Latest news with #Mediawatch
RNZ News
02-06-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Stuff and TradeMe to merge
Stuff Group CEO Sinead Boucher and TradeMe CEO Anders Skoe Photo: Supplied / TradeMe Stuff and TradeMe have announced a merger. In a statement, the companies say TradeMe will take a 50 percent stake in Stuff Digital. Stuff's mastheads, events and a neighbourly businesses are not included in the deal. The amount of the deal has not been disclosed. Colin Peacock is presenter of RNZ's Mediawatch.
Scoop
01-06-2025
- Politics
- Scoop
Climate Change Coverage In A Changed Media Climate
Article – RNZ Media outlets were firing up new projects and joining alliances to cover climate change just a few years ago. Now there's just one mainstream NZ media reporter focused solely on it. Hayden Donnell, Mediawatch producer In 2021 climate change minister James Shaw talked up the government's commitment to the Paris Agreement on Facebook. 'We need to cut global emissions by 45 percent, below 2010 levels, by 2030,' he said. 'Now is the time we must decisively choose the future we want for our children.' The tenor of political discourse has changed a little since then. Our current crop of ministers are less bullish about the transition to a low-carbon economy. 'We're not going to be guilt-tripped by these fanciful accounts that the planet is boiling. We need NZ's natural resources!' Resources Minister Shane Jones said Facebook last year, in a post set against a backdrop of clipart flames. Jones is following in the footsteps of politicians overseas. Donald Trump came to office in the US with the catchy mantra 'Drill Baby Drill' in his inauguration and State of the Nation speeches. In some respects, the media environment has followed a similar trajectory to the political one. Back when James Shaw was issuing those optimistic pronouncements, several of our major media companies were making their own commitments to climate action. Stuff had launched two long-term climate coverage projects. Quick! Save The Planet was launched in 2018. The site's editor, Patrick Crewdson, said it wouldn't give space to what he called 'debunked denialism'. 'We just want to really pound away at climate change coverage on a regular basis. Increase the intensity of it. And to make the problems of climate change feel urgent and tangible and unignorable,' he told Mediawatch at the time. That morphed into The Forever Project, launched in March 2020 just as Covid-19 locked the country down. It was devoted to in-depth climate coverage from science journalists like Eloise Gibson and Olivia Wannan. The New Zealand Herald and other media organisations also got in on the act, signing up to the global Covering Climate Now initiative and creating their own climate projects. Fast forward to today, and the Forever Project still exists, but doesn't have any dedicated reporters. Gibson and Wannan have both left Stuff, the former for RNZ and the latter to do communications for the Carbon Removal Research project at the University of Canterbury. Jamie Morton, who did in-depth climate reporting as a science reporter at the Herald, is now freelancing. Climate change has dropped down the news agenda, and Gibson is now the only dedicated climate reporter at a mainstream news media outlet. This week's Framing the Emergency event at AUT came at a fraught time for the industry. A panel of Newsroom's Marc Daalder, TVNZ Marae presenter Miriama Kamo and Eloise Gibson told the gathering she got her hopes up when she saw other countries' media teams at the COP 15 Copenhagen climate summit back in 2009. 'They would have ten people in the media room working in shifts around the clock to cover different angles on this crisis. I was so jealous, and I thought: 'Is New Zealand ever going to do this?' 'Spoiler alert: it really did not,' she added. Why not? The panel pondered the parlous state of the media's finances and climate change being dragged into the culture wars. They also said despite the dearth of dedicated climate reporters, climate denial is now uncommon – and many journalists increasingly refer to the crisis in stories about subjects from weather to power prices. Climate in the culture war Marc Daalder – Newsroom's senior political reporter who covers health, energy and extremism as well as climate change – said climate change getting caught up in partisan battles between the right and left made it more challenging for journalists to state the 'very basic facts' at the heart of the issue. He pointed to outgoing deputy prime minister Winston Peters casting doubt on NIWA's data last year about carbon levels in the atmosphere. He made similar claims during the 2023 election campaign. 'When they're covering the statements of politicians, it gets really difficult,' Daalder told Mediawatch at the AUT this week. 'I don't think the media has figured out how to – while maintaining the trust of our audience – say 'that's culture war BS. That's just not a thing'.' Gibson pointed out that some media organisations did fact-check Peters' claim. But while doing so can prompt accusations of bias and sometimes online abuse, she saw them as bread and butter for news organisations. 