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The Forum > Article Comments > NZ TV: 'Dumbed-down dross' > Comments

NZ TV: 'Dumbed-down dross' : Comments

By Duncan Graham, published 6/6/2012

New Zealand's equivalent of the ABC is about to disappear.

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Well written article.

I found the same thing in Wellington and Queenstown, NZ. One would have expected that New Zealand would have several BBC or ABC quality stations.

Particularly the relatively well read audience in Wellington was turned off by the TV available.

But, it is as the author describes it. When I was there Sky News NZ appeared to be the best station with much of the reporting (and reporters?) being Australia based http://www.skytv.co.nz/Default.aspx?tabid=1127 . It was something approaching ABC 24 round the clock news, but with commercials. http://www.skytv.co.nz/Default.aspx?tabid=116

Fortunately, as the author suggests, NZ has ample non-TV attractions.

Pete
Posted by plantagenet, Wednesday, 6 June 2012 10:22:19 AM
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G'day Duncan. I'm another one from Perth spending 6 months in NZ.

Totally share your dismay at the impending loss of TVNZ Channel 7. It's a breath of fresh air among the relentlessly commercial alternatives. Has many great educational science and arts programs including the local content 'Te Papa' and one about the young farmers awards. These give great information on the NZ rural areas, agriculture and culture - invaluable for city dweller and tourists alike. I cant believe that it costs only $15 to run and that the Nationals can't see its value for tourism and culture alone!.

Maori TV is of course the other exception - great programs that must do wonders for the self esteem and advancement of Maori, who need the 'leg up'. From your figures, the adequate funding has a lot to do with the good quality. They wouldn't drop that one for political reasons as the Maori do seem to have political power here. Unlike Aboriginal Australia. We should follow the NZ example with an aboriginal TV program.

I heard that Maori TV won coverage of the World Cup but were forced by Govt to share it with the commercials.

I reckon Key and his crew are neo-liberal pawns of big corporations; want to privatize everything and give it away to big business. They recently gave Sky City casino/ hotels changes to gambling regulations that would allow it to install 350 to 500 extra machines, generating as much as $46 million/yr of revenue in return for a $350 million convention centre. They are doing a lot of damage, which will be difficult for future governments to undo.
Posted by Roses1, Wednesday, 6 June 2012 10:33:22 AM
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"What's happening across the Tasman is a distressing example of what happens when the principles of public service broadcasting are corrupted by commercialism and administered by Philistines."

Completely wrong. What's happening is a great example of the government getting its hand out of the taxpayers pocket.

It is quite immoral to force everyone to fund a TV station that only a minority is interested in. The Australian government should do the same with the ABC and SBS. If they are good enough, they'll survive without being propped up by the taxes of the workers. If not, good riddance.
Posted by DavidL, Wednesday, 6 June 2012 10:36:46 AM
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The ABC should suffer a similar fate , if it continues to pursue its Leftist groupthink agenda, as highlighted by The Australian's Chris Kenny (http://www.theaustralian.com.au/media/groupthink-takes-over-at-national-broadcaster/story-e6frg996-1226367388769):

"Critics see the problem at the ABC as too much news judgment, opinion and perspective flowing in the same direction on a range of key issues. The ABC tends to favour an alarmist view on climate change, open borders approach on asylum-seekers, rights over responsibilities in indigenous affairs, antagonism towards Christianity but tolerance for Islam, reverence for the UN, animus towards the US, enthusiasm for gay marriage, suspicion about business and development, and deference to the green agenda."
Posted by Raycom, Wednesday, 6 June 2012 12:36:03 PM
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Oh come on Duncan, instead of decrying some common sense shown by our little neighbour, for heavens sake tell us how they did it.

We have got to get rid of the nest of anti Australian propagandists that "our" ABC has become.

I see you decry a lack of drama produced , & have to wonder at your taste. The last few times I watched any ABC drama, quite a few years ago now, I came to the realisation that with the ABC to be classed as drama, the performers had to shout a lot. Great drama was when they all shouted all the time.

The sooner we get rid of the mongrel propaganda machine the ABC has become the better off all Ozzies will be.
Posted by Hasbeen, Wednesday, 6 June 2012 1:22:25 PM
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We can pretty much say that about all Western media.NZ is just a step below us.
Posted by Arjay, Wednesday, 6 June 2012 1:51:26 PM
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'Kiwis were "thirsty for programmes that tell our stories, and explore our issues."'

