The death throes of traditional media

The New Zealand news last week was filled with the shocking story of the departure of news presenter Hilary Barry from the TV3 network. Actually it is not shocking at all but to see and listen to the media coverage, you would think it is the greatest story here since the earthquake that devastated Christchurch or maybe even since New Zealand's entry into World War 2. 

One of the worst characteristics of the mainstream media both here and overseas is their obsession with themselves. Personally I don't find the comings and goings of TV news presenters to be of any great moment and can't imagine that Hilary Barry changing jobs means much to anyone other than her immediate family, but there is a far more interesting story about the media that is going largely unremarked upon. That story is signalled by this lesser-heralded news report that TV3 owner MediaWorks is to close down sister channel TV4 and replace it with an all-reality TV channel to be called Bravo.

Variety magazine reports that the top four television series watched by the key 18-24 demographic in America during the important fall season were Netflix shows. The New Zealand equivalent ratings are not published (to my knowledge) but I imagine they show a similar picture. This confirms anecdotal evidence that broadcast television is in steep decline and the replacement of TV4 with a reality channel is surely evidence of a ratings-driven rush to the bottom in terms of quality that has more than a hint of desperation about it.

There is a similar decline in newspaper sales. The Wellington daily, The Dominion Post, declined nearly 14% in the last year alone and all the other major dailies showed sales falls. This is hardly surprising given the quality of those newspapers, particularly the appalling DomPost. The lower the circulation or ratings, the more desperate the response of the media outlet to try and save itself. Like a man drowning in quicksand, the flailing attempts at self-preservation just hurry the demise.

I think the decline of the mainstream media, in fairness, is not entirely self-inflicted. Popular culture is so shallow and evanescent that those trying to predict and cater to the public's tastes must have an almost impossible job. Prurient interest in the petty problems of other human beings, the staple of reality TV, seems to be the only bankable fashion for mass media these days. Those who are prepared to pay more - the subscribers of Netflix and the like - can still get a level of quality programming but the rest of the population are served dross, which they gratefully lap up like starved dogs.

The mainstream media are fond of decrying increased inequality in our society (real or imagined) but their own industry is developing into a two-tiered world where the walls to get into the premium section are getting higher while the standard of the economy section falls further and further. Ultimately we get exactly what we pay for.

New Zealand's Mendacious Media

I have blogged before about the state of New Zealand's news media but several recent examples of the depths to which they plunge have prompted me to blog on the subject again:

1) The Wellington daily The Dominion Post opened its coverage of the election campaign by asking the party leaders what they would do if they found themselves caught short without a clean pair of underpants. Another media outlet asked which of the candidates voters would rather sleep with. They consider this appropriate coverage of a parliamentary campaign at a time when New Zealand faces some its biggest challenges - a deteriorating world economic situation, a burgeoning government spending deficit and a country struggling to recover from its biggest natural disaster in decades.

2) The Auckland Sunday paper, The Herald on Sunday, has been caught illegally taping a private meeting between the Prime Minister and a leading candidate of one of the other political parties. The Prime Minister has referred the matter to the police.

3) The Dominion Post (again!) runs on its front page a banner headline (in the sort of typeface that used to announce war being declared or man landing on the moon) announcing the drunken antics in a foreign bar of a prominent New Zealand sportsperson. I was in the country concerned at the time and the incident occasioned no comment in the local press there, so obviously it wasn't particularly serious.

I was discussing these incidents with a business colleague of mine and he told me the story of his niece, a bright young woman who was studying journalism at one of this country's universities. This young woman has decided to drop out after nearly two years of the course. Was it because she wasn't getting good marks? Was it because she couldn't cope with the workload? Or perhaps it was because she decided she didn't want to be a journalist after all?

It was none of the above. The reason she dropped out was ethical - that is, the unethical behaviour being taught and encouraged by the journalism lecturers. She was taught that any means justified the ends of a scandalous story and the advancement of the (left wing) political agenda that the lecturers supported. She had expected to learn that journalism was a noble calling to uphold the truth and to act responsibly but she was disillusioned to discover that precisely the opposite was being taught.

This is why I no longer subscribe to a daily newspaper or watch television news or listen to radio news in this country. They are almost without exception a bunch of mendacious scumbags. If you agree with my assessment, I urge you to cancel your newspaper subscription and vote on the broadcast media with your remote control. You can get all the news that matters on the Internet - news that is more timely, accurate and balanced than anything that comes out of New Zealand's mainstream media propagandists.

The Income Divide Between "Bosses" and "Workers"

In this Saturday's The Dominion Post newspaper there was a front page article and a full-page inside article highlighting the fact that the "boss" of Telecom New Zealand receives 50 times the salary of a Telecom "worker" (as if chief executives aren't workers).

Usually I don't read The Dominion Post, despite it being the major daily newspaper for my city, Wellington. This is because over the years it has developed an overwhelmingly left-wing, statist editorial stance that permeates almost every article in it. If I want politically neutral reporting on important news and issues, I have to go elsewhere. But I made an exception this weekend and, as usual, was appalled by the lack of journalist integrity and, frankly, the stupidity of these articles on the income divide.

Firstly, the articles relied on a few superficial examples of chief executive pay packets rather than including any detailed analysis of relative income changes across the employment market over time.

Secondly, they didn't include any comparative international analysis of New Zealand incomes. On an international basis, our chief executives are comparatively lowly paid whereas our "workers" are comparatively well paid for the same jobs. It is the latter comparison that is most salient because New Zealanders compete in the international market for their jobs and incomes.

The purpose of The Dominion Post's campaign (and it is obvious it was a political campaign) was to support the calls from the Council of Trade Unions and others for further increases in the minimum wage. But such a call isn't justified by comparing "workers" incomes with chief executives. It is only justified if we can show that New Zealand workers are more productive (i.e. add greater value to the products and services they are producing) than competing international workers. Pushing up New Zealand workers incomes without a corresponding increase in value produced will only push jobs offshore.

The lack of a more intelligent analysis of this issue highlights the poor standard of journalism at The Domnion Post but is, unfortunately, par for the course for the New Zealand media.