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Mediawatch: Bad stats boost bootcamp bid
A call to consider universal military service was enthusiastically endorsed in the media this week. But those backing it seized on stats that also tell a different story.
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A war of letters at NZME
4 May 2025With an attempted billionaire boardroom coup at NZME unfolding mostly behind closed doors, journalists warn the public deserves answers.
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Mediawatch: The health of health reporting
27 Apr 2025Almost every day in the news we're told the health system is in crisis. What's the best way to cover a sector with so many stories - most of them bad? And why…
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How a Christian radio broadcaster has become NZ media's quiet success
20 Apr 2025The country's main Christian broadcaster is revamping and expanding its output, even as its target market shrinks and pleasing a broad church is tough in times…
Mediawatch headlines with summaries.
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Jailed journalist's life spread across the big screen
20 Apr 2025What is it like for a journalist jailed just for doing his job to see the worst moments of his own life on the screen?
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Mediawatch: Is the media trust freefall over?
13 Apr 2025Fresh figures out today show less than a third of us trust the news most of the time. But they also show the slump has stalled - and every news outlet surveyed is more trusted this year.
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Mediawatch: Offshore drift of ad revenue continues mostly unreported
6 Apr 2025Latest annual stats show ad revenue's gone up again, but the proportion of it going to local media is down.
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Mixed media messages on 'green shoots' and 'dire data'
30 Mar 2025Are our media confusing us with claims about "green shoots" in the economy - while also reporting every bit of "dire data"?
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How the Listener magazine is beating the odds in NZ journalism
23 Mar 2025Cost-cutting in newsrooms lately has shrunk lifestyle sections, but RNZ's just launched with a new section online - and the new Listener magazine is changing its mix in print too.
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Lid-lifting Kiwi gagged over Facebook book
23 Mar 2025A Kiwi whistleblower whose book lifts the lid on Facebook was gagged before she had a chance to talk to RNZ. Why? And what did she say in other interviews before Meta called its lawyers?
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Media pump up rumours of PM's possible demise
16 Mar 2025The PM's got plenty on his plate right now - the economy, health, housing, Trump, and school lunches. Now the media are also hinting he might not be in the top job for long - but based on very little.
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RNZ's Gaza conflict coverage abided by its editorial policy - Review
14 Mar 2025A review of RNZ coverage regarding the conflict in Gaza has concluded it has abided by its own editorial policy - as well as the standards and principles of media and broadcasting watchdogs.
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Defending media against defunding
The two main public media networks in the US are facing bids to de-fund them - as well as MAGA-driven inquiries into bias and how they do business.
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Media alarm over Chinese ships - and the end of 'benign' times
2 Mar 2025Chinese warships appearing in what we like to think of as our "benign strategic environment" sparked something of a media frenzy. It culminated in claims our defence spending's going to have to go up…
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Will Australia and US set our media policy?
23 Feb 2025The government's new media plan doesn't do much to aid the ailing industry, and a law change that might help has stalled.
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NZME plans new video channel amid news cuts
20 Feb 2025The NZ Herald's streaming video service will be part of a restructuring that included the loss of 30 journalists' jobs, but it's not clear whether it will pay off, Mediawatch reports.
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Golden visas obscured by politics and talkback pushback
16 Feb 2025Mediawatch: Media management helped the government's new 'golden visas' into the headlines, but it also got obscured by the ACT leader's antics.
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Media in the middle of diplomatic drama
9 Feb 2025Mediawatch -Trump's alarmed the world with trade tariffs, turning off aid and proposing to take over Gaza. But New Zealand's had diplomatic drama in the news too - with the media in the middle of it.
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The media gets serious after silly season
2 Feb 2025Mediawatch - Summertime, and the living is easy, the old Gershwin song says. But he didn't have to cope with the Kiwi summer news drought. Video
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Mediawatch ranks media's best-of 2024 lists
22 Dec 2024Mediawatch: Christmas coincides with media tackling the gargantuan task of ranking everything humanity produced this year. Audio
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Media under the sinking lid in 2024
15 Dec 2024Mediawatch - The job losses came thick and fast in 2024: "I've worked in the industry for 30 years and never seen a year like it," RNZ's Guyon Espiner says.
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If you can't beat social media or ban it, join it?
8 Dec 2024Mediawatch - Australia's social media ban for under-16s was cheered on by the media, but it also highlighted their own dependency on big tech - and our own government's hands-off approach.
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Mediawatch: A tale of two towns' news
1 Dec 2024Both Taupō and Westport face saying goodbye to their only local newspaper - and local journalism.
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Mediawatch for Sunday 1st December
1 Dec 2024The tale of two towns - Taupō and Westport - which face losing their only local newspaper.
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Paper closures spark 'news deserts' warning
24 Nov 2024A proposal to close 14 local North Island papers has prompted warnings of overseas-style 'news deserts' springing up here.
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'You don't know what you've lost until it's not there' - Proposal to close community papers will gut local news
17 Nov 2024Mediawatch - The closure of 14 local papers in the North Island could see the end of a century-long history.
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Journalist barred from accountability event for holding people accountable
17 Nov 2024Mediawatch - An award-winning journalist dedicated to reporting abuse in state care was briefly banned from the official apology. Why? And what did he make of it?
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Mediawatch for Sunday 17th November 2024
17 Nov 2024Why was an award-winning journalist dedicated to reporting abuse in state care briefly banned from the official apology for that this week? Also - NZME plans to close 14 local North Island papers…
Audio
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