AGENDA ITEM 5.5
PUBLIC INTEREST JOURNALISM
NZ MEDIA FUND
RECOMMENDATION
That the Board
approves funding of
up to:
•
$2,419,253 to a newly formed media entity collaboration between NZME, Māori Television, Newshub
and Pacific Media Network and partners for
Te Rito Journalism Project (Industry Development), a one-
year programme to identify, train, develop and hire 25 cadet journalists
,
•
$806,135 to Newsroom NZ Ltd for
The Detail (National Project), 322 x 22’ episodes,
Two applications recommended for total funding up to $3,225,388.
BACKGROUND
1. In January 2021 Cabinet agreed to draw down $55 mil ion over the next three years (2021 - 2023) from the
tagged contingency set aside by Cabinet for broadcasting initiatives. This funding wil be administered by NZ On
Air to support the production of public interest journalism including Māori and Iwi journalism that is relevant to
and valued by New Zealanders
2.
General Guidelines for the PIJF were published in April 2021. The principles set out in the
Cabinet paper have
informed the design of the Public Interest Journalism Fund (PIJF). NZ On Air col aborated with Te Māngai Pāho
on the design and delivery of the fund.
3. The PIJF is structured to support journalistic capability across three funding pillars: Projects, Roles and Industry
Development.
ROUND OVERVIEW
4.
under the Official Information Act
This first round of the PIJF sought applications to the
Projects and
Industry Development pillars of the fund.
Information for this May/July 2021 funding round outlined the assessment criteria and funding priorities to
applicants.
5. NZ On Air earmarked $9.6m to this first funding round and received 122 first-stage applications col ectively
seeking over $50m.
6. The
Projects funding pillar is for tightly defined projects delivered to a deadline, similar to those funded via the
NZ Media Fund Factual stream. This funding round accepted applications across two Project categories:
a. National audiences
Released
b. Local/Regional audiences
7.
1
NZ ON AIR BOARD MEETING |13 – 14 JULY 2021 |
CONFIDENTIAL | NZOA FILE REF: GOVERNANCE/ BOARD MEETINGS/ 2021 – 22 JULY | AGENDA ITEM 5.5
8. The
Industry Development pil ar is an acknowledgement that training, and development are vital to the
delivery of short and medium-term talent gain in the journalism sector. This funding round accepted
applications across the following Industry Development categories:
a. Cross-sector training/cadetship col aboration between media entities
b. Training that supports the PIJF goals of encouraging Te Tiriti partnership and education
c. Training/cadetship collaboration between media entities and journalism courses
d. Internal training/cadetships specific to a single media entity
e. Funding for small-scale, targeted initiatives focused on sustainability / innovation.
9. Applicants were first asked to submit five-page proposals by 13 May 2021, which were individually assessed by
panelists. A hui was then held on 21 May to shortlist proposals. Shortlisted applicants then submitted ful
proposals by 3 June. Fol owing further individual assessment, hui were held on 10 June and 14 June to decide
on the funding recommendations outlined in this paper.
10. The assessment panel for
PIJF: Projects (National) included:
a.
b.
c.
d.
Raewyn Rasch (Ngāi Tahu/Samoa) - NZ On Air Head of Journalism. Former General Manager Māori
and Pacific programmes at TVNZ, executive producer of Seven Sharp, producer of Fair Go and Marae
Investigates, TV and radio journalist
e.
Anna Currie - NZ On Air Funding Advisor
11. The assessment panel for
PIJF: Projects (Local/Regional) and
Industry Development included:
a.
b.
c.
under the Official Information Act
d.
e.
Raewyn Rasch (Ngāi Tahu/Samoa) - NZ On Air Head of Journalism. Former General Manager Māori
and Pacific programmes at TVNZ, executive producer of Seven Sharp, producer of Fair Go and Marae
Investigates, TV and radio journalist
f.
Anna Currie - NZ On Air Funding Advisor
Released
12. In determining funding recommendations, alongside the individual merits of each application, the panels also
considered missed opportunities around platform coordination and collaboration in the delivery of large-scale
national schemes. In these instances, assessors declined applications at the first stage in order to address this
issue with the sector directly at th
e PIJF summit held on 9 June.
2
NZ ON AIR BOARD MEETING |13 – 14 JULY 2021 |
CONFIDENTIAL | NZOA FILE REF: GOVERNANCE/ BOARD MEETINGS/ 2021 – 22 JULY | AGENDA ITEM 5.5
ASSESSMENT
Te Rito Journalism Project
NZME, MTS, Newshub, PMN
$2,419,253
Key Personnel
Title/s
Synopsis
13. Te Rito is a cross-sector public interest journalism development programme developed using kaupapa Māori
design. This is an
Industry Development PIJF application.
