OPINION
The headline to this article will probably surprise very few. For quite some time now the news media in this country have decided that they are not interested in providing or presenting news in a way that is digestible for the majority of Kiwis. Their aim is to polarise the news, and therefore their potential audiences, to the maximum. In doing so they are portraying themselves as ‘holier than thou’ and ignoring their audiences’ wants or needs. They are in fact operating as a self-serving lawless cabal putting themselves above everyone else.
This might suit their own objectives but has the opposite effect on their employers, particularly since they are a commercial entity. These journalists, indoctrinated with left-wing philosophy, presumably at their place of learning, are their own worst enemies. They use their platform to push their narrative to a population that doesn’t want to hear it. The outcome is now apparent. Their own words are the cause of their demise.
Newshub is the first casualty but probably won’t be the last.
The first lesson in media is to understand your audience. The old adage ‘the customer is always right’ applies, even in 2024. Enterprises that are successful in business are those that understand their customer base.
News is a business and, particularly in a commercial market, it needs to operate accordingly. The ‘News Hour’ on television is arguably THE most marketable local product on offer for advertisers. It has to be because news is expensive to produce and needs to attract a substantial audience share to pay for itself.
This patently is not happening. Audience shares have diminished as viewers have become disenchanted, even angry, with what is being dished up. Rather than getting news that is as palatable to their ears as their dinner is to their taste buds, they get a menu more akin to a government-provided school lunch: unappetising and unwanted. The sour taste in the mouth comes from the unashamedly high doses of left-wing bias poured over every political item; contrary in every way to the audience’s preference: to be given just the facts.
Newshub is an excellent and topical example. It appears the journos are annoyed at having effectively sacked themselves. They are doubling down on their anti-government rhetoric as if somehow it’s the government’s fault and not one of their own making. Not that they’re angry with themselves – heaven forbid. They think it’s their right to conduct themselves as they see fit and to hell with everyone else. That’s not how the world works.
The number of people watching is what attracts the advertisers who provide the money to keep the business afloat and pay their wages. Is it too much to expect someone of the intellect of a journalist to understand any of that? They are so puffed up with their own importance, spouting their leftist diatribes, that it’s of little consequence how the money arrives in their bank accounts.
That is for other people to worry about…until they lose their jobs and then, suddenly, it is their worry.
I agree wholeheartedly with Sean Plunket who, in relation to the recent attack on Winston, called Tova O’Brien, Benedict Collins and Jenna Lynch out for being traitors to their profession; for telling lies and insulting their audience. I couldn’t have put it better myself and would also have included Anna Burns-Francis. Further, I question those in charge at these outfits that allow this behaviour. Surely they have a duty to ensure that the news is presented in a way that will maximise the audience and hence their company’s income.
That doesn’t mean delivering a serving of right-wing bias either. It means presenting the facts of the story, rather than opinion.
As Plunket says, they wonder why it’s falling apart. The market has changed (what’s that? I hear them ask) and they wonder why people lost faith in them.
Plunket, like me and no doubt you, is in no doubt. He comments that it’s because of the childish, clearly biased, self-interested form of (alleged) journalism they practice. His theory is backed up by a survey last year by AUT which showed that between 2020 and 2023 (during the reign of the Morrinsville maniac), trust in the news media dropped 11 per cent, from 53 per cent to 42 per cent. (“We are the single source of truth,” Jacinda Ardern said, and the news media lapped it up.) Even more startling was the figure for avoidance of news – 69 per cent of those surveyed said they actively avoided news: 11 per cent often, 58 per cent sometimes or occasionally.
On the flip side, 37 per cent were extremely interested in news, 38 per cent interested and 20 per cent somewhat interested. In total that’s 95 per cent.
Right there is all the evidence you need to confirm you are correct in thinking the news media in this country are, beyond a shadow of a doubt, a self-serving bunch of leftie shills attracting but a fraction of the 95 per cent of the population that could be their audience.
They take pleasure in being at odds with their clientele, i.e. the people they are talking to, and take enormous pleasure in speaking at them with forked tongues.
Big fish in a small pond they might be, but the stats show we are not hooked by what they are offering. They need to be reeled in.