Media players put case for merger

Fairfax Media and NZME have warned that the traditional news distribution model is ‘‘broken’’ as they fight to overturn a block on their merger.

The media companies are in the second day of their High Court appeal against a Commerce Commission decision in May to refuse them authorisation to merge.

The commission had argued NZME and Fairfax played ’’a particular role in setting the agenda’’ for news produced by other publishers such as Television New Zealand, MediaWorks and Radio New Zealand.

‘‘We are of the view that Fairfax and NZME already exert meaningful editorial influence over New Zealand’s news agenda, but that this would be strengthened by the merger,’’ the commission said in its final decision.

But David Goddard QC, representing Fairfax and NZME, told the High Court at Wellington it was ‘‘not the commission’s job to be forming views across a wide range of social and public policy issues’’, since it was an economic regulator.

Goddard said the incentives on the media to cover a particular issue would not change with the merger and there was ‘‘not a shred of evidence’’ to suggest there would be any change in the cost of reporting on a particular topic.

The number of journalists that might be employed by the merged firm was ‘‘a distraction’’, he said.

In written submissions, Fairfax and NZME said it been ‘‘recognised internationally that the traditional news media distribution model has been broken by the ubiquity and open access of the internet and the rise of the platform providers such as Facebook and Google’’.

Fairfax NZ’s publications include Stuff, the Sunday StarTimes, The Dominion Post and The Press. NZME owns the New Zealand Herald as well as a large number of radio stations.

The trial is set down for two weeks, and the Commerce Commission is expected to begin its defence tomorrow or Friday.