'I don't think you can tailor your reporting to what a small group of people are going to say. You need to tailor your reporting to what you know to be accurate, what you know to be representative, and what you know most people in New Zealand want to know. They just want to know as close as you can get to the facts,' she said. 'I don't actually think that's a partisan or political thing to do. It's just doing your job.' Stating the facts about climate change may not be biased, but that doesn't mean it's not political, Gibson said. 'I don't think you can separate covering climate change from politics because policy and economic decisions are intrinsically tied up in climate change action,' she said. 'You can't not tackle politics in that. But that's not the same as being partisan.' Caught in the cutbacks Both Gibson and Daalder pointed to media cutbacks as the true existential threat to climate coverage. Gibson was worried that low salaries and a lack of opportunity were driving young reporters out of the industry. This wasn't just a hypothetical concern. One former young reporter who'd recently left the industry for a climate advocacy agency was in the crowd listening to the media panel. 'I would find it hard to look that person in the eye and say: 'My job is going to be here for you in 10 years'. I hope there'll be 10 of my jobs, 20 of my jobs – but it's hard.' Daalder said that as newsrooms have slimmed down, specialist climate coverage has been sacrificed in favour of what editorial leaders perceive to be 'core news' coverage. Rather than resisting that, Gibson saw a path forward for reporting that shows how climate change impacts immediate concerns like the cost of living. She cited the cost of gas, changes to the transport system, or the price of solar panels and batteries as matters where the slow-moving climate crisis intersects with the everyday. 'It's not that people are not concerned about climate change, it's that they have got immediate and pressing concerns that are pushing that out of their mind, and they don't have the bandwidth. And it's so obvious now that those two things are compatible and connected. So you don't have to make it relevant. It is relevant.'
Scoop
01-06-2025
- Politics
- Scoop
Climate Change Coverage In A Changed Media Climate
In 2021 climate change minister James Shaw talked up the government's commitment to the Paris Agreement on Facebook. "We need to cut global emissions by 45 percent, below 2010 levels, by 2030," he said. "Now is the time we must decisively choose the future we want for our children." The tenor of political discourse has changed a little since then. Our current crop of ministers are less bullish about the transition to a low-carbon economy. "We're not going to be guilt-tripped by these fanciful accounts that the planet is boiling. We need NZ's natural resources!" Resources Minister Shane Jones said Facebook last year, in a post set against a backdrop of clipart flames. Jones is following in the footsteps of politicians overseas. Donald Trump came to office in the US with the catchy mantra "Drill Baby Drill" in his inauguration and State of the Nation speeches. In some respects, the media environment has followed a similar trajectory to the political one. Back when James Shaw was issuing those optimistic pronouncements, several of our major media companies were making their own commitments to climate action. Stuff had launched two long-term climate coverage projects. Quick! Save The Planet was launched in 2018. The site's editor, Patrick Crewdson, said it wouldn't give space to what he called "debunked denialism". "We just want to really pound away at climate change coverage on a regular basis. Increase the intensity of it. And to make the problems of climate change feel urgent and tangible and unignorable," he told Mediawatch at the time. That morphed into The Forever Project, launched in March 2020 just as Covid-19 locked the country down. It was devoted to in-depth climate coverage from science journalists like Eloise Gibson and Olivia Wannan. The New Zealand Herald and other media organisations also got in on the act, signing up to the global Covering Climate Now initiative and creating their own climate projects. Fast forward to today, and the Forever Project still exists, but doesn't have any dedicated reporters. Gibson and Wannan have both left Stuff, the former for RNZ and the latter to do communications for the Carbon Removal Research project at the University of Canterbury. Jamie Morton, who did in-depth climate reporting as a science reporter at the Herald, is now freelancing. Climate change has dropped down the news agenda, and Gibson is now the only dedicated climate reporter at a mainstream news media outlet. This week's Framing the Emergency event at AUT came at a fraught time for the industry. A panel of Newsroom's Marc Daalder, TVNZ Marae presenter Miriama Kamo and Eloise Gibson told the gathering she got her hopes up when she saw other countries' media teams at the COP 15 Copenhagen climate summit back in 2009. "They would have ten people in the media room working in shifts around the clock to cover different angles on this crisis. I was so jealous, and I thought: 'Is New Zealand ever going to do this?' "Spoiler alert: