Level 2
119 Ghuznee Street
P O Box 9744
Wellington 6141
New Zealand
[NZ On Air request email]
www.nzonair.govt.nz
Tel: 04 382 9524
Fax: 04 382 9546
19 January 2024
James
fyi‐request‐24974‐[email address]
Tēnā koe James,
Official Information request and response
Thank you for your request under the Official Information Act (“OIA”) dated 1 December 2023.
You have requested:
1.
The total amount of Public Interest Journalism funding that was allocated to media
organisations which has been returned to NZ On Air due to not being spent or utilised.
2.
The media organisations have returned PJIF money, if any, the amount, and the date it was
returned
Below is a table detailing the amount of funding returned to the PIJF. This details the funding recipient
and the number of applications where funding was underspent.
We are unable to provide you the exact date that each amount of funding was returned. In some
instances, funding provided in advance to funding recipients was returned by those applicants to NZ On
Air on evidence of an underspend and receipt of a cost report. In other instances, a number of
underspent applications did not actually return funding but instead, NZ On Air wrote back remaining
funding it was due to pay to the recipient following evidence of an estimated underspend and a final cost
report.
Underspent contracts as at 8 December 2023
Number of Applications
Total
Recipient
underspent
underspent
Allied Press
1
$ 24,742
Aotearoa Media Collective
1
$ 6,465
Attitude Pictures
1
$ 2,940
BusinessDesk
1
$ 7,086
GlobalHQ Limited
1
$ 4,068
Great Southern Television Ltd
1
$ 5,547
Hawkes Bay App
1
$ 473
Indo Kiwi United Trust
1
$ 2,936
Kowhai Media Ltd
3
$ 10,152
Metro Media Group Limited
1
$ 1,450
Connecting and reflecting Aotearoa
Newsroom NZ Ltd
3
$ 104,313
NZME & Whakaata Maori
1 (
Te Rito Journalism Project)
$ 282,042
Pacific Media Network
1
$ 9,080
Radio Bay of Plenty Limited
1
$ 2,720
Radio One
1
$ 1,234
Salient Magazine
1
$ 440
Stuff
2
$ 64,426
Te Reo Irirangi O Te Hiku O Te Ika
1
$ 16,098
Television New Zealand
2
$ 76,714
The Spinoff
4
$ 85,225
Three ‐ Local Production
1
$ 65,046
Total
$ 773,197
Below is a second table detailing applications that did not eventuate and the amount NZ On Air wrote
back for each of these cancelled applications.
Cancelled contracts as at 8 December 2023
Recipient
Application Name
Awa FM
TE AWA
$ 498,370
North & South Media Limited
System Overhaul
$ 42,500
North & South Media Limited
Exploring Aotearoa's Chinese
$ 25,000
Communities
Three / Newshub / Discovery
Pasifika Affairs Correspondent
$ 248,240
Māori Affairs Reporter extension
Newshub
$ 145,810
Video Journalist/Researcher for Te Reo Kahika News
Te reo irirangi o Maniapoto
$ 85,000
TVNZ
PIJF Roles
$ 206,000
Total
$ 1,250,920
For your information, funding provided by NZ On Air for all successful projects is searchable on our
website. You can also sign up to receive our regular industry newsletter via our website.
You have the right to refer this response to the Ombudsman if you are dissatisfied with it. More
information on how to do this is here. NZ On Air proactively releases information in accordance with the
Government’s commitment to the Open Government Partnership National Action Plan. This includes
publishing responses to requests for information under the OIA. Please note that this response (with your
name removed) will be published on the NZ On Air website shortly and will remain on our website for 12
months.
Thank you for your interest in our work.
Yours sincerely
Sharon Kerry
HEAD OF CORPORATE SERVICES
Connecting and reflecting Aotearoa
