Vision
Our Vision: a Media Environment in NZ that is safe for all:
free of gratuitous sex, violence, and offensive language.
So parents can trust what their children see.
Newsletter - Spring 2022
By John Terris
Oct 2022
AOTEAROA PUBLIC MEDIA BILL
From the large sums being thrown around in the debate over the Aotearoa Public Media Bill merging TVNZ and RNZ, it might appear that Public Media would best serve taxpayers by self-destructing.
Newsletter - Winter 2022
By John Terris
May 2022
THE GRUMPY OLD BLOKE RATES NEWREADERS
Radio NZ is blest with a whole host of mainly woman newsreaders. Their honed vowels and honeyed tones freight the news to us without a hint of dramedy, as befits a recitation of what is supposed to be the facts. Their names are as melodious as their voice - Catriona Mcleod, Anna Thomas, Evie Ashton and Marama Tipoli. Balm for the troubled soul.
Editorial - April 2022
By John Terris
April 2022
RE PUBLIC MEDIA
Our P.M. and her intended, Clarke Gayford, are set to Tie the Knot soon and we cannot but wish them well. A certain amount of begetting (to borrow an Old Testament word) has already been going on, and is named “Neve”, a strong single syllable word, which somehow signals satisfaction all round.
Newsletter - Autumn 2022
By John Terris
April 2022
DEPRIVATIZING THE MEDIA
It’s interesting that media and politicians are the two institutions singled out for particular vilification by the parliamentary protesters. These are the two most obvious targets likely to be singled out by the disaffected in any society under stress, as ours has been through the pandemic.
Newsletter - Summer 2022
By John Terris
January 2022
THE INVISIBLE INVASION
I’m not one of those people addicted to prophesies of armageddon on the internet, but what has been going on over the last 10 years with global media mega companies like Google and Facebook, can be likened to the activities centuries ago of those countries of Europe, including the British empire, who colonised vast swathes of the rest of the world. In both cases national governments turned an indifferent eye while the likes of the British East India Company, and the New Zealand Company took licence to exploit the rights of others to their living space, and exploited it for private profit.
Newsletter - Spring 2021
By John Terris
October 2021
POST OF PANDEMIC PANIC
This page 1 headline in today’s paper would have you believe that Wellington Children’s Hospital may be sacrificed to accommodate Covid patients (as in “may go for Covid”).
Read the body of the text and it’s a quite different story, with the Chief Medical Officer saying, "At the moment, with our modelling, we can manage with one of our wards”.
Newsletter - Winter 2021
By John Terris
June 2021
WHO MONITORS THE MONITORS?
One of the top issues of the day is the future of the All Blacks funding streams and the Players Association and former All Blacks like David Kirk, have made the timely suggestion that a part of the shareholding should be allocated to the NZ public.
What a great idea, that the public have a stake in the AB’s and should be represented.
Newsletter - Autumn 2021
By John Terris
March 2021
BREAK OUT THE CHAMPAGNE!!!
It’s been a Long Time Coming (Like about 30 Years in Parliamentary time, and 4 in this government’s life).
Wednesday 21 March last (the same day as the Prime Minster and the Minister of Finance of Finance announced similarly rather long delayed changes to Tax and benefit payments and simultaneously derailed the Gravy Train being stoked by property developers at the expense of first home owners) the Minister of Broadcasting the Hon Kris Faafoi unveiled his plans for the reform of Broadcasting Governance in NZ, which in this writer’s view, may have as far reaching implications as capital gains tax reform, for the wellbeing of the people of this country.
Newsletter - March 2021
By John Terris
March 2021
RECENTLY A SIGNIFICANT SLICE OF NZ NEWS MEDIA, who are dependent on advertising for survival, demonstrated that they know which side their bread is buttered on, by piling into the Government for mildly calling out members of a vulnerable family in Auckland, who went on a shopping spree, ignoring the instruction to isolate, after testing positive for the deadly COVID. Our media claimed that naming and shaming these folks by Ardern, was inconsistent with her mantra to “Be Kind”.
Newsletter - December 2020
By John Terris
December 2020
TELEVISION PLAYS A BIG PART IN ALL OUR LIVES.
YET HOW MUCH ATTENTION DO ITS PURVEYORS GIVE TO THE VIEWS AND OPINIONS OF ITS CONSUMERS?
After 27 years of advocacy for a better say in the way things are run in a service using a resource which we the public own (that is the tv spectrum,) our conclusion IS ZERO, NADA AND ZILCH.
WE HAVE A RIGHT TO, AND INDEED DEMAND, AS CONSUMER REPRESENTATIVES, A PLACE AT THE TABLE WHERE DECISIONS ARE BEING DISCUSSED AND MADE ABOUT THE FUTURE OF TELEVISION BROADCASTING, AT A TIME WHEN UPHEAVAL AND CHANGE ARE THE ONLY CONSTANT.
