The government is beefing up RNZ's budget after scrapping the new public media entity it planned over four years. But what's the 'broadcasting strategy for all New Zealanders' the minister says he's putting together? And what's the plan for state-owned TVNZ?

The government is beefing up RNZ's budget after scrapping the new public media entity it planned over four years. But what's the 'broadcasting strategy for all New Zealanders' the minister says he's putting together? And what's the plan for state-owned TVNZ?

When Broadcasting Minister Willie Jackson was doorstopped by reporters in Parliament earlier this month, he said he would soon announce a "broadcasting strategy for all New Zealanders".

The centrepiece of the previous one since 2019 dissolved in March when the prime minister scrapped the public media entity (Aotearoa New Zealand Public Media) to replace RNZ and TVNZ.

On 6 April, Jackson announced a $25 million boost of RNZ's annual budget for the next four years, with a one-off boost of $10m for NZ on Air thrown in as well.

Effectively, this was a pre-Budget announcement on media funding - but not a strategy.

In Parliament that day, Jackson made plain just how much still needs to be done late in Labour's second term.

"A clear way to strengthen public media in Aotearoa is for TVNZ to play a more active broadcasting role. We've made a significant investment in terms of Māori broadcasting. The ANZPM Bill included a new charter designed for a modern fit-for-purpose national public media entity. We'll use that good work to update and strengthen our RNZ charter. And my officials are looking to modernise our outdated Broadcasting Act legislation that the useless National Party put in place," he told Parliament.

Some of those reforms could have been completed by now but were stalled by the ANZPM plan, which has now been dumped.

TVNZ Charter 2.0?

Jackson had earlier said TVNZ's role would be reconsidered and new TVNZ board appointments would be made soon.

"We're exploring ways TVNZ can play a more active 'public broadcaster' role and ... maybe looking at a charter or strengthening and monitoring their reporting requirements," Jackson told RNZ.

The TVNZ Charter was introduced by Labour in 2002 along with a modest level of funding for programming. Less than 10 years later, it was scrapped by a subsequent National-led government. …

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