Then they should be prepared to pay for them, rather than relying on other disinterested taxpayers to provide the ready.

Shouldn't they?
Posted by Jon J, Wednesday, 6 June 2012 7:10:00 PM
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...What this article highlights is a chance for Australia to offer a practical and responsible input to NZ public broadcasting, as a reciprocal addition to existing migration arrangements across the Tasman.

...Where the SBS and the ABC funding combined is $3.5B over three years, (a funding which recognises the SBS permit to broadcast five minutes of commercial advertising per hour), as a comparison on funding against its NZ counterpart of $210M over the same period, the inevitable outcome of closure of the NZ network is not surprising.

...There exists a golden moment for SBS to establish a repeater of Australian broadcasting in NZ. This contribution from Australia could incorporate the Maori channel (allowing some NZ input from the savings), to offset the extraction of non-applicable programing from the relay.
Posted by diver dan, Wednesday, 6 June 2012 8:16:46 PM
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What would be ideal would be for ABC and SBS to be available in New Zealand and TVNZ to be available in Australia. That way, New Zealanders would see that the ABC isn't all it's cracked up to be, while Australians who bash the two public broadcasters (like Murdoch journos) would soon see how bad the alternative is. TVNZ makes the Australian commercial networks look like the ABC, while TV3 is even worse.

The New Zealand On Air system is the worst of both worlds, with tax dollars being used to fund locally produced programming which wouldn't get a cent of it across the Ditch, like reality TV shows. At least New Zealand scrapped the licence fee in 2000, which was a cheek considering how much advertising there was.

Historically, the problem is that New Zealand didn't have enough choice in broadcasting - it only had one TV channel until 1975, and two (both state-owned) until 1989, although it introduced colour before Australia did, in 1973, and pay-TV in 1990. While the ABC has remained the same organisation (Commission or Corporation) the equivalent in New Zealand has been chopped and changed around loads of times. The NZBC only lasted thirteen years.

Like most of New Zealand's reforms, it's been a case of throwing the baby out with the bathwater, and Australia has got the balance right.
Listening to Kiwi free marketeers is like listening to a man who goes around boasting about how fast he can run without a ball and chain round his ankles.

Irrespective of what kind of broadcasting New Zealand has, it's still too dour and provincial for me, and given the choice, I'd prefer Australia. If you want greenery you've got Tasmania. Using a Virtual Private Network (VPN) you can access the ABC's iView outside Australia, and if you're that desperate, you can use on to access TVNZ On Demand outside New Zealand.
Posted by Malae Oan, Wednesday, 6 June 2012 10:25:06 PM
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Interesting article, I thought that Kiwis would have more sense.

Without public broadcasters there's little possibility of informed discussion, commercial broadcasters essentially promote the corporate interests of their owners, which suits neo-liberal governments very well indeed.

As to wasting taxpayers money-the price of nearly every purchase a consumer makes has the cost of advertising included, so I'm paying for the commercial, made-for-morons garbage, that I never watch or listen to. I don't hear many right wing commentators complaining about the waste and mismanagement of the millions of taxpayers' funds spent on the production of totally useless elite athletes.

The real agenda is not fiscal but political. Without public broadcasters the MSM would be completely dominated by corporate billionaire oligarchs pushing their self-serving propaganda line with no regard for the public interest.
Posted by mac, Thursday, 7 June 2012 8:53:57 AM
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'It is quite immoral to force everyone to fund a TV station that only a minority is interested in.'

In that case, it's immoral to run state and council libraries, which only a minority use. Ditto state and national theatre, ballet and opera companies, which few (mostly well off) people use. It's even more immoral, on that basis, to fund foreign aid, which virtually NO Australians get to use.

My taxes fund institutions like the National Institute of Sport and the Australian War Memorial Museum, whose values I do not support. They also fund wars that I don't believe Australia should be involved in. However, I accept that all these taxpayer funded enterprises fulfil a general national purpose that cannot be maintained by free market forces. A national broadcaster also fills that role.

As for the left-wing bias argument, that's well and truly had its day. The Howard era brought to its knees what little centre-left sentiment still existed at the ABC after 20 years of right-wing neo-liberalism had contaminated the mainstream narrative. The ABC board is now heavily stacked with right-leaning decision-makers, and journalists and presenters who don't comply with the new right-wing zeitgeist either do not get hired or don't last long.

