Soon there will be no more Radio New Zealand, and there will be no more Television New Zealand, there will only be Aotearoa New Zealand Public Media.
What do you think of when you think of public broadcasting?
For me it is the BBC in the UK, SBS in Australia and here in Aotearoa - Radio New Zealand. Intelligent, quality content funded by the state as a public good. Because if broadcasting is left to the commercial sector, well you get reality TV, gameshows, poor quality dramas using the same old story lines, and Mike Hosking.
There is a vital role for public broadcasting providing thoughtful conversations, entertainment, and news coverage which encourages people to think and informs them. The role of telling you that Briscoes is having a sale (we know!), flogging grog, or scaring you into insurance cover, with little bits of low grade content in between, can be left to the private sector.
On the face of it anything that gives public broadcasting a stronger role is good but I do have reservations about the coming merger of RNZ and TVNZ. Mostly I’m concerned that they will dumb down RNZ, that horse bolted long ago from TVNZ.
I’m also not entirely clear what the government hopes to achieve with the merger other than I assume cost savings through the removal of duplicate functions and funding more content for demographics less white and elderly than the current TVNZ/RNZ audience.
Television isn’t all bad at present, there have been an increasing number of excellent documentaries this year on speaking Te Reo, Alcohol issues, Drug reform, etc. But the majority of the schedule is filled with garbage. Strangely the networks seem perplexed that more and more people drift away from broadcast television every year. It’s not just the convenience of streaming, or to escape the absurdly high level of advertising, it is surely mainly about the dire state of most of the content.
The networks serve up cheap and easy, but not very good for you, servings of junk - and many are making the choice to look at more nutritious options. Don’t get me wrong, most of us like a bit of junk food from time to time but if you’re having a double quarter pounder combo every night a) you’re going to get sick of it, and b) your organs are going to start failing and you may damage them long term. Like your brain if you watch too much of The Block.
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