The former broadcasting minister has blasted the Government’s response to the shock news of Newshub’s closure yesterday – saying inaction around media policy is partly to blame.
Staff at the organisation were asked to drop what they were doing yesterday morning and attend a meeting – where they learned of the proposal to close at the end of June.
Warner Bros. Discovery, which runs both Three and Newshub, blamed a lack of advertising revenue for the decision.
Yesterday, Minister for Media and Communications Melissa Lee said it would be a "huge shock" for the Newshub family.
She said that Warner Bros. Discovery hadn't sought financial support.
"There was some discussion about possible relief from Kordia fees, but Warner Brothers have indicated to us that that would not have made a difference."
Speaking to Breakfast this morning, Willie Jackson slammed Lee and the Government.
“I didn’t hear much support yesterday,” he said.
"Maybe if they were tobacco lobbyists or gun lobbyists, it might have been different."
He said the Government’s policy around media was “disgraceful” and accused it of failing to act before it was too late.
“Ask them what the media plan is. [What]The broadcasting plan is over the next 100 days? There is no media plan.
"They’ll say to you ‘the market rules’. The market is broke."
Jackson said it was important that the Fair Digital Bargaining Bill was passed, so that media organisations were compensated when companies such as Google and Facebook used their content.
“I urge National to show some some compassion here.
“Obviously, investing and bailing them out is probably too far – you can’t bail $20 billion companies out. But you can still put a circle of support around them,” he said.
Yesterday, Lee said Warner Bros. Discovery NZ boss Glen Kyne told her the bill wouldn’t have made a “single bit of difference” in Newshub’s case.
Lee said that one thing needed to be made clear, that Warner Bros. Discovery never reached out for financial assistance.
"I feel for the journalists who are actually affected, there is some close to 300 staff members who are actually involved going through the consultation process."
Plurality is not an issue as there is changing behaviour of media consumers, said Lee.
"I think media have actually changed the way they produce news as well, it's no longer just broadcast."
1News has approached Lee for a response to Jackson’s comments.
Throwing the off-switch on a major newsroom has wide ramifications for New Zealand. (Source: Breakfast)
Meanwhile, Spinoff founder Duncan Grieve said the Media and Communications Minister “won’t be completely blind to the realities”.
But he said Lee, as a former journalist, hadn’t been in the industry for a while and might not have known how bad things had become.
"If you haven’t worked in the media lately, you just don’t know how different it is from the reality you might have experienced 10 or 15 years ago."
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