it really did not," she added. Why not? The panel pondered the parlous state of the media's finances and climate change being dragged into the culture wars. They also said despite the dearth of dedicated climate reporters, climate denial is now uncommon - and many journalists increasingly refer to the crisis in stories about subjects from weather to power prices. Climate in the culture war Marc Daalder - Newsroom's senior political reporter who covers health, energy and extremism as well as climate change - said climate change getting caught up in partisan battles between the right and left made it more challenging for journalists to state the "very basic facts" at the heart of the issue. He pointed to outgoing deputy prime minister Winston Peters casting doubt on NIWA's data last year about carbon levels in the atmosphere. He made similar claims during the 2023 election campaign. "When they're covering the statements of politicians, it gets really difficult," Daalder told Mediawatch at the AUT this week. "I don't think the media has figured out how to - while maintaining the trust of our audience - say 'that's culture war BS. That's just not a thing'." Gibson pointed out that some media organisations did fact-check Peters' claim. But while doing so can prompt accusations of bias and sometimes online abuse, she saw them as bread and butter for news organisations. "I don't think you can tailor your reporting to what a small group of people are going to say. You need to tailor your reporting to what you know to be accurate, what you know to be representative, and what you know most people in New Zealand want to know. They just want to know as close as you can get to the facts," she said. "I don't actually think that's a partisan or political thing to do. It's just doing your job." Stating the facts about climate change may not be biased, but that doesn't mean it's not political, Gibson said. "I don't think you can separate covering climate change from politics because policy and economic decisions are intrinsically tied up in climate change action," she said. "You can't not tackle politics in that. But that's not the same as being partisan." Caught in the cutbacks Both Gibson and Daalder pointed to media cutbacks as the true existential threat to climate coverage. Gibson was worried that low salaries and a lack of opportunity were driving young reporters out of the industry. This wasn't just a hypothetical concern. One former young reporter who'd recently left the industry for a climate advocacy agency was in the crowd listening to the media panel. "I would find it hard to look that person in the eye and say: 'My job is going to be here for you in 10 years'. I hope there'll be 10 of my jobs, 20 of my jobs - but it's hard." Daalder said that as newsrooms have slimmed down, specialist climate coverage has been sacrificed in favour of what editorial leaders perceive to be 'core news' coverage. Rather than resisting that, Gibson saw a path forward for reporting that shows how climate change impacts immediate concerns like the cost of living. She cited the cost of gas, changes to the transport system, or the price of solar panels and batteries as matters where the slow-moving climate crisis intersects with the everyday. "It's not that people are not concerned about climate change, it's that they have got immediate and pressing concerns that are pushing that out of their mind, and they don't have the bandwidth. And it's so obvious now that those two things are compatible and connected. So you don't have to make it relevant. It is relevant."
Scoop
25-05-2025
- Business
- Scoop
Mediawatch: How A Budget Is Covered
, Mediawatch Presenter The sudden scrapping of pay equity claims was hailed as "saving the Budget" by ACT leader David Seymour, while Finance Minister Nicola Willis insisted it was not a book-balancing move. When reporters and analysts went into the Budget day lock-up, the estimated saving was the first number many looked for - and it led the coverage once the embargo lapsed. The sum certainly startled presenter Ryan Bridge. "$12.8 billion. Almost half the savings over the entire Budget period," he spluttered on the Herald website's live-streamed video coverage (which doubled as a practice for the Herald Now livestream launching this week). But NZIER economist Christina Leung, who had been previewing the Budget for broadcasters since dawn, was not surprised - or energised. "It was a boring Budget to be honest," she told Bridge. The Three Gals, One Beehive podcast labelled it "a yeah, nah Budget." At the Spinoff, Bernard Hickey declared it merely "meh". Other pundits labelled it a 'true blue' Budget National would expect to deliver in times that are tight. But the tepid reaction was mainly because they already knew where $3b of fresh state spending would go, thanks to the pre-Budget announcements staggered in advance to maximise media coverage. Big ticket items like defence, rail, acute healthcare and more were old news by Thursday. Substantial sums committed to costly medicines via Pharmac last year were also already baked in. The finance minister was managing expectations for reporters by teasing it as a "No BS" budget with no "unicorns and rainbows". The