Skip to content
Sign In Subscribe
Media — NZ — NZ Politics — Politics

Would You Trust a Government-Funded Journalist?

,   and  General
1 min read
selective focus photography of people sitting on chairs while writing on notebooks
Photo by The Climate Reality Project. The BFD.

Table of Contents

Louis Houlbrooke
New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union

NZ on Air has announced grants for 110 new taxpayer-funded journalists.

For example, The Spinoff gets $427,800 of taxpayer money for two new journalists for two years. Stuff gets an incredible 20 new journalists, costing taxpayers $2.8 million!

At what point does the “Public Interest Journalism” fund begin to undermine the media’s independence? Will articles written by these journalists include disclaimer statements?

If you’re worried about the independence of our media, I strongly recommend you read this eye-opening piece by Graham Adams.

Mr Adams is a highly experienced journalist, and he released this article free for syndication – but no media outlets apart from The BFD were interested in publishing it! I wonder why…

Related

Latest

The Good Oil Daily Opinion Poll
Polls

The Good Oil Daily Opinion Poll

Take our Daily Opinion Poll and see how your views compare to other readers and then share the poll on social media. By sharing the poll you will help even more readers to discover The Good Oil.

,   and  Sally
Members Public
Damned if We Do... Or Don’t111
General

Damned if We Do... Or Don’t111

Some men have learned. They have done the work of unlearning the old rules: man up, harden up, don’t be soft. But some men are still learning. Not because they don’t feel deeply, but because they were taught to lock it down, praised for being tough and rewarded for being silent.

,   and  Reproduced with permission
Members Public