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We'll be tweeting occasionally about today's Epidemic Response Committee aka Mediapalooza. Representatives from just about every media company will be speaking. Right now, Gavin Ellis is asking whether government could redirect its Facebook/Google ad spend to local media
Former Herald chief editor Gavin Ellis tells Pandemic Response Committee local media crisis is "existential" and urged govt to switch advertising spend from Google & Facebook to local media, allow STUFF/ME merger, change tax status of media, defer costs such as transmission
Broadcasting minister Kris Faafoi tells committee media financial package details should be ready “within a week” and will include measures to ease immediate cash flow problems
The committee has diverted into discussing whether "paper boys and girls" actually deliver papers anymore. Simon Bridges says it is now "adults in a car" who deliver papers. Faafoi says the people who deliver his paper are "15 or 16"
We're now back to talking about whether several New Zealand media companies are going to have to shut down imminently
On that note, @sineadboucher said Stuff's ad revenue has "more than halved" during the Covid-19 crisis. She wants government to redirect its ad spend on Facebook and Google to local media, saying that Stuff has the same reach as Facebook in New Zealand
Stuff’s CEO Sinead Boucher:
“That would make an enormous difference on its own to delivering local journalism . . and supports an industry with a code of ethics rather than one that is okay with lies being spread every day”
“That would make an enormous difference on its own to delivering local journalism . . and supports an industry with a code of ethics rather than one that is okay with lies being spread every day”
@ShayneCurrieNZH and @sineadboucher both talked about the strange dichotomy facing their companies: audiences have grown hugely while ad revenue has dropped by 50% or more. MPs have asked whether an ad-funded model has a future. Currie said the Herald paywall is "not a panacea"
@michaelwoodnz asks whether a Stuff/Me merger would help given the “technologically driven structural issues with the sector” (read: Facebook and Google taking all the ad money). Currie says it's vital to give media "extra runway" to reform their funding models
TVNZ's Kevin Kenrick asked why the government has been focusing on merging Radio NZ and TVNZ when it's commercial media in crisis. He said public media can "box on" regardless of economic conditions, and that support is needed for local content more broadly
But you'll be happy to know he also repeated the point everyone has made today: government should stop giving ad money to Facebook and Google. "When you have an industry on its knees... the first thing you need to do is stop scoring own goals."
MediaWorks boss Michael Anderson is quite keen on TVNZ being fully publicly funded, and not competing with his company for ad money. "[That] would certainly make the ecosphere for the rest of the commercial operators much healthier." Sorry this is not a more surprising update
Back on one of the repeated refrains from the day: one of the things media execs find galling about government ad money going to Facebook and Google is that those tech giants spread misinformation their journalists have to spend time correcting
@sineadboucher mentioned the conspiracy theory that 5G causes Covid-19, which has spread widely on Facebook. She and others made a kind of public good argument for government spending less money with the tech giants, alongside the economic one about propping up local media
Paul Goldsmith asked RNZ's Paul Thompson for an update on RNZ Concert. Thompson confirmed that Concert is "doing an excellent job of providing comfort and solace during this difficult times." If you need those two things, these are Concert's frequencies https://www.rnz.co.nz/listen/amfm
David Mackenzie of the NZ Community Newspapers Association can't understand why daily papers are allowed to deliver 6 times a week but communities that deliver once are banned. His question: if it's all about safety, wouldn't banning dailies have made more of a difference?
In a surprise callback, the question of paper boys and girls made a reappearance here. Mackenzie said communities had offered to use only adults to deliver to allay safety fears during the pandemic. The government was unmoved
Mark Jennings of @NewsroomNZ said the Covid-19 crisis was just accentuating a pre-existing problem for media: the failure of the ad-funded model. He suggested that the government set up a special journalism fund at NZ On Air
After pointing to the failure of the ad-funded media model, Jennings said it was too late for a Stuff/ME merger to make a difference. "I don’t think merging those two groups now is going to save them unless a lot of other things happen"
It's time for @duncangreive, who has exploited the promotional opportunity by placing a Spinoff mug on a shelf behind him
After being asked by Simon Bridges what he'd do if he was prime minister, Greive said the "least bad option" was expanding NZ On Air to fund more independent journalism. That could be funded down the line by a digital services tax on companies like Facebook, he said
Pattrick Smellie has seen Duncan Greive's mug, and raised him what appears to be an entire BusinessDesk sign. Please note, due to head positioning, this report is still unconfirmed
Like Mark Jennings, Smellie was skeptical about whether major commercial media companies can continue in their current form. If the government offers those organisations assistance, it should be careful not to harm emerging media like his company, he said.
Peter-Lucas Jones appealed for more funding for the chronically under-resourced iwi radio network. It has a vital role dispelling myths and fake news that have been spreading about Covid-19, he said. @aliwaimarie reported on iwi radio funding here: https://thespinoff.co.nz/atea/13-02-2020/theres-a-nz-radio-crisis-that-needs-fighting-for-its-called-iwi-radio/
A conclusion from Gavin Ellis. He said government aid for local media is really about buying time. The whole media ecosystem will eventually need an overhaul, he said. "But we need to buy time. We can’t... recraft the ecosystem if there’s nothing left to recraft."
Media execs and reps have echoed each other's claims that the government should redirect advertising spend to them. So why did they kill KPEX, their joint agency offering digital ads across Stuff, NZME, TVNZ and Mediaworks? https://www.thedrum.com/news/2019/08/23/blow-the-fight-fairer-programmatic-industry-the-inside-story-how-kpex-fell-apart