same message was also driven home hard by the media, though The Herald 's business editor-at-large Liam Dann did not need imaginary animals. Instead he used the word the government was trying to avoid. "Austerity is an ugly word - but that's what experts call it when there's no new money to spend," said Dann in an explainer for the Herald. "It is a Budget that promised little and therefore did not disappoint," The Post 's editorial pointed out on Friday. "There is now no question Willis' Budget was built on the backs of thousands of underpaid, hard-working New Zealand women" who had taken one for the team of 5 million, the paper said. Big tech given a swerve again "The government is leaving the hard work of growth and recovery to businesses," The Post added - and pointed out it would be slow. But some businesses were off the hook. Just two days before the Budget, the government abandoned legislation to impose a 3 percent tax on the New Zealand revenues of online search and social media platforms. BusinessDesk reported the Digital Services Tax Bill was forecast raise around $320 million over four years - and almost $100m a year in additional tax revenue after that. Revenue Minister Simon Watts told Newstalk ZB Donald Trump's threat to punish countries taxing US corporations was a factor in scrapping the law change. A bill to oblige Facebook and Google to pay for locally-produced news is also languishing on the back-burner. Many pundits believe the Fair Digital News Bargaining bill may be scrapped soon too, in part for the same reason. And while incremental financial tweaks revealed on Budget day inevitably became the focus of the rolling coverage, it obscured some of the structural stuff. Last week The Listener 's political writer Danyl McLauchlan noted"mostly trivial payments and cuts announced each year (are) presented as 'winners' and 'losers' in Budget media coverage, without considering the vast, submerged commitments frozen-in from decades of previous Budgets." The biggest of all was superannuation, he said, which was "untouchable so long as Winston Peters glowers at Willis from across the Cabinet table." The Post noted that while KiwiSaver contributions were cut for high earners, "it still remains politically impossible to make the same sorts of arguments about revising NZ Super." In The Post, pundit Ben Thomas said the most urgent question in the next decade is how to make paying for an ageing population sustainable. Newsroom's Fox Meyer pointed out several spending programmes - including the controversial school lunches - were "looming over fiscal cliffs." RNZ's budget cut With just $1.3b in nominal spending left, few in the media were expecting any unicorns or rainbows. Noting that RNZ got a substantial boost of $26m a year in 2023 - in the wake of the failed merger with TVNZ - the government pegged back RNZ's budget by about 7 percent for the next four years. That's $4.6m a year in dollar terms, leaving RNZ with about $62m a year as things stand. RNZ was not required to find savings last year when many other public agencies and ministries were directed to make cuts, so it was no surprise the axe was swung this time. "Government-funded media must deliver the same efficiency and value-for-money as the rest of the public sector. I expect RNZ to improve audience reach, trust and transparency ... in a period of tightened fiscal constraint," media and communications minister Paul Goldsmith said in a stern statement. That was echoed by the finance minister. RNZ's top brass were also questioned about RNZ's rising salary costs during last year's annual review in Parliament. Chief executive Paul Thompson told the select committee RNZ was investing in its digital transition "and that all costs money". "The media system in New Zealand is incredibly fragile - it doesn't make sense for RNZ to also be weak when the government has given us a mandate to be that strong cornerstone," he told the committee. Māori media take a hit Māori media funding is under the auspices of the Māori Development Ministry Te Puni Kokiri and Māori broadcasting funding agency Te Māngai Pāho (TMP). TMP's funding is up marginally to $66m, but the Budget reduces Whakaata Māori's annual funding by about $6m to just over $42m next year. Māori media were heavily backed by the previous government and its minister of broadcasting and Māori development Willie Jackson, who was also a former broadcaster and media boss himself. Just over $90m was made available in two separate Budgets to cover the cost of programmes and content. Some of that would last until 2029, and one stream of funding would end in 2027. Whakaata Māori restructured last year to take account of money running out. As part of that restructure 27 jobs were cut, along with programmes and services. Māori media and journalism also benefited from the PIJF until 2023. Waatea - the urban Māori radio station and online news service - added seven roles to its news team which also service the iwi radio network. Interestingly the funding peril has barely been mentioned in the news - or in any politicians' statements, save for a passing mention in one by Willie Jackson and one from the Greens. New money for regional reporters Goldsmith's