Information on NZ gov + PR, media and influencers

Jai Ganesh made this Official Information request to Department of Internal Affairs

Department of Internal Affairs did not have the information requested.

From: Jai Ganesh

Dear Department of Internal Affairs,

Could you please provide the following information.
It largely relates to how the government is spending money, and its actions in relation to public relations and information handling - which should be transparent processes.

1. Re: Press support employed by the office of the Prime Minister
and Cabinet

i. How many full time people or agencies have been employed by the NZ
government to liaise with the press or deal with the press in any
way (either social media or main stream media or any other form of
media), or who have supported such operations - on a yearly basis
for the past 5 years? If agencies, who are they?

i.a. How much has been paid on salaries or fees per year for this over the
past 5 years?

ii. How much has been paid per year for salaries or fees for part time
press support for each year over the past 10 years?

iii. Please provide the numbers of people who do the above on a
contracted basis, including:

a. their names, and
b. the amount paid to the top 5 press contractors per year on a
yearly basis for the past 5 years and
c. the total amount paid to such contractors for each of the past
5 years

iv. How much has been paid overall for press activities (including
salaries as well as money paid for various public relation and
press type services) for each of the last 5 years?

2. Re: Senior Press support employed by the NZ Prime Minister and
Cabinet

Please provide each of the following:
i. the names,
ii. roles,
iii. salaries and
iv. bonuses
of the senior press support persons or agencies employed by the NZ Prime
Minister and Cabinet for each of the last 5 years.

3. How much money was paid per year for each of the past 5 years
by the NZ government for any reason to the following papers
(including their online version) to each of the following by the NZ
government?
i. The New Zealand Herald
ii. stuff.co.nz
iii. The Spinoff
iv. The Otago Daily Times
v. Herald on Sunday

4. How much money was paid per year for each of the past 5 years
by the NZ government for any reason to TV stations? (Please list by
TV station and amount.)

5. How much money was paid per year for each of the past 5 years
by the NZ government for any reason to radio stations? (Please list
by radio station and amount.)

6. How much money was paid per year for each of the past 5 years
by the NZ government for any reason to bloggers and influencers? (Please list by
blog name [and owner] and the amount.)5

7. Re: Social media management
i. How much money per year for each of the past 5 years has been
spent on social media management?

ii. What did social media management consist of?

iii. What were the top 5 social media sites with which the
government Press support liaised with?

iv. Who were the liaisons

v. Please provide communications related to Covid-19 and 'misinformation' between the liaisons and the platforms.

Yours faithfully,

Jai Ganesh

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From: OIA
Department of Internal Affairs

Tēnā koe Jai

Thank you for your enquiry. Your question has not currently been accepted as an OIA request as it is not duly particular. Refer section 12(2) of the Act. To be accepted as an OIA request, please provide further information about what specific information you are interested in.

For context, please be aware that the Department of Internal Affairs has no oversight or authority across all public service agencies and entities and does not centrally hold information about activity across government. You can find information about the functions of the Department of Internal Affairs on the Department's website.

Regarding parts 1 and 2 of your request, please clarify whether you are looking for information about the staffing of the parliamentary office of the Prime Minister (a Minister's office), or the staffing of the department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (a government agency)

Regarding parts 3-7 of your request: There is no central authority overseeing all public service engagement with media entities, or 'owning' that relationship and there is no part of government that will hold information on all of the individuals engaging with media entities in all possible ways across government. This information exists only in a distributed way with the agencies/entities and Ministers offices themselves. You will need to engage with different agencies, entities and Minister's offices to enquiry about the specific activity of each.

Please advise if you would like questions 3 - 7 interpreted to apply only to the Department's own staffing and activity.

Nāku noa, nā

Michelle Reed (she/her)  
Kaitohutohu Ārahi, te Ture Pārongo Ōkawa | Lead Advisor Official Correspondence 
Te Urūngi | Organisational Strategy & Performance
Level 6, 45 Pipitea St | PO Box 805, Wellington 6140, New Zealand |  www.dia.govt.nz

-----Original Message-----
From: Jai Ganesh <[FOI #21445 email]>
Sent: Saturday, 17 December 2022 11:53 pm
To: OIA <[email address]>
Subject: Official Information request - Information on NZ gov + PR, media and influencers

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Dear Department of Internal Affairs,

Could you please provide the following information.
It largely relates to how the government is spending money, and its actions in relation to public relations and information handling - which should be transparent processes.

1. Re: Press support employed by the office of the Prime Minister and Cabinet

i. How many full time people or agencies have been employed by the NZ government to liaise with the press or deal with the press in any way (either social media or main stream media or any other form of media), or who have supported such operations - on a yearly basis for the past 5 years? If agencies, who are they?

i.a. How much has been paid on salaries or fees per year for this over the past 5 years?

ii. How much has been paid per year for salaries or fees for part time press support for each year over the past 10 years?

iii. Please provide the numbers of people who do the above on a contracted basis, including:

a. their names, and
b. the amount paid to the top 5 press contractors per year on a yearly basis for the past 5 years and c. the total amount paid to such contractors for each of the past
5 years

iv. How much has been paid overall for press activities (including salaries as well as money paid for various public relation and press type services) for each of the last 5 years?

2. Re: Senior Press support employed by the NZ Prime Minister and Cabinet

Please provide each of the following:
i. the names,
ii. roles,
iii. salaries and
iv. bonuses
of the senior press support persons or agencies employed by the NZ Prime Minister and Cabinet for each of the last 5 years.

3. How much money was paid per year for each of the past 5 years by the NZ government for any reason to the following papers (including their online version) to each of the following by the NZ government?
i. The New Zealand Herald
ii. stuff.co.nz
iii. The Spinoff
iv. The Otago Daily Times
v. Herald on Sunday

4. How much money was paid per year for each of the past 5 years by the NZ government for any reason to TV stations? (Please list by TV station and amount.)

5. How much money was paid per year for each of the past 5 years by the NZ government for any reason to radio stations? (Please list by radio station and amount.)

6. How much money was paid per year for each of the past 5 years by the NZ government for any reason to bloggers and influencers? (Please list by blog name [and owner] and the amount.)5

7. Re: Social media management
i. How much money per year for each of the past 5 years has been spent on social media management?

ii. What did social media management consist of?

iii. What were the top 5 social media sites with which the government Press support liaised with?

iv. Who were the liaisons

v. Please provide communications related to Covid-19 and 'misinformation' between the liaisons and the platforms.

Yours faithfully,

Jai Ganesh

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