Newshub and TVNZ are only the most visible examples of the polycrisis impacting New Zealand’s media. Duncan Greive set out to diagnose the problem, and maybe figure out some cures, by asking media CEOs a couple of big questions.
This is an introduction to Above the Fold: a Media Meltdown Special, a five-part series running all this week and featuring a selection of responses to two heady questions confronting the New Zealand media sector.
It’s hard to remember now, but for a couple of years there, the media in Aotearoa was running hot. We were part of an all-time global high for scripted TV shows. The government pumped $100m in Covid-related communications largely onto TV, print and radio, making a major contribution to an unexpectedly buoyant advertising market. There were new rebates for people making games, and expanded criteria for those making films and series. The lockdown economy, flush with printed money and near-zero interest rates, had made investment in projects easier to procure.