14. An entity wil be formed between the partnership group of NZME, Māori Television, Newshub and Pacific Media
Network and partners to identify, train, develop and then hire 25 journalists.
General Assessment
15. This collaboration of four large media networks, along with support from a range of wider media partners seeks
to address the grave need for more Māori, Pasifika and diverse journalists by providing a training programme
that is not available anywhere in Aotearoa currently.
16. The supporting organisations include iwi media, E-Tangata, Te Hiku Media, Attitude Pictures, Umbrella Media,
The Indian Weekender, Pango Productions, Sunpix, Umbrella Media, Pasifika Education Centre, Pasifika
Education Centre, and Samoa Capital Radio. Various letters of support are attached to this application.
17. The 25 cadets would form two cohorts.
would be part of a Te Reo Māori Journalism cohort (Te Rōpū Reo Māori
-
) and the remaining would be part of a Diverse Voices of Journalism cohort
). Both groups will share a central curriculum and
consistent skil s targets.
18. The programme proposes a team of
funded staff to create, deliver and administer the programme with a new
entity formed between the partnership group set up to run it.
19. Stage one of the initiative would see
20. The Te Rōpū Reo Māori cohort of
cadets will be made up of both Reo Māori speakers wanting to become
journalists and workplace trainees already employed by Māori media organisations. They will come under the
korowai of Māori Television working in partnership with
under the Official Information Act
Those working in regional media will remain in their role participating in
virtual training where necessary and managed by two full time reo Māori trainers. They may get to travel to
participate in work placements in partner media for experience.
21. The other cadets would be based initially at
for news fundamentals training before
rotating through partner locations. Training will be delivered in flexible formats including in-person wānanga,
virtual classrooms, tutorials, one-on-one mentoring and placements. Journalism standards would be based on
the NZ Media Council and Broadcasting Standards Authority guidelines.
Released
22. The programme will start with a noho marae and orientation week and throughout the programme all cadets will
be brought together to build a core bond of whanaungatanga within the programme.
23. Cadets wil be paid to do the programme (living wage) and there is a commitment from the scheme to extend an
offer of employment to al cadets who successful y complete the ful programme and meet industry standards.
3
NZ ON AIR BOARD MEETING |13 – 14 JULY 2021 |
CONFIDENTIAL | NZOA FILE REF: GOVERNANCE/ BOARD MEETINGS/ 2021 – 22 JULY | AGENDA ITEM 5.5
24. A comprehensive training framework has been provided and a robust measurement framework will be put in
place to assess both the outcomes for the cadets and for PIJF.
no pre-existing framework especially for te reo Māori
journalism training and once this is developed, future programmes may be more cost-effective to run.
25.
However, staff notes that this scheme also provides the most in-depth training, and the
programme is costed across 18 months.
26. This proposal outlines the following set up and implementation timings for the programme:
27.
28. The Te Rito team are confident they can attract 25 cadets and the inclusion of iwi radio should provide a large
pool of suitable applicants. They have a strong recruitment scheme planned via their various platforms.
29. The project has plans to ensure cultural safety for the cadets and pastoral care as per PIJF requirements.
Staff Opinion
30. All the Industry Development assessors were strongly in favour of funding the application with one
commenting, “
if this is carried out as outlined, it wil be a major breakthrough in training journalists, one that is
long overdue. It wil begin to correct the imbalance that has grown as a result of the disappearance of the
practical polytechnic-based journalism training without threatening the viability of the university-based degrees
or post-graduated programmes.”
31.
However, staff note that the context of cadets working within a newsroom is markedly different to students
within a university setting, and the PIJF eligibility assessment criteria states, “
Platforms/publishers must show
how they wil support funded roles materially, legally, culturally, and emotionally” and the support Te Rito is
offering cadets appears to deliver to this criterion.
32. This project essential y sets up a new industry-led training entity and while it could be argued that goes beyond
the scope of the PIJF, it could also be argued that the needs and historic disparity of Māori, Pasifika and diverse
journalists’ training could only be met with a scheme of this scale and coordination, and that because there is
under the Official Information Act
no training programme currently offering this type of training, staff believes there is less risk that a project like
this will duplicate or undercut the work of existing training providers.
33. Given the co-operation that has been required to get this far, all partner organisations have shown a high level
of commitment right through to committing to hiring cadets at the end of the scheme.
34.
