LATEST UPDATE
On 11th April the Coalition for Better Broadcasting and ActionStation, combined with the petition of Jo Bond (Fund RNZ campaign) delivered this petition to Parliament. The Minister for Broadcasting Maggie Barry declined to accept but Labour MP Clare Curran accepted and tabled it in the House the next day. You can read about the delivery event here:
https://medium.com/actionstation/32-337-demand-government-unfreeze-radio-new-zealand-funding-2b310ed3271d
In the first week of April RNZ's Auckland studio was sold. [read
https://blog.greens.org.nz/2017/03/21/national-killed-the-radio-station/]
We wait now for news on a Select Committee process - watch this space! Also watch out for the people-powered report and policy recommendations from CBB and ActionStation as part of the Make Our Media Better public inquiry to be delivered to the Government in May. [
http://www.makeourmediabetter.org.nz/]
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To the Minister of Broadcasting,
RNZ is well loved across the country:
- Listened to more than any other radio station
- Four out of five Kiwis say it’s a valuable service
- 87% think public service radio, like RNZ, is important for New Zealand [1].
RNZ is vital to all New Zealanders. It is our only public national broadcaster [2]. It’s our only commercially independent media organisation and it’s the only media that tells all of NZ’s stories for all New Zealanders.
This government is slowly making it impossible for RNZ to continue. Despite the importance of RNZ, our government refuses to fund it properly. They imposed an 8 year funding freeze on RNZ which after inflation amounts to a 12% cut in funding. At the same time the government expects RNZ to expand into digital and online media, which comes with a significant cost.
After years of cost-cutting, RNZ is planning to sell its Auckland studios and rent them back from the new owners.
RNZ would receive a cash injection but would also go from earning rent to paying rent. Before long that cash will dry up and RNZ will be worse off than before, with less money available for quality journalism and radio programmes for all New Zealanders.
All New Zealanders benefit from RNZ’s work to provoke debate, report on the issues of the day, entertain people throughout the country and reflect our national identity. It is a crucially important national treasure and we need to fund it properly.
Will you join us to call on the Minister of Broadcasting to unfreeze RNZ’s funding?
Unfreezing the funding will allow RNZ to:
- Retain ownership of its studios and resources
- Invest in digital and online media
- Continue high-quality radio services for the whole country
- Tell more of our stories
- Hold those in power to account with quality investigative journalism.
References:
[1] RNZ is New Zealands most popular Radio Network and 87 % of New Zealanders think public service radio is important, see RNZ Annual Report 2014/15, page 1:
http://www.radionz.co.nz/assets/cms_uploads/000/000/074/RNZ_Annual_Report_2015.pdf
[2] RNZ National and its sister station Concert are New Zealand's only public national broadcasters. See NZ On Air
http://www.nzonair.govt.nz/radio/what-we-fund/radio-new-zealand/
