JMAD Media Ownership Report
JMAD New Zealand Media Ownership Report 2014 Published: 2014 December 5 Author: Merja Myllylahti This New Zealand Ownership Report 2014 is the fourth published by AUT’s Centre for Journalism, Media and Democracy (JMAD). The report finds that the New Zealand media market has failed to produce new, innovative media outlets, and that all the efforts to establish non-profit outlets have proved unsustainable. The report confirms the general findings of previous reports that New Zealand media space has remained highly commercial. It also confirms the financialisation of media ownership in the form of banks and fund managers. The report also observes that in 2014 convergence between New Zealand mass media and the communications sector generally was in full swing. Companies, such as Spark (former Telecom NZ), started to compete head-to-head with the traditional broadcasters on the online on-demand video and television markets. The American online video subscription service Netflix is entering the NZ market in March 2015. Additionally, the report notes evidence of uncomfortable alliances between citizen media, politicians, PR companies and legacy media. As Nicky Hager’s Dirty Politics book revealed, the National Party and PR practitioners used the Whale Oil blog to drive their own agendas. Also, events related to Maori TV, TVNZ and Scoop raise questions about political interference in media affairs. It is now evident that the boundaries between mainstream media, bloggers, public relations practitioners and politicians are blurring. Key events and trends concerning New Zealand media Financialisation of mass media ownership confirmed Substantial changes in Fairfax, APN and MediaWorks ownership Competition heats up in online television and video markets Turbulence at Maori TV Blurred lines among politicians, bloggers, journalists and PR practitioners The JMAD New Zealand media ownership reports are available here: http://www.aut.ac.nz/study- at-aut/study-areas/communications/media-networks/journalism,-media-and-democracy-research- centre/journalists-and-projects 1 1.
[Show full text]