For more than 30 years, producers have been able to bid for money from the public purse to make programmes via NZ on Air. From next year, the new public media entity replacing RNZ and TVNZ will hold the purse strings for most of the taxpayers’ money. The programme-makers are anxious about that, but it will have a bigger budget for the stuff they make so what's the problem?
The creation of a new public media entity was a top topic for the nation's screen producers at their recent annual conference in Auckland. Photo: SPADA
On RNZ’s Morning Report last Tuesday listeners heard about contractors picking up hefty pay packets working on turning RNZ and TVNZ into the new public media entity planned by the government - Aotearoa New Zealand Public Media (ANZPM).
RNZ’s reporter Phil Pennington had been following the money coming from the coffers of the Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Last month he reported that the ministry expected to spend around $6 million hiring contractors on top of about $5m for consultancy firm Deloitte - out of $38.3m budgeted for the entire transition.
It’s a lot of money - but there’s a lot to do to merge two broadcasters with 1000 employees between them. If it works, ANZPM could be more like the joined-up multimedia public service platforms people have in Ireland, Australia, the UK and other countries.
The New Zealand Herald reported the figures under the headline Consultants Cash In - and TVNZ’s 1 News that night reported the National Party’s opposition to “the taxes of hardworking Kiwis going straight to consultants”.
Several media companies submitted strong reservations to Parliament’s select committee overseeing the Aotearoa New Zealand Public Media Bill.
Herald publisher NZME for example cited “distortion of the media ecosystem ... without safeguards to ensure it competes on an even playing field with other media providers”.
Another concerned outfit was SPADA - the Screen Production and Development Association, the umbrella group representing programme makers and production companies.
Many producers have depended heavily upon access to public funding via NZ On Air down the years and were alarmed in September when the government confirmed $85m - the bulk of NZoA’s current budget - would go straight to the new public media entity in future.
(That includes the $42.6m NZ on Air currently funnels to RNZ each year, and $40m of the amount of the contestable funds for specific programmes and content that usually ends up on TVNZ’s channels anyway.)
Newshub said the move “would drastically cut the funding available for other producers” and “a number of high profile producers ... didn't want to speak on record for fear of falling out of favour with the new media behemoth that will soon have the lion's share of funding”.
“Our anxiety is that no one is saying to us what ANZPM and NZ on Air between them have got ring-fenced for local production,” SPADA president Irene Gardiner told the second hearing on the ANZPM legislation at Parliament in October.
“Is it the same as what it is now? Is it more because there are more public media outcomes to realize? Or is it less? And if it is less, then why are we doing this?” asked Gardiner, who was formerly a TVNZ commissioning editor.
Producers’ fears were aired again last week at SPADA’s annual conference.
But if the government is providing ANZPM with more money for what they make, what’s the problem?
Photo: RNZ / Paul Bushnell
“Some of our members think it's great that the new entity will have a public media mandate. Some of our members would prefer it to stay the way it is now,” Gardiner told Mediawatch.
“We've kind of given it the benefit of the doubt. The thing we are all absolutely united on is that the new entity be funded adequately to realise its aims, that there's plenty of money for local production,” she added.
For more than 30 years, independent producers have had access to public funds on a contestable basis via NZ On Air, including big-budget TV dramas. Some companies have become big in that time and some were even sold offshore. Many other production companies are tiny but also depend on access to funds via NZ On Air.
The system has ensured New Zealand viewers get ‘local content’ and local commercial TV broadcasters have had handy subsidies for the cost of their programmes - but at a cost to the strength of public broadcasters.
“I think that's a fair argument. In the end, this is actually about New Zealanders who pay tax and what they get in return for that. But I don't actually see the two things are separate, because the content that will be being made for the new entity might be a slightly different type of content in some cases, but it will still be made by (local) producers and production companies,” she said.
Irene Gardiner is also currently on the board of RNZ, which is the biggest backer of the new media entity.
“I have some things I have to manage, being involved with both the RNZ board and SPADA. There's certain things - you just can't share information across. I keep my own personal views out of it but when I'm wearing my SPADA hat, I'm thinking about my members and ... what RNZ’s position is. You sort of just balance it, but it can be a little tricky at times,” she said.
Future finance far from certain
In 2018 Irene Gardiner was appointed to a Ministerial Advisory Group set up by for broadcasting minister Clare Curran. The aim was “the provision of sustainable, long-term funding for public media ... and to protect it from the 'benign neglect' of prolonged static funding.”
It made little progress before the minister was replaced and the government’s plan changed.
Labour-led governments' previous interventions this millennium did not endure. The TVNZ Charter introduced in 2003 was repealed in 2011 by a National-led government and non-commercial public service TV channels reluctantly run by TVNZ from 2007 to 2012 withered when the five years of funding allocated by Labour ran out.
Does Gardiner fear ANZPM go the same way?
“I think that's probably everybody's concern. And I think it's a legitimate concern,” she said.
As things stand, ANZPM will have $109m of operational funds per year until 2026. But if there's a change of government, even that may not be forthcoming.
“It does worry us a lot - but I don't think there is any way to enshrine money into the future. It has been worrying to hear the opposition say they would turn it around, because I don't think you can do something as big as this in July, and then turn it around in November,” Gardiner told Mediawatch.
“I'm hoping common sense would prevail in that respect,” she said.
