Fear TVNZ will get ‘lazier’
Any government attempt to require TVNZ to pay a regular dividend is likely to decimate the broadcaster without meaningfully levelling the industry playing field, commentators say.
After it was announced that Warner Bros Discovery plans to close Newshub, ACT leader David Seymour questioned whether the Government’s ownership of TVNZ, and the poor returns it demanded as a shareholder, had contributed to an uncompetitive market.
In 2006, TVNZ was reported as being on track to pay $84.5 million in dividends to the Government. It last paid a dividend in the 2020-21 financial year.
Media commentator Janet Wilson said requiring a dividend from the broadcaster would lead to an “absolute hollowing-out” of the newsroom. “I think there would be programmes in peril.”
She said that while it was unlikely TVNZ would shut down news completely, as was planned for Newshub, it would have to mean a “lite” newsroom scenario, as had been suggested as an alternative to closure for Newshub.
Former Newshub news chief Mark Jennings had proposed a cost-cutting solution for Newshub, including fewer journalists, one newsreader and no foreign correspondents.
“That’s what it would mean [for TVNZ]. Some of the products would be really fighting for their lives,” Wilson said.
TVNZ has already been going through a period of restructuring, removing 24 general manager positions and creating 15 roles, which led to the departure of nine people. A freeze on cuts in the newsroom expired at the start of this month, according to reports.
Wilson said advertising revenue had probably fallen to such an extent that TVNZ was unlikely to benefit noticeably from losing its competition with Newshub on the 6pm bulletin. “The pieces of the pie are getting smaller and smaller. When you’ve Brand Developers Ltd ads playing between 5pm and 7pm, in prime time viewing … that shows you the dire straits that they are in.”
She said the biggest concern was that TVNZ would get “lazier and lazier”.
“Newshub is a lot more nimble. Everyone in the organisational structure was accountable for their own actions, so everyone gave 115%. What you did mattered every single day. The fight was always against TVNZ. I’m not sure the flexibility and fastness in terms of getting to stories, doing stories, getting an angle on stories, is going to transfer itself from Three to TVNZ.”
Otago university lecturer Olivier Jutel said the Government releasing TVNZ from demands to pay a dividend released some pressure to compete in a cut-throat market .“Imposing the dividend is saying there’ s no greater value for news than the marketplace .”
He said initiatives like the Public Interest Journalism Fund, which was used to support media through Covid-19, could be a model for how a competitive pool of funding could be used to support independent operators.
Jutel said it should not be expected that the Three audience would automatically shift to TVNZ. “I’ve always thought TVNZ was slightly more aged as a demographic. TV3 is more Gen Y, elder millennial. It’s more playful with its content. There’s a distinction in that with demographics and the advertising model. It’s possible those people don’t just go to TV One and the ad dollars don’t just go to TV One.”
He said the Government could not shirk its responsibility to address a “national crisis” in media, but it was not in the mood to deal with it.
He said some of the new media players were pushing the line that public service journalism was a “crazy conspiracy” or a “woke agenda”. “We’re in a really bad place for this conversation.”