scholarly journals The Independent Media of New Zealand

Author(s):  
Linda Jean Kenix

New Zealand has high global measures for press freedom, democracy, and wealth. Historically, if a country has had strong index rankings for press freedom, democracy, and wealth, they also have a robust independent media system. However, that has not been the case in New Zealand where the independent media is lacking, despite the fact the country ranks extremely highly for press freedom, democracy, and wealth. The lack of a robust independent media in New Zealand may be due to five unique reasons: the small size of the country, the reliance on international news, a wariness toward the entire media landscape, the reserved culture of New Zealand, and the flood of content online.

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 302-303
Author(s):  
Philip Cass

The Broken Estate: Journalism and Democracy in a Post-Truth World, by Mel Bunce. Wellington: Bridget Williams Books, 2019. 224 pages. ISBN 9780947518356 NEW ZEALAND has probably the worst television systems of any OECD nation, media ownership so concentrated that there is only one truly independent newspaper left, plummeting readership levels and almost insuperable economic challenges. And yet, as London-based New Zealand journalist-turned academic Mel Bunce observes, there has never been a time when the country most needed a functioning, independent media system that people could trust. In this slim, but powerful volume, she outlines what is wrong with New Zealand’s media and ways that it might be fixed.


2013 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Pearson

On 3 May, 2013, AUT University’s Pacific Media Centre marked the 20th anniversary of the UNESCO World Press Freedom Day with the inaugural event in New Zealand. The event was initiated by UNESCO’s Programme for Freedom of Expression, Democracy and Peace with the first seminar on ‘Promoting an Independent and Pluralistic African Media’ in Windhoek, Namibia, on 3 May, 1993. The journalists participating in that event drew up the Windhoek Declaration which highlighted that press freedom should be understood as a media system that is free, pluralistic and independent. They insisted that that this dispensation was essential for democracy and development. The Declaration became a landmark document in the fight for press freedom around the world. This address argues that new ethical codes of practice are now needed that are inclusive of serious bloggers and citizen journalists. The author of this address states: ‘The printing press spawned free expression’s offspring—the right of “press freedom”—as pamphleteers fought censorship by governments in the ensuing centuries. Events are unfolding much more quickly now. It would be an historic irony and a monumental shame if press freedom met its demise through the sheer pace of irresponsible truth-seeking and truth-telling today’.


Author(s):  
T.V. Zbyrak

The article is devoted to the analysis of legal guarantees of media independence in Ukraine and the European Union. The author believes that safeguards are a set of objective and subjective factors aimed at the practical protection of human rights and freedoms, to eliminate any obstacles to their full and proper implementation. The main purpose of the safeguards is to create the necessary conditions for the transformation of the rights and freedoms enshrined in the law from possibilities into reality. It has been established that press freedom should be regarded as a guaranteed right or a guaranteed opportunity to freely establish, publish, edit, read, distribute, publish, publish and publish print media of your choice. The author substantiates the division of guarantees of media independence into normative, institutional (organizational) and procedural immunity as a kind of guarantees of media activity. Legal safeguards include a set of legal norms that ensure the realization and protection of a set of rights that are included in the notion of media freedom. Constitutional guarantees of media freedom are an integral feature of a democratic media system. Guarantees of independence of the broadcasting regulatory bodies are provided first and foremost by the system of their formation. The author has determined that additional measures are necessary to eliminate the restrictions that impede the strengthening and development of the information industry, its infrastructure, providing real support to the activities of journalists and providing specific rules for their protection, expanding the possibilities for access of citizens through this network to information submitted in foreign printed media. media, etc. The guarantee of media independence is also the establishment of disciplinary, civil, administrative or criminal liability.


