Good gig, if you can get it: yes! $6,328,804.00 of your money, lifted directly from your wallets, to pour into Stuff’s coffers for the Public Interest Journalism Fund. Put another way: more than 11 per cent of the entire PIJF ‘funding’ to one company: the company commonly agreed as most left-leaning in the country.
Everyone knows facts don’t matter at Stuff, despite their ‘fact-check’ project “The Whole Truth” so it’s no surprise to see their list of funds received amounting to less than the whole truth, disclosing only $5,159,871.00 received for their inventive ‘projects’, while failing to disclose $214,360.00 for PlayStuff, Whakaata Maori, $300,800.00 for Training: Maori-lens Journalism, sorry – that’s “Multi-lens”, (but means the same thing) – and $653,773.00 for Kea Kids News. Their largest item, no surprises here, $2,789,240.00 for Pou Tiaki described as a project “To uplift the voices and stories of Maori and minority groups across Stuff publications.”
“Joanna Norris, managing director at Stuff Masthead Publishing, said the fund had enabled Stuff to hire some great journalists into the business, and she appreciated the skills they had brought with them.” Well, that’s debatable Ms Norris, highly debatable, but I would happily bet that any employer gifted $6,328,804.00 would be able to hire some great people.
Don’t die laughing at the closing paragraph: “Unfortunately the PIJF, as a consequence, was used to criticise, unfairly, the media, with the implication that [funding by the government] was somehow able to influence the media, which is absolutely untrue, and we remain absolutely independent.” Of course you are Ms Norris: $6,328,804.00 independent.