Does NZ have a right wing government right now? Nothing in the history of anything has ever improved with “Self regulation” so it must be useless policy season.
I’m highly doubtful about this - it seems to be an excuse to disestablish the BSA, rather than a genuine basis for the decision.
I think this will help drive more partisan and sensationalist media, like one gets in the US. NZ has been relatively resistant to populism and partisanism in the past, partially because we have a watchdog to make the media all play nice.
Based on their arguments, they should really be expanding the BSA’s remit to officially cover internet-based NZ media.
Also, they’ve done a press release and talked on the radio about it to try and stir up headlines, but it’s highly unlikely to get through parliament before the upcoming election. Based on the current polling, the makeup of parliament is likely to dramatically alter by the end of the year: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_2026_N...
I have some MAGA friends in NZ who are applauding this decision, so the impression I get is that it's a sop by the government for the conspiracy-theorist side of their support base. They were certainly very happy that from now on no-one would be prevented from spreading the "truth" about how dangerous vaccines are and so on.
In addition, given that the BSA was mostly charged with dealing with (genuinely) objectionable content in public media and complaints about unfair reporting, slander, etc, it seems like an empty gesture to placate the MAGA fan base. They weren't a censorship group, they just made sure that certain minimum standards were maintained, which will now presumably no longer be the case. I'm now waiting for someone to publish a story about how the Communications Minister who approved this is intimate with sheep and abuses small children.
New Zealand has always imported the bulk of its television content from the USA, Australia and the UK (more rarely Canada and elsewhere) and yet New Zealanders are forced to pay a sky high TV licence. Where is this money really going? The obvious answer is that a handful of people are creaming it off to fund their lifestyles rather than to produce domestic content. Has the BSA ever addressed this obvious elephant in the room?
Other than "Shortland Street", the news and some sports games, there has been disappointingly little in the way of domestic television production. A shame because NZ can produce excellent films and dramas sometimes. It is pretty clear that Peter Jackson has done more for New Zealand that way than the state broadcasters ever did.
“Broadcasting standards” make little sense in the age of streaming, internet platforms, and user generated content. Network TV is basically dead. Regulating individual streamers and content creators is a fool’s errand and only creates resentment against the government.
If you want to retain influence over national media, the effective modern path seems to be for governments to help fund that content, as in Canada or Japan.
I think "broadcasting standards" can be extended to streaming and content creators although harder to police due to sheer numbers. In many countries, the internet has led to a democratisation of video/TV content despite outlets such as YouTube trying to manipulate it and shut out most smaller uploaders.
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[ 2.4 ms ] story [ 31.5 ms ] threadhttps://lawnews.nz/administrative-public/bca-investigates-it...
I think this will help drive more partisan and sensationalist media, like one gets in the US. NZ has been relatively resistant to populism and partisanism in the past, partially because we have a watchdog to make the media all play nice.
Based on their arguments, they should really be expanding the BSA’s remit to officially cover internet-based NZ media.
Also, they’ve done a press release and talked on the radio about it to try and stir up headlines, but it’s highly unlikely to get through parliament before the upcoming election. Based on the current polling, the makeup of parliament is likely to dramatically alter by the end of the year: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_2026_N...
In addition, given that the BSA was mostly charged with dealing with (genuinely) objectionable content in public media and complaints about unfair reporting, slander, etc, it seems like an empty gesture to placate the MAGA fan base. They weren't a censorship group, they just made sure that certain minimum standards were maintained, which will now presumably no longer be the case. I'm now waiting for someone to publish a story about how the Communications Minister who approved this is intimate with sheep and abuses small children.
Other than "Shortland Street", the news and some sports games, there has been disappointingly little in the way of domestic television production. A shame because NZ can produce excellent films and dramas sometimes. It is pretty clear that Peter Jackson has done more for New Zealand that way than the state broadcasters ever did.
So, welcome to the oligarchy, were a few ultra rich controls media.
If you want to retain influence over national media, the effective modern path seems to be for governments to help fund that content, as in Canada or Japan.