Publications
The Future of Media Regulation in New Zealand: Is There One?
May 2006
By Russell Brown and Steven Price
Download The Future of Media Regulation in New Zealand - Is There One? (53 pages, 680k, PDF).
Preface
As recently as 1961, the government controlled all but two of New Zealand’s 34 radio stations. Our first television station had just started up. We had to wait until 1975 for a second national channel. Both were state-owned.
The years since have seen a continuous expansion of the number and diversity of broadcasting outlets: privately owned AM radio stations burgeoned, FM radio emerged, privately owned television stations were permitted, and satellite television was launched. The government no longer controlled the broadcast media, and even took steps to ensure the independence of the parts it still owned. But it still believed it had a role to play in regulating broadcasting standards. Since 1990, this role has been filled by the Broadcasting Standards Authority, administering a complaints regime set up under the Broadcasting Act 1989 to govern matters such as fairness, accuracy, balance, privacy, and taste and decency. The system applies to all New Zealand radio and television broadcasters, public and private. And since the people broadcasting to New Zealanders were invariably based in New Zealand, that regime has worked relatively well.
Until now.
But things have changed. The ongoing revolution in information technology means that New Zealanders are increasingly receiving films and audio-visual programming from sources other than television and radio. Sources that often originate overseas and are accessible to anyone with a PC via the Internet. Sources that are probably beyond the reach of the current standards regime.
This paper sets out to examine what these new technologies are, and what they mean for the future of media regulation – and in particular, broadcasting regulation – in New Zealand. How are these new technologies changing the nature of broadcasting? To what extent is the current regime well-adapted to deal with these new technologies? What pressures are they likely to place on it? Can the regulatory regime be extended to encompass the new formats? Should it be? Would it need to be modified? Should it be scrapped altogether instead?
To continue reading, please download The Future of Media Regulation in New Zealand - Is There One? (53 pages, 680k PDF).