Hi Friend,

It's been an awful few weeks for our friends in the media. Make no mistake, no one likes seeing people lose their jobs and livelihoods and we all have sympathy for those affected. Newshub's imminent closure is clearly a result of fewer New Zealanders tuning in to the traditional 6 o'clock news, and advertisers following the eyeballs going elsewhere.

The reason I'm emailing today though is some news that hit my inbox late afternoon yesterday: we hear from a very reliable source in Wellington that Government Ministers are looking at options to bailout Newshub and/or provide a permanent subsidy to media companies.

This would be over and above the taxpayers funding/subsidies to TVNZ, Māori TV, and Radio NZ.

Is Melissa Lee about to cave on permanent funding of private news media? 📺

Government taxpayer funding of media through Covid (and beyond) has been a key driver of the crashing public trust in media. Figures out only this week show that New Zealanders who say they "trust" the media is down a whopping 20 percentage points since 2020.

We say giving in to those calling on the Government to throw Newshub a lifeline would be a mistake.

Even if funding didn't have the sort of fishhooks attached to Jacinda Ardern's "public interest journalist fund" (remember how media had to promote the Treaty partnership world-view?) do you trust a propped up media to deliver balanced journalism or at least ensure a diversity of viewpoints are presented?

With Labour's former Broadcasting Minister Willie Jackson on her tail, we need to ensure Melissa Lee holds firm and not give in to those who are trying to chase her for a bailout.

That's why I am asking for two minutes of your time today to drop Melissa Lee a line and ask her to rule out any form of taxpayer-funding or law/regulation designed to subsidise private media (directly or indirectly).

What the media won't tell you: New Zealanders don't want the media bailed out 🙅‍♂️

Friend, since we learned the news about Newshub's possible closure, we've been a bit worried a bailout might be on the table. That's why, as part of this month's Taxpayers' Union – Curia Poll we asked voters whether they supported taxpayers' money being used for bail outs of private media companies. For a political poll, the results are very clear:

Looking at the polling paints a very clear picture of where New Zealanders are at, but the Minister needs to hear it from you directly.

Polling numbers are easy to ignore when the Minister is being hounded by journalists to 'do something' every time she leaves her office. We need the Government to get the message that the complaints from journalists and media bosses are not reflective of the views of voters.

Interestingly, the poll showed that the only demographic who support a bailout is Labour voters! Of course, we wouldn't like speculate on why that might be...

In the coming weeks, the Taxpayers' Union will have more to say about how the Government could improve New Zealand's media landscape. Requiring the boards of the state broadcasters to objectively demonstrate that their newsrooms and reporting broadly reflect New Zealanders' political and world views would be a good start. But, even with those safeguards, piling more taxpayer money into media won't build trust. In fact, it will likely make the problem even worse.

Relying on the media to fairly report on their own closures is a bit like asking a someone to be the judge in their own trial – you're never going to get a balanced hearing. We need you voice to help provide that balance for those in the Government weighing up what to do.

>> Tell Melissa Lee not to repeat Labour's media bailouts <<

Thank you for your support.

Jordan Williams Executive Director New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union

ps. Unlike so many in the media, the Taxpayers' Union is 100% funded by private membership subscriptions and donations. Thank you to the thousands of financial supporters who make the work of the Taxpayers' Union possible.