Peters sends media minister back to the drawing board

Broadcasting and Communications Minister Melissa Lee has been sent back to the drawing board by Winston Peters after she failed to consult with NZ First before taking proposals to a Cabinet committee.

Proposals normally go to a committee made up of representatives of all the parties in Government before going to the full Cabinet a week later.

Lee has been under significant pressure as a new minister following the announcement of the proposed closure of Newshub last month, and major job cuts at TVNZ days later.

After the Newshub announcement on February 28, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon asked Lee to give Cabinet a rundown of the state of the industry, which she did on March 4.

She then began working with officials on proposals to help support the media sector, which is facing profitability issues as news shifts online and tech giants like Google and Meta eat up advertising dollars.

Lee’s initial proposals included:

• Asking whether Cabinet wanted her to investigate what intervention the Government might take to directly help the industry. Reducing or scrapping the fees broadcasters pay Kordia for providing the transmission network would be one example where the Government could offer direct help;
• Whether the Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill could be reworked to consider other options such as a direct levy on the online platforms;
• Modernising the Broadcasting Act. This would require legislative change. Lee has previously spoken about the Broadcasting Act 1989 to match modern technology and encourage the media to “harness” innovation.

On Monday, March 11, Lee spoke to TVNZ’s Breakfast, giving a high-level overview of some of the things she believed could help, saying she was working with officials and would be taking a paper to Cabinet soon.

Newsroom understands Lee made a “rookie mistake” and lodged her paper into the process before consulting with Winston Peters or New Zealand First.

On Tuesday, neither Lee nor Peters would answer questions regarding the process Lee had gone through, or whether she had properly consulted with coalition partners in line with their expectations.

A spokesperson for Lee said the rule was not to talk about the process. The paper was currently out for consultation, and Lee would not make any further comment about it at this stage.

Following the breakdown in communication and the pushback from NZ First, Lee cancelled two media interviews – with NZME’s Media Insider and RNZ’s Mediawatch – despite initially agreeing to do them.

In an unusual discussion with reporters ahead of National’s caucus meeting on March 19, Lee tried to justify her decision for cancelling the interviews by saying any one-on-one interview would have been “boring”.

“I think it would be quite boring,” she said at the time.

“I have done quite a few interviews. Talking about the same thing over and over doesn’t seem helpful.”

When asked whether it was up to her, or the media organisations, to make that call, Lee said: 

“I felt like [I’ve] actually done quite a lot of interviews. And I didn’t think it was fair for me to sit down with someone one-on-one to, actually, say the same thing.”

When asked about the status of her Cabinet paper, she said it was out for consultation with coalition partners and would go to Cabinet soon.

“There is a process when you take a paper to Cabinet … I’m giving Cabinet members a little bit of time to actually read what I’m taking,” she said.

Since March 11, Lee has been particularly guarded when talking about her work in this area. She has refused one-on-one interviews, saying only that she was working through the consultation process.

Act Party leader David Seymour said as far as he was aware, no substantive proposals had been taken to Cabinet. But even if Lee had put a plan in front of Government decision-makers, he wouldn’t be able to talk about it.

“Cabinet’s like Fight Club in that way.”

Seymour said he had not been included in coalition Government discussions regarding proposals to fix the media sector, but said that may be happening at an office-to-office level, between staff.

He would expect to be included in those discussions before Cabinet saw any substantive proposals.

“Generally, we’re very happy with the consultation [that happens between coalition partners],” Seymour said.

“In this particular instance, in my view, there needs to be a serious first-principles look at what is the role of government in ensuring that we have a media that can support democracy, because I think there’s some serious challenges there.

“But so far as I’m concerned, we haven’t seen a proposal that even touches the sides on that, and nor would I expect to because it’s quite a big question.

“No one in the world is getting right – least of all our Government. So, as far as I’m concerned, or aware, there hasn’t been a serious discussion about it, but I’m hoping that Melissa Lee is going to lead one soon.”

This is not the first time Peters has flexed his coalition muscle in response to a Government partner getting ahead of the process – particularly on matters Peters has a special interest in.

During the term of the Labour-led coalition government, Peters shot down former justice minister Andrew Little’s plan to repeal Three Strikes legislation, after he announced the plan to media before consulting with NZ First.

NZ First was the only party with specific media industry policy in its 2023 election manifesto.

The party’s policies include a Royal Commission of Inquiry into media bias in New Zealand as well as promising funding for news media internships and a requirement for journalism schools to show how they are providing a “diverse talent pipeline” for the sector. 

This discussion comes as the media industry struggles with shutdowns and job losses, which have the ability to strip plurality from the market and impact the media’s role as democratic watchdog.

One of the key issues facing the media is the rise of global tech platforms which now dominate the digital advertising market.

The previous government introduced the Fair Digital News Media Bargaining Bill in August 2023 to level the playing field in negotiations between the news media and tech giants like Meta and Google.

The proposed legislation is supposed to encourage voluntary commercial agreements between New Zealand news media organisations and online platforms, which are often large multinational companies.

Where voluntary agreements cannot be reached, the Bill is designed to provide a backstop to support a fair bargaining process that will result in commercial arrangements between companies.

The Bill is currently before a select committee. However, Lee has questioned whether the Bill was the right approach in the past.

Labour broadcasting and media spokesperson Willie Jackson said if the Government did not put a strategy in place soon, things were going to get worse.

“Doing nothing should not be an option.”

Jackson said Lee had not been active in the portfolio in the lead-up to the election, and her initial response to the Newshub closure had lacked empathy. She had started on the back foot, he said. Adding that while Lee may be caught between coalition partners with differing views on solutions to the problems facing the industry, at least NZ First and Act had a position.

There were a range of options the Government could consider. As well as the bargaining bill, and direct funding to media organisations, the Government could play the role of broker or facilitator between media businesses looking at things like collaborations.

Timeline

• February 28: Newshub closure announced
• March 4: Melissa Lee presents to Cabinet on the issues facing the media sector
• March 8: TVNZ announces job cuts
• March 11: Lee says she is working with officials on proposals to support NZ media, ahead of taking a paper to Cabinet
• Week starting March 11: Lee pulls out of interviews with NZME’s Media Insider and RNZ’s Mediawatch, despite initially agreeing to do them
• March 19: Lee tells reporters she decided not to go ahead with interviews as they would be “boring”