Since the newspaper won't print everything I have to say, I'll just put it here. Have a look at "State Run Media". Inspired by headlines from about a month ago, but it is still a good message...
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When one hears the expression “state-run media”, all sorts of images come to my mind. Aside from the “newspeak” of the novel 1984, you have the Nazi propaganda minister, or maybe the Soviet Union’s Pravda.
Not to say that the government has any direct influence over the editorial positions taken by TVNZ, or for that matter, the programming, but it is never a good idea to have a major media outlet on the government payroll. “The foxes are guarding the hen-house” and “... in their back pocket” are two American expressions that seem to suit this. And when the Head of TVNZ news is best friends with the Prime Minister, you have what the legal types refer to as a conflict of interest.
But how about kindly Aunty Helen using our tax dollars to keep TVNZ’s ratings up? Eight million dollars going to keep Coronation Street? I watch it, sure. But it makes no difference to me where I watch it, and quite frankly I resent my tax dollars (that big surplus that my tax dollars helped to fund is just a wee bit smaller now) going to keep the show on TVNZ. If TVNZ cannot compete honestly, using revenues from advertising without dipping into my pay cheque to keep it afloat, then maybe they don’t deserve to be in business.
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