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The Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA) will be scrapped in favour of having the media self-regulate, the media and communications minister has confirmed.
Paul Goldsmith says New Zealand’s media landscape has changed dramatically but “regulatory settings have not kept up” and the current framework can create inconsistencies and “unfair outcomes”.
“If you’ve got a panel discussion on a podcast that’s on demand, that’s not covered, but if you’ve got a panel discussion on RNZ, it does, and there’s no sort of logic for that,” he told Midday Report.
“And so, you know, we could try and extend the brief of BSA far into sort of social media, or we could say, well, actually, why don’t we just rely on the self-regulation that works fine for print journalism and set the sector free.”
The BSA told RNZ in a statement it has said for more than 15 years the current Broadcasting Act “is no longer fit for purpose”.
“Our primary interest has been to ensure the public continue to have access to accurate, reliable media content, and a regulator they can turn to if they think public standards are breached,” its chief executive said.
Wednesday’s announcement came after the BSA faced backlash from government ministers following a decision to begin regulating podcasts and online media.
A complaint sent by the BSA to the Platform was published on the online platform’s website, outlining concerns raised about allegedly “unacceptable racist comments”.
The letter from the BSA stated it “has found it has jurisdiction” to consider a complaint about the Platform’s live talkback programme on the basis the transmission of the programme met the definition of ‘broadcasting’ in the act.
RNZ
