Public media’s futureproofing challenge
Veteran journalist Tony Verdon tragically drowned last month at Northland’s Ocean Beach. Verdon started his career at the Nelson Evening Mail under legendary editor Graeme Spencer, before moving to the New Zealand Herald and then the parliamentary press gallery, being elected its chairman some years later.
He went on to become a foreign correspondent in London and then editor and general manager of the Northland Advocate.
When he left the press gallery, cartoonist Tom Scott penned a cartoon of him. In the image Verdon has assumed the lotus position, floating above his desk in smiling, beatific calm while parliamentary anarchy and violence erupts all around.
Calm and focused is how I remember him. Along with a writing style that was fluid and precise, and the courage to hold truth to power.
I first met Verdon when I was an enthusiastic but wobbly university student, full of booze, wind and vinegar. Verdon gave me counsel that combined strength with gentility. Counsel that shaped my professional career.
Our lives continued to intersect through family and friends. In the early 90s when my London flat was condemned, Verdon offered me the spare bedroom in his NZ Press Association-provided house until I’d earned enough money to fly home.
Later, when I quit a big role at Fonterra to take a job as chief operating officer at a then fledgling Trade Me for less than half my previous salary, he noted: ‘‘don’t worry MOD, I reckon this thing could get quite big’’.
Verdon’s style of journalism was well-researched and well-informed, with objectivity at its core. His default operating mode was comedic scepticism, along with southern humility.
Verdon never worked for a public media agency, but while I was driving home from his funeral in Whangarei last week it occurred to me that much of his approach was consistent with what I associate with quality public journalism.
Journalism that is increasingly hard to produce in an age when the Fangs (Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google) continue to take huge bites out of the revenue stream of private sector media and journalists. AUT’s 2020 New Zealand Media Ownership Report estimates that last year, 637 jobs disappeared from the private media industry.
It’s not just a New Zealand problem. As the line between publicgood content and advertising has blurred, so has trust in the news media. Edelman’s 2021 media trust barometer show that 56 per cent of respondents believe journalists are trying to mislead people, while 58 per cent think news organisations are more concerned with supporting an ideology than with informing the public.
As media companies fight for their existence with blended forms of content, there’s also increased perception that media just means entertainment.
Against this background the Government has ramped up its focus on public media to ensure it is futurefit and able to thrive in the changing media landscape. This includes the proposed creation of a new public media entity which RNZ and TVNZ would be folded into.
It’s a once-in-a-generation opportunity to create a public media entity that is sustainable and valued by all New Zealanders. The challenge here is creating something that is mandated, shaped and funded to deliver quality content sustainably.
Get it right and it could be superb. But get it wrong and the whole country will suffer.
To get it right there are three core enablers.
First, the new entity needs a clear public media mandate enshrined in a statutory charter (like the BBC in Britain and the ABC in Australia). Something they can be held accountable to.
Second, it needs to be the cornerstone of a diverse and sustainable media system. This means it needs to actively collaborate with and support other media in a way that makes the whole local media system stronger. A fortress mentality will not be useful.
Lastly, it needs sustainable funding that’s insulated from the revenue impact of the Fangs. That’s not to say that it can’t have commercial content, but I can’t see it working if it is required to prioritise commercial audiences over public good just to survive.
Ireland is struggling to get the balance, while Germany and Sweden may have it right.
Keeping an open mind on the options for solving the problem is important, and right now neither RNZ nor TVNZ are broken. So while structural change may be warranted, it needs to be assessed against other options that may be lower-risk and less costly.
A couple of weeks ago a public media governance group was appointed to look at the merger of RNZ and TVNZ. Its key output will be a robust business case, and the eyes of the country will be on it.
A long time ago, Tony Verdon gave me a piece of advice when it came to starting out on a re-engineering project: ‘‘The important thing is to ensure you don’t bugger it up’’. I bet the members of the new governance group are only too aware of this.
To be clear, I am conflicted to hell. I write a column for Stuff, have a television show on TVNZ, am a governor of RNZ and a director of a media vertical. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want a great long-term outcome for all New Zealanders.
Mike ‘‘MOD’’ O’Donnell is a professional director and strategy facilitator. This column is MOD’s personal opinion and not associated with any company he works with.