statement was headed: 'Investing in Journalism'. Two existing schemes covering the cost of reporters in the regions will see $6.4 million over four years : Local Democracy Reporting (LDR) and [ Open Justice - both of which have had significant sums of public funding to date. The LDR scheme - modelled on a UK programme of the same name - is managed by RNZ. It deploys 18 reporters in local newsrooms around the country, which would otherwise be unable to fully cover local affairs. Previously funded by both RNZ and NZ on Air, all the content created was free online at and available to other interested publishers. Open Justice is administered by the New Zealand Herald's publisher NZME. This pays reporters to cover courts about a dozen locations and was prompted by diminished coverage of non-high-profile cases in recent years. Matters before the District and High Courts, Family and Youth Courts and a variety of tribunals too are now much more likely to be reported. But not so much in the South Island. NZME's newsgathering and mastheads are concentrated in the north. It is important to the judiciary and the government alike that justice is seen to be done - and the Open Justice reports appear on a wide range of news websites. Open Justice was funded for two years initially in 2022 via NZ on Air at a cost of just less than $3m. Both schemes were previously paid for out of the Public Interest Journalism Fund (PIJF) set up by the former government in 2020 to run for three years. The fund was persistently criticised by the parties then in opposition, who made claims about the government buying media compliance and also stifling debate about the Treaty. Some critics did not like state funding of private sector journalism, or paying the wages of newspaper reporters in private media companies. But now in government, National's ministers seem to accept regional newsrooms cannot employ dedicated justice and local politics reporters within their own finances. And they are comfortable paying more for journalism that does not encroach on national issues. The media minister pointedly said in his statement "reporting, rather than opinion" is being supported by the added funding.
Scoop
04-05-2025
- Politics
- Scoop
Mediawatch: Bad Stats And Stereotypes Boost Bootcamp Bid
A call to consider universal military service was enthusiastically endorsed in the media this week. But those backing it seized on stats that also tell a different story., Mediawatch Presenter On Anzac Day, pundit Matthew Hooton floated the return of national military service in his weekly New Zealand Herald column headlined 'The case for universal military training'. After setting out the country's current financial problems, he proposed getting a bit more of a social bang out of the big bucks that – like it or not – we'll soon be spending on defence. 'Why not invest it in universal military training – not as an ambulance at the bottom of the cliff, like boot camps, but as a fence at the top?' he asked. He described the idea as 'Outward Bound for everyone' but with military skills added – along with 'cooking, cleaning, changing a tyre and making a school lunch – skills their Gen X and Gen Y parents have failed to teach them or develop themselves.' Each year 70,000 New Zealanders turn 18, and he reckoned about 9000 of those aren't in employment, education or training and they're already costing taxpayers anyway. It's an interesting idea. Many nations – including several in the EU – have compulsory national service and there could be social and individual benefits to such a scheme. In 2023 political party TOP floated a national civic service programme offering a $5000 tax-free savings boost to under-23s. But this week that talking point morphed into a talk radio pile-on deploying stereotypes and misusing statistics. Talk radio amps the idea Universal military service got universal backing from talkback callers to the Herald's stablemate Newstalk ZB this week. 'Kids that have got ADHD and some on the spectrum could actually benefit a lot from it,' one caller confidently claimed on Monday, basing her opinion on reality TV shows where people are 'stuck on an island and left to fend for themselves.' But ZB Afternoons host Matt Heath reckoned the problem wasn't young people on the spectrum – but on their phones. 'They'd be scared to be stripped of their digital rights, but a lot of them know that that would be a good thing for them. There's no doubt that you would feel a lot better after a day's physical activity out in the wop-wops,' he told ZB listeners last Monday When Gen-Xer Heath created the irreverent youth TV show Back of the Y 30 years ago, you'd have got long odds on him endorsing military service for young Kiwis on talk radio thirty years later. But he wasn't alone. 'I love the idea,' ZB Wellington Mornings host Nick Mills said the same day. 'We're not talking about someone that wants to be a doctor, a teacher or an apprentice mechanic. We're talking about directionless people. Off you go to compulsory six months in military training. What's wrong with it?' 