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# Would You Trust a Government-Funded Journalist?
- URL: https://goodoil.news/would-you-trust-a-government-funded-journalist/
- Published: 2021-09-25T21:30:00.000Z
- Updated: 2021-09-25T01:54:54.000Z
- Author: General
- Tags: Media, NZ, NZ Politics, Politics, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2024-07-17 01:31

**Louis Houlbrooke**  
New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union

NZ on Air has announced grants for [110 new taxpayer-funded journalists](https://www.taxpayers.org.nz/r?u=EFiK0aFtPJXK%5FFD0cy8kt4%5FEKtwqypEZcGxc%5FcC1x0f26QkifI1JkJZKCQ%5FbKD9PZptRNPBqxIrQr66K5FbZ1vTFXLdLDfS1y7xkbbtjvNH8fqDsahRh7bpSlUxhSaZHQg8wZ3eSHTTHuAoNkb035w&e=49710f2ff20e06d914c44f29a2aa4cd6&utm%5Fsource=taxpayers&utm%5Fmedium=email&utm%5Fcampaign=210924%5Ftu%5Fnwsltr%5Flouis&n=20).

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.](https://goodoil.news/the-double-edged-sword-of-the-55m-government-journalism-fund-cuts-deep/)**

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…