the next two years?' Te Matatini announced in May that the next festival in 2027 would not be hosted in Te Tauihu o te Waka-a-Māui/Nelson as had been expected and that they were looking for expressions of interest to host. Ross was hopeful that there will be an update on where Te Matatini goes next by the end of June. '[Te Matatini] supports the economy, the local economy and that's what is really cool about being able to travel to different rohe, being able to do that it's getting harder at the moment for sponsorships, we only got half the sponsorship that we usually get and it goes to show the economic environment [we're] currently working in, so I know it's hard out there and it's hard for our people.'
Scoop
8 hours ago
- Scoop
More Than Half Of Voters Back Proposed Penalty For Te Pāti Māori MPs, Poll Suggests
Article – RNZ The Privileges Committee proposed a 21-day suspension for three MPs over the Treaty Principles haka. , Political Reporter More than half of voters consider the proposed penalty for three Te Pāti Māori MPs over the Treaty Principles haka to be either appropriate or too lenient, polling shows, ahead of the debate on the matter resuming on Thursday afternoon. That debate – which had potential to become a filibuster – was cut short when Leader of the House Chris Bishop unexpectedly postponed it last month. The Privileges Committee – which recommends punishments for breaking Parliament's rules – proposed a 21-day suspension for the co-leaders Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, and seven days for MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke. It means no pay, no ability to vote on legislation, and no presence in Parliament for the duration. The latest RNZ-Reid Research poll asked for voters' views on whether the punishment fit the crime. Overall, more people – 37.0 percent said it was 'about right'; while 36.2 percent said it was 'too harsh'; 17.2 percent said 'too lenient', and 9.6 percent said they did not know: a 54.2 percent majority then backing the punishment or thought it should be stronger, in line with the coalition parties' view. The result puts opposition parties – which all labelled the three-week ban disproportionate – in a difficult position. Broken down by voting preferences, more than half of Labour's supporters (51.2 percent) backed leader Chris Hipkins' view the suspensions were too harsh, but a sizeable number thought the punishment fair (29.8 percent) or too lax (8 percent). Greens supporters were more convinced with three quarters (75.3 percent) calling the punishment too harsh, but still 12.4 percent said it was about right and 3.8 percent too lenient. Surprisingly, 9 percent of Te Pāti Māori's supporters also labelled it too lenient, although a clear 80.8 percent called it too harsh, with just 6.2 percent saying it was about right. The results for the coaltion voters were more predictable, far more National, ACT and NZ First supporters saying it was too lenient, compared to those calling it too harsh. But Speaker Gerry Brownlee, of the National Party, appears to be in the latter camp – he called the punishments 'very severe' and 'unprecedented' when setting down the original debate on Parliament's calendar. He pointed out no MP found guilty of contempt had previously been suspended for more than three days. The Privileges Committee recommendation was also only backed by coalition parties, despite convention dictating the MPs on the committee should aim for consensus. Those responding to RNZ's questions may have known these facts from media reporting – or they may not. Bishop's postponement of the debate took the teeth out of opposition criticisms the government wanted to keep the punished MPs from commenting on the Budget – as it turned out, the co-leaders did not speak in the Budget debate anyway. Budget delivered, MPs return to the debating chamber to discuss the punishment after Question Time today. The length of the debate rests ultimately in Brownlee's hands, and he has signalled a willingness to let it continue until all views were thoroughly aired. Whether parties actually want to filibuster – given the poll, and the risk of voters' patience for politicians talking about themselves wearing thin – is far from certain. Hipkins says a few of his MPs will speak, but they will not be running down the clock with endless speeches. The Greens' co-leaders have said they think the MPs should not be suspended, and they plan to scrutinise the decision 'to the highest degree'. But Te Pāti Māori is eager to put the matter to bed. 'Just got to hurry up and get it over and done with and let's sort it out, otherwise we'll be hanging around here waiting and waiting and waiting. Just, they've made their verdict – let's just get it done,' co-leader Rawiri Waititi said. This poll of 1008 people was conducted by Reid Research, using quota sampling and weighting to ensure a representative cross section by age, gender and geography. The poll was conducted through online interviews between 23-30 May 2025 and has a maximum margin of error of +/- 3.1 percent at a 95 percent confidence level. The report is available here.