2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adaobi Vivian Duru

This study used the 2014 Ebola outbreak as a case study to compare news coverage of a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) between the Polarized Pluralist media system and the Liberal media system. This investigation revealed that partisan frames, emphasis on local and international efforts and use of health expert sources all differed across the two media systems. These differences suggest that social, political and economic attributes of media systems affect how news is shaped. When an event of international significance occurs, such as a disease outbreak, the characteristics that make up a media system will influence how issues are covered and presented to the public. Giving the current globalized nature of news, the findings in this study has implications for international news flow.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Paskhalis ◽  
Bryn Rosenfeld ◽  
Katerina Tertytchnaya

Existing literature recognizes growing threats to press freedom around the world and documents changes in the tools used to stifle independent press. However, few studies investigate how independent media respond to state pressure. Do independent outlets comply, orienting coverage to favor regime interests? Or does repression encourage more negative coverage of the regime instead? To shed light on these questions, we investigate how the abrupt removal of independent outlet TV Rain from Russian television providers influenced its coverage. We find that shortly after TV Rain was dropped by providers, the tone of its political coverage became more positive and its similarity with state-controlled television increased. However, these effects were short-lived. Additional evidence suggests that subscription revenue contributed to the station's resilience. These findings, from the first causal test of how attacks influence independent media coverage in a nondemocracy, add to our understanding of media manipulation and authoritarian endurance.


2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 492-508
Author(s):  
Anna Potter ◽  
Tom O’Regan

Wellington, New Zealand is a major international screen production base for movies including Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies. New Zealand production companies like Jackson’s Weta Group producing content for international markets benefit from local policy settings that support such productions. In 2008, a group of long-time Jackson collaborators including Richard Taylor established Pukeko Pictures. In a small country with a deregulated media system, no dedicated public service broadcaster, and minimal supports for children’s television, Pukeko is a successful, globally oriented producer of children’s content. This article examines the strategies that underpin Pukeko Pictures’ production portfolio, which includes the 2015 reboot Thunderbirds Are Go, and a preschool coproduction with China. The combination of dispersed production practices, local subsidies, and quality infrastructure contribute to Pukeko Pictures’ success. We suggest, however, that strategic international relationships managed by Taylor are also critical to Pukeko Pictures developing a significant foothold in transnational television services.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (XX) ◽  
pp. 19-44
Author(s):  
Michał Kaczmarczyk

The concept of freedom of the press is closely linked to freedom of expression. Freedom of the media is an instrument of free speech and is derived from the freedom of expression, independence of thought, opinion, ideas and judgement. Freedom of the media is possible only if the state ensures real independence of expression, access to reliable information, freedom of publication and publishing. Respecting media freedom through non-interference by public auReceived thorities is an important part of the European standard of democracy, and is aligned with the essence of the liberal democratic regime. Ireland has a diversified market of newspapers and magazines, created by private entities, operating on the basis of well-developed guarantees of freedom of establishment that are deeply rooted in the Irish legal tradition. Freedom of speech, which is also enjoyed by the media, is enshrined in the Constitution, and appropriate institutions have been established to protect it, defending the right of the media to obtain and disseminate information, but also to safeguard the principles of law and ethics in journalism, combining the right of the press to express opinions and freely describe reality with the right of the beneficiaries of this activity (readers) to obtain information that is reliable, true, honest and credible. This article attempts to characterize the legal basis of press freedom in Ireland (both domestic and international) and to describe the institutions that uphold this freedom, ensuring that the media system functions properly as one of the subsystems of the social system.


2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 481-495 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Mirer ◽  
Megan A. Duncan ◽  
Michael W. Wagner

Team- and league-operated media play a growing role in the sports media system. Few have looked at how audiences perceive the credibility of in-house content, which regularly mimics traditional sports journalism. An experimental analysis finds that even among fans, independent media content is rated more credible than that produced in-house. Fans view stories accusing their team of wrongdoing as biased even as they find them credible.


1970 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane Scott

This article is based on research concerning the relationship between the neo-liberal project in New Zealand and the mass media since 1984. New Zealand has undoubtedly experienced a major shift in public policy orientation in correspondence with structural changes in the political economy. The assumed role of government under social democratic Keynesianism was questioned and restructuring of the state became central to the neo-liberal project. The resultant policies reorganised economic, political and social priorities were rapidly implemented and had a detrimental impact upon various sectors of society. Consequently, such policies had to be rationalised and strategically promoted in order to marginalise opposition and allay public scepticism. As neo-liberalism was being transmitted to the public, New Zealand's media system was undergoing changes in terms of the surrounding economic environment and media-government relationships. Such circumstances enabled both the fourth Labour Government and the succeeding National administration to routinely communicate their messages. This claim required illustration. To this end I undertook research on the debate conducted in and through the media over the introduction of the Employment Contracts Act (1991).


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