An air of "hideous inevitability" preceded the loss of Newshub, a veteran editor says as he laments the loss of a "punchy" and "sometimes raw and ready" journalistic voice.
Newshub-owner Warner Bros. Discovery announced a major downsizing of its New Zealand operations earlier this week, including shuttering its newsroom.
After 34 years on air, the closure would cull hundreds of staff and likely leave television viewers with only one choice for local news — Government-owned TVNZ.
Veteran journalist and former media executive Peter Bale told Q+A the move wasn't a surprise in the context of a multinational media conglomerate.
"There's a hideous inevitability about it. I don't think that Warner Brothers Discovery cares about the New Zealand market, and it most certainly doesn't care about the news market in New Zealand. It has enormous implications, of course," he said.
"Poland is the only country, as far as I know, where Warner Brothers Discovery has any news operation, other than CNN.
"I think it was an inevitability, but that doesn't mean that the loss of Newshub isn't important — not just to journalists, because we can be a bit kind of self-regarding about this — but it is important about the diversity of New Zealand media, and also the advertising market."
Bale currently works with the International News Media Association. Before returning to New Zealand, he worked as an editor with Reuters, CNN and the Times of London.
He added: "The loss of these voices really damages, potentially, the democratic fabric of New Zealand, as well as the media fabric."
Earlier this week, Warner Bros. Discovery said it would no longer produce news in-house but has not publicly said what would fill Newshub's time slots, or whether it would continue commissioning any type of news programming.
As reporter Simon Mercep explains it encountered financial challenges right from the get-go. (Source: 1News)
Bale said: "Newshub was punchy. It was a little bit raw and ready sometimes and had a different voice, and that's a great pity that it's not going to be there, or appears not going to be there."
Asked if it was a "canary in the coal mine" for the media industry, Bale said: "It's a bit more than a canary, actually. It's slightly more ill than that. It's a bigger loss than a canary."
He added: "If I were Warner and I wanted to resurrect some public faith in this, I might consider ways of deploying the CNN brand here.
"They have a number of joint ventures in countries around the world — the Czech Republic, for example, Greece. You could do something with that, and I think that would be really interesting, but I doubt that that's where they're thinking at the moment."
Warner Bros. Discovery, the American owners of TV3, are proposing to close the news division at the end of June. (Source: 1News)
Warner Bros. Discovery's proposal suggested that Newshub would close by the end of the financial year, June 30, and that final decisions would be announced over the coming weeks as consultation on the cutbacks continues.
News bargaining bill moves through Parliament
Speaking on Q+A, Bale was also asked about his thoughts on the Fair News Digital Bargaining Bill, which was currently moving through Parliament.
The legislation was initiated by the previous Labour government, but has, so far, received a lukewarm reception from new broadcasting minister Melissa Lee.
Just weeks before the announcement of Newshub's shuttering, MPs were warned by submitters — in select committee for the bill — that some news publishers were "clinging on by their fingernails" and that the media was in "grave peril".
If made law, it would force the tech companies to the bargaining table or be penalised. (Source: 1News)
If enacted, the bill would bolster the news publishing industry by striking payment deals with Google and Facebook.
Bale said the tech giants dominated the digital advertising industry, and it could make sense to tax them more heavily.
"Facebook and Google and the platforms do dominate digital advertising. There is a taxation aspect of there. If you could come up with some kind of digital advertising tax that was perhaps funnelling some money from that tax take towards, say, NZ On Air."
However, he disagreed with the notion that news providers provided more commercial value to companies such as Facebook than vice versa.
"The idea of a link tax or that Facebook and Google somehow owe the news business a living, it's unpopular with many of my colleagues, and it's certainly unpopular with people I've worked with here," the former media executive said.
"I'm not sure that they do owe the news business a living. They have delivered billions of dollars of value towards the news business over the years."
In support of the legislation, media companies have argued that overseas tech giants have used locally produced news to enrich their websites without compensating them.
News Publishers Association chairperson and Stuff owner Sinead Boucher told MPs last month: "Journalism is in a fight for its life against the most powerful and profitable companies that have ever existed."
But Facebook says it doesn’t steal or scrape content for its platforms. (Source: 1News)
Tech giants say the argument overestimates the economic value of news organisations produce. Similar bills have been passed in Australia and Canada.
In the past several days, Facebook owner Meta has said it will refuse to renew its deals striked with news publishers across the ditch.
TVNZ, which publishes 1News.co.nz, has previously submitted in support of the legislation's objectives.
Q+A with Jack Tame is made with the support of New Zealand on Air
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