We hope this latest edition of One Plus One Equals Three finds you safe and well, with New Zealand back in Level 4 lockdown. Read on for a snackable summary of interesting things that have happened in and around our industry over the last month or so.
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If there’s one thing Facebook’s good for, it’s reaching the masses. So, you might say its recent launch of new partnerships with religious groups is quite fitting – but it’s also seen the platform become more intertwined in our social, and spiritual, lives than ever before. Along with the introduction of a ‘Request Prayer’ tool as part of its Group page functionality, Facebook has made headlines by partnering extensively with the new Atlanta branch of megachurch Hillsong to help further their reach via the platform’s tools, including live-streaming. Other events such as its recent Virtual Faith Summit, led by its Faith Partnerships team, make it clear this is a core growth market for the platform. It’s apparent that COVID-19 has forced religious groups to explore virtual ways to engage with their communities – but as Facebook scrambles to repair its reputation, is this yet another invasion of privacy, or a thoughtful way to connect communities online?
One of NZ’s richest ex-pats gets behind the new ‘Fox News’ of Britain
Christopher Chandler, one of New Zealand’s richest ex-pats (with a fortune in the billions) is throwing his support behind GB News – a new media business that many have dubbed the ‘Fox News’ of Britain. The investment comes courtesy of his private investment firm, Legatum, in the hope that GB News will promote freedom of speech and bring ‘more choice and plurality to the UK media landscape’. The channel is set to put ‘cancel culture’ in its place, with veteran journalist and Chair Andrew Neil, hosting a regular segment called ‘Woke Watch’. Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage has been enlisted to boost ratings, and Piers Morgan (who controversially left Good Morning Britain earlier this year) is also being courted to join the start-up. Time will tell if their ‘culture crusade’ resonates with British viewers, but with $60 million in funding, they have a three-year window to get things right (excuse the pun).
Networks band together to improve Māori and Pasifika representation
Despite a growing awareness of the importance of diversity – fuelled, in part, by widespread reporting on the topic – many suggest there’s still a critical shortage of Māori, Pacific and other under-represented voices in the journalism industry. That’s why NZME, Māori Television, Pacific Media Network and Newshub-Discovery have collaboratively launched Te Rito – an initiative designed to equip 25 new journalism cadets with valuable skills across digital, audio, radio, video, television and print journalism. Backed by a $2.4m grant from NZ On Air’s Public Interest Journalism Fund, it’s being positioned as an opportunity to amplify previously unheard voices and inject Te Reo into newsrooms across the country. Over the course of the year, these trainees will expand their toolkit while, “weaving aspects of their culture into their work [which] will result in stories that are rich and multi-layered,” says NZME Head of Cultural Partnerships, Lois Turei.
A behind-the-scenes glimpse into the newsroom
One Stuff reader recently asked, ‘how does Stuff choose what items they feature?’. In response, the general news and entertainment site has offered up a behind-the-scenes summary of their newsroom decision-making process. Stuff claim that one of the most important factors is (unsurprisingly) whether it’s something of interest to the public – often including news of justice, democracy and national wellbeing e.g. Covid-19. Immediacy is another important determinant of newsworthiness, because breaking news has and always will be the ‘bread and butter’ of the media world. However, news is notoriously tricky to define, with Stuff also acknowledging that ‘in one sense, it’s like art – you know it when you see it’.
Housing minister under fire for a ‘clerical error’ with sponsored media stories
Housing minister Megan Woods’ office has come under fire for falsely stating the Government wasn’t sponsoring media stories on NZME’s OneRoof real estate website. The incident, which the office labelled as a ‘clerical error’, involves Government housing developer Kāinga Ora paying $25,000 per month for 64 media stories on the OneRoof site. Until Stuff approached both NZME and the KiwiBuild developer for comment, there was disclaimer included in the stories to illustrate they were sponsored. Woods initially denied a commercial relationship between Kāinga Ora and NZME, but further investigation revealed a contractual agreement worth $475,000. Clearly this poses a serious reputational issue for Kāinga Ora and puts the integrity of the Government into question when it comes to media relationships.
Empty promises from Google to pay out local news outlet
There’s no doubt we’re in the midst of a digital revolution, with online platforms rapidly overtaking traditional media in terms of audience reach – and in 2020, 50% of New Zealand’s advertising spend went towards digital media. Earlier this year, Google made promises that it would start to pay for the local news content its hoovered up and benefited from for years, but several months later, nothing’s eventuated. Broadcasting and Media Minister, Kris Faafoi has been slowly nudging issue along, but as Google continues to repurpose content for free, our domestic media are left struggling to survive while bearing the cost of labour. Recent efforts in France, which saw the search behemoth slapped with a 500 million Euro fine to no avail, are less than encouraging. With the announcement that the tech giant would pay $1billion to news publishers, including those in NZ, there may be a positive result to this ordeal, but it seems like the industry isn’t holding its breath.