'One in four 15-to-19 year olds do not have a job. 25 per cent of young, healthy New Zealanders don't have work,' he told listeners. But many of the 25 percent without a job are still at school, university, polytechnic or in training. Universal or compulsory military service would also capture the would-be doctors, traders and tradies in work, education or training. But Mills' callers – most of whom sounded like their working lives were long behind them – still liked the sound of it for today's young Kiwis nonetheless. Sounding the alarm with stats While he wasn't explicitly backing universal national service, columnist and broadcaster Duncan Garner also reckoned compulsory bootcamp was an idea whose time had come. 'Our teenagers aren't working! One in four 15 to 19 year-olds are not employed, not working, not in education or training. One in four! 25 percent!' his Editor in Chief podcast proclaimed. 'The stats don't lie,' Garner insisted in his podcast. His column for The Listener headlined When did our teens stop working and whose fault is it? seized on Stats NZ data to the end of 2024 showing 23.8 percent of 15-19 year olds were jobless. But that included those still in school, university or in training and the actual proportion of under 25s not in employment, education, or training (NEETs) was 13.2 per cent in December 2024. In the Listener, Garner lamented 'tens of thousands of young men and women who don't attend school, work or some form of training … who are idle at home'. 'It's not just a ticking time bomb. Because I truly believe the bomb's gone off with these numbers.' 'They're gaming. They're on social media, doomscrolling. Not in any form of training or education,' he claimed on Editor in Chief. If Kiwi youths really are doomscrolling in their tens of thousands, that'd be great for the media – given that it means flipping through troubling news headlines many times each day. How many are there really? The MSD Insights report in 2023 said 39,000 people under 25 were receiving a main benefit in 2023 – and about half of those were getting Jobseeker Support. It'll be a bit more than that by now given rising unemployment in 2024, but it's likely there would be roughly 20,000 under 25s currently classed as 'work ready' but not working, learning or training today. The unemployment rate is higher – and growing faster – for 15-19 year olds than in any other age group. And the rate of young people who are NEET – not in employment, education, or training – went up more than one percent to 13.2 percent in the quarter to December – the last period where stats are available. Not good. But in the past decade the previous annual peak was 12.8 percent in the year to March 2021. The low point was 11.2 percent two years later. A Stats NZ analysis of 2004 to 2024 showed the NEET rate was higher than it is today from the GFC of 2008 until 2014. Even when we had a so-called rockstar economy back in the 2010s, the rate didn't go below 11.5 per cent, according to MSD stats. Jobs harder to get In his Listener article, Garner acknowledged it's harder for young people to get jobs now because older people here are working longer and we've had record immigration in recent years. An 20 percent analysis by Berl in March confirmed that. But Berl also found the labour force participation rate for 15-24 year olds increased in the last quarter of 2024 by 2.5 percent to 66.4 percent. It reached a high of 69.2 percent in 2024. In September that year, recruitment company Eclipse identified a 'surge in participation rates among 15-19 year olds in the last two years'. 'Factors such as tightened education policies, economic conditions, and evolving job market dynamics have influenced youth decisions,' Eclipse said, which – if true – means more young people adapting and not opting to sit idle at home. 'They are eager to work,' said Berl's analysis in March. 'It could also mean that youth and young adults are exploring other avenues of occupation, such as tertiary education – including vocational education.' And also Australia. 'The brain drain could become a brain flood if young adults … move there to take advantage of the stronger job market.' In which case, the prospect of compulsory military service would probably become another push factor for thousands of young Kiwis who do have education, training and plans. Unemployment for 15-24 year-olds is significantly lower in Australia, as Duncan Garner pointed out in The Listener, and welfare rules are also tighter. But in the first two months of this year alone, it climbed from under 8 percent to over 10 in Australia. Mediawatch couldn't find a rash of comment in the media there claiming a lost generation of jobless, directionless Australians are heading straight to the social welfare scrapheap, clutching their digital devices. Youth unemployment and welfare dependency are a real – and expensive – issues. National service is an interesting idea that could deliver social and individual benefits. But putting thousands of young people with prospects into military service alongside a much smaller number of jobless, undereducated ones is unlikely to ease the main problem of an underperforming, unproductive economy. And those in the media opining about it should deploy more of the discipline they claim is lacking in the young when they seize on statistics to reinforce stereotypes.