Released
35. While it could be argued that cadets taken into the scheme who already have jobs – especially in iwi radio or
Māori Television should continue to be paid by their organisations, their priority will be to their training
4
NZ ON AIR BOARD MEETING |13 – 14 JULY 2021 |
CONFIDENTIAL | NZOA FILE REF: GOVERNANCE/ BOARD MEETINGS/ 2021 – 22 JULY | AGENDA ITEM 5.5
. Cadets wil produce content during the scheme
and this should acknowledge PIJF.
36. Staff notes that, if funded, this wil take the total amount funded in the first PIJF round over the initial $9.6m
available. Staff believes that funding
Te Rito in this round is critical based on its scale and the timings required
to kick off planning from the second half of this year to launch the programme in February 2022.
Staff
also notes that all PIJF decisions made by the Board in this round wil be included in the 2021/22 annual report
due to timing of the decisions.
37. This is a high-concept, complex collaboration that could provide a blueprint for collaborative on the job training
in the future, and benefit Māori as well as mainstream media.
Funding is recommended
The Detail
Newsroom NZ Ltd
$806,135
Key Personnel
Title/s
Relevant Past Work
Synopsis 38.
The Detail is a daily podcast aimed at a younger audience who accesses content through non-traditional
channels. It is designed to explain the stories behind the headlines and give listeners context, and a deeper
understanding of notable events.
39. This is a 322 x 22’ podcast series (running 18 months from 2 Aug 2021 - 17 Dec 2021; with a hiatus and then
from 31 Jan 2022 - 16 Dec 2022) by Newsroom NZ Ltd for RNZ. This is a
National Projects PIJF application.
General Assessment 40.
The Detail has been running for three years and was original y funded under the 2018/2019 one-off additional
govt funding for the NZ On Air/RNZ Innovation Fund. This month it marked its 400th podcast episode.
41.
42.
under the Official Information Act
43.
The Detail promotes itself as the “news explained”, providing expertise from journalists and experts to help the
audience make sense of the big stories. Audio podcasts are accompanied by text stories available on the RNZ,
Newsroom and Stuff websites.
44. NZ On Air provided interim funding of 6-months of
The Detail for $311,269 in the 2020-10 round. This
shortened time frame was due to the fact that NZ On Air had insufficient baseline funds available to fund a
Released
year-long application. NZ On Air decided in February 2021 that journalism projects funded from baseline
Factual funding (such as
The Detail, Regional Media projects and current affairs shows) should come into the
PIJF for future funding to ensure that al applications were assessed under the same processes and guidelines.
45. The primary platform distribution is via RNZ with Newsroom and Stuff as third-party distributors and podcast
aggregators including Apple and Spotify. Newsroom has an MOU with RNZ
5
NZ ON AIR BOARD MEETING |13 – 14 JULY 2021 |
CONFIDENTIAL | NZOA FILE REF: GOVERNANCE/ BOARD MEETINGS/ 2021 – 22 JULY | AGENDA ITEM 5.5
A letter of support from RNZ as a
secondary platform covering 2022 has also been provided.
46.
47.
48.
.
Staff Opinion 49. The reason this application is in front of the Board (given it is seeking <$1m) is because the external assessors
were concerned about the expectation set of continued funding for
The Detail beyond the two years of the PIJF
and felt this project should be decided at the NZ On Air Board level as they believed it warranted a governance
lens. Assessors felt that given the budget level is close to the >$1m threshold (for Board decisions) paired with
the request for multi-year funding, they were not in a position to provide a definitive recommendation.
Assessors confirmed that they would be comfortable with this application being funded as long as there was
clear support from the NZ On Air Board.
50.
51. Most assessors acknowledged the podcast had delivered high quality PIJ. One commented, “
The Detail is a
successful venture that fits squarely in the public interest journalism frame. Newsroom and Radio NZ, together
with Stuff ensure it has a broad reach. The personnel involved are highly experienced, with proven track records
in broadcasting and podcasting.”
under the Official Information Act
52. However, assessors pointed to a significant lack of a demonstrated commitment or reference to Te Tiriti
throughout the proposal. This would be confirmed detail sought prior to contracting.
53.
54. This is a quality podcast that has delivered over a number of years. Audiences take time to build up and the
continued growth of this podcast is evidence that given time, these types of PIJ projects will build a following.
Funding is recommended
Released
6
NZ ON AIR BOARD MEETING |13 – 14 JULY 2021 |
CONFIDENTIAL | NZOA FILE REF: GOVERNANCE/ BOARD MEETINGS/ 2021 – 22 JULY | AGENDA ITEM 5.5
Document Outline