What's really killing the ABC is a combination of the expensive and unnecessary 24-hour news channel, and the slow death by a thousand cuts that has been occurring for well over a decade. This in turn forces it to import more and more cheap, mind-numbingly dull British lifestyle and chat shows, which are as relevant to modern Australia as reruns of The Love Boat.
Posted by Killarney, Thursday, 7 June 2012 12:03:00 PM
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Killarney: "As for the left-wing bias argument, that's well and truly had its day. The Howard era brought to its knees what little centre-left sentiment still existed at the ABC after 20 years of right-wing neo-liberalism had contaminated the mainstream narrative. The ABC board is now heavily stacked with right-leaning decision-makers, and journalists and presenters who don't comply with the new right-wing zeitgeist either do not get hired or don't last long."

Killarney, where have you been these past 5 or so years? Living in Killarney, Ireland?

The ABC board has very little, if any, influence over editorial policy or current affairs treatment. Left-leaning groupthink has well and truly taken over.

Whereas one would expect the ABC to be impartial regarding the climate change debate, it goes out of its way to broadcast warmist propaganda, but censors out any opposing views. This is despite the fact that there is no empirical scientific evidence to substantiate the hypothesis that man-made carbon dioxide emissions cause dangerous global warming. In his capacity as ABC Chairman, Maurice Newman was so frustrated that he felt it necessary to go public to request balance in ABC reporting on the climate change issue. Sadly, his request was ignored.
Posted by Raycom, Thursday, 7 June 2012 12:42:51 PM
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'Killarney, where have you been these past 5 or so years? Living in Killarney, Ireland?'

I wish! :)
Posted by Killarney, Friday, 8 June 2012 1:18:17 PM
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Raycom, before consigning the ABC (and SBS) to a similar fate to TVNZ, you should watch TVNZ's commercial channels, as well as TV3 and Prime.

I wouldn't be against privatising ABC and SBS (or the BBC in the UK) but no way should they just become ratings-driven commmercial channels like TVNZ - better to run them as subscription-funded channels like HBO in the US. All TV is 'pay-TV', however you choose to fund it.

TVNZ is a state-owned enterprise, which means it is a government cash cow designed to return a dividend to the Treasury. However, that doesn't mean that the NZ taxpayer is let off the hook, because NZ On Air is publicly funded, to subsidise local versions of commercial formats. So what you have is the worst of both worlds.

It's a pity Australia and New Zealand don't share a long land border, like the US and Canada, as then it would be easier to make comparisons between the two countries, especially TV, as the signal spills across the border. Canadians complain about US cultural influence but most of them watch American TV. And if you think the ABC is left-wing, try the CBC in Canada, or PBS and NPR in the US.

Killarney, it's just as well you haven't been in Killarney, Ireland given the country's reversal of fortunes. RTE isn't too bad, TV3 is forgettable, TG4 is unintelligible unless you speak Irish, which most Irish people don't, but there's always BBC and Channel 4 from the UK.

Jon J, if taxpayers aren't interested, they're 'uninterested' - 'disinterested' means they're impartial.
Posted by Malae Oan, Friday, 8 June 2012 11:22:17 PM
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Malae Oan

Alot of interesting observtions about international TV viewing. You must either do a lot of travelling or a lot of TV watching.

Re Ireland's reversal of fortunes, I actually have been to Ireland twice since 2009 and among the oridinary population, personal finances don't seem that much worse than they are for ordinary people here. In fact, I know a lot more people who've gone broke here in Australia as a result of the GFC and plummeting real estate, compared to everyone I know in Ireland, who all seem to be doing OK. The main difference I notice is that, in Ireland, the media is obssessed with the country's financial woes - and I suspect this is because the political and financial elites have been hit so hard. Here in Australia, the elites have not been hit hard (yet), so the media pretends that everything's fine and dandy.

As for Irish TV, I always enjoy it when I'm there and hate coming back to the blandness of Oz TV. I can't recall much of TV3, so it must be as you say - forgettable. I tend to stick to RTE and TG4 (the latter particularly, as I study Irish Gaelic - and BTW about 1 million Irish are fluent in the language). As for the BBC and Channel 4, they remind me too much of the ABC. Come to think of it, they ARE the ABC!
Posted by Killarney, Sunday, 10 June 2012 1:28:47 PM
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