A new era for public braodcasting - or just more of the same?; fighting back against fake news and political trolling in the Philippines.

$15 million of fresh funding for public broadcasting will be split between RNZ, New Zealand on Air and a new fund targeting "under-served audiences." It's the biggest single boost for public broadcasting for a decade, but will it make a big difference?

Having banned Winston Peters from the show for six weeks for allegedly being late to an interview AM Show host Duncan Garner got in huff when the acting prime minister failed to take him up on an offer to lift the ban earlier this week. Mediawatch takes a look at the banning and the backfire.

Several states now have laws targeting fake news and more are thinking about it. But should governments be responsible for the pushing back against deliberate disinformation online? Should the news media or social media play a bigger role - or none of the above? Mediawatch reports from Singapore where the government is debating whether to outlaw fake news.

The New Zealand Herald has revealed that subsidising movies made in New Zealand has skyrocketed in spite of little agreement about whether it pays off. Showcasing New Zealand is one of the goals too but some TV shows have contrived Kiwi content to secure financial help - and one currently on air gets a break even though it showcases Fiji.

Peters ban backfires; alarm over fake news clampdowns; shining a light on our movie money.

If, as C P Scott said, facts are sacred, then Figure.NZ is a virtual cathedral of statistics. Now in its fifth year of existence the site is home to 44,000 graphs and charts. Mediawatch's Jeremy Rose talks to Figure.NZ CEO Lillian Grace.

New Zealanders are drowning in comment. Auckland University staff alone wrote 220 comment pieces for general audiences in 2017. Think tanks and sector groups churn them out op-eds, and many others do too. But do they change minds? Mediawatch's Jeremy Rose investigates.

Last week opposition leader Simon Bridges joked that nothing he said during a Radio Hauraki interview mattered because there was going to be a "news vacuum" following the birth of the Prime Minister's daughter. He couldn't have been more wrong, as Mediawatch's Jeremy Rose reports.

This week: Mediawatch asks if comment is free who's paying the bill? Talks to the CEO of a company dedicated to the facts and nothing but the facts. And looks at how a jokey interviewlanded the leader of the opposition in political hot water.