Over on Kiwiblog Dave Farrar reports on an interesting idea from the redoubtable Herald columnist Fran O’Sullivan who talked at a recent Rural Women NZ conference about expanding NZ On Air funding to cover all media, not just broadcasting.

Fran has a good point. Why should what is effectively a government subsidy to ensure there will remain a New Zealand voice in the media be reserved solely for radio and television?

She argues that NZ On Air (or NZ On Media) funding should be made available to worthy local content whether it is broadcast, in print or on the internet.

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Bill Ralston blogs:

I mercifully missed the Qantas Awards but I understand TVNZ news swept almost all the telly journalism awards.

That, in itself, is a little odd because I find the standard of reporting and the stories run on 3News at least the match of TV ONE and I probably watch at least as much of 3 News as ONE’s.

Something annoys me about ONE news. It’s not the presenters, they’re fine. The set is good, the titles fine, the music OK. The reporters, by and large, are fine.

Then I began thinking about it. Actually, the content of the stories on TV ONE is not the problem. It is the packaging.

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