Salient asked: “Is the New Zealand media fair and balanced in its political reporting?” The hacks respond…
Vic Nats – Rajnesh Singh
There is no such thing as a fair and balanced media in New Zealand. Like all organisations there is a mixture of left and right opinions but quite often, more one than the other. In the case of NZ media, it is often the case that we see a lean towards the left. But at the end of the day, someone has to take on the role of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition.
NZ First – Curwen Ares Rolinson
Well, it’s better than Fox, which devotes itself to deliberately distorting reality and rewriting history for political gain. Ours seems to accomplish much the same thing without anything like the same degree of intent or co- ordination evident at just about any level of the journalistic process. While we have produced quality independent journalists like Gordon Campbell and the late Bruce Jesson; our largely foreign owned political media is excessively prone to favouritism and sensationalism.
Vic Labour – Reed Fleming
Ensuring fair, balanced broadcasting is difficult in a sphere dominated by private media outlets. One way to ensure New Zealanders can access free, balanced reporting is through public broadcasting. TVNZ7 is to stop broadcasting at the end June, bringing to an end a range of shows including the popular Backbenches and The Court Report. Labour is committed to fair, balanced, free public broadcasting as part of healthy democracy.
Greens@Vic – Harriet Farquhar
On the whole, New Zealand has a media which presents balanced and fair political reporting. Significant reform is still needed however, of a system in which, the majority of our media is under foreign ownership, there is a near duopoly of print and radio, only three significant competitors in free-to-air television, and an increasingly centralised process of news-gathering and reporting. These are all factors which threaten our access to balanced reporting, and must be addressed.
Act On Campus – Michael Warren
New Zealand has a large variety of great reporters and journalists. However, some are misleading and have been known to tweak facts to get a more eruptive story. Journalists must conduct their work around accuracy and fairness.