Act Party leader David Seymour has attacked the media industry, implying it is hypocritical to ask for government money while criticising politicians.
Seymour spoke with Mike Hosking on Newstalk ZB following criticism of his proposed public sector cuts.
But the conversation shifted when Hosking asked Seymour whether the downfall of some media organisations recently was their own fault.
"That’s not quite true, the media landscape is changing," Seymour replied, detailing how advertisers are not spending as much money through media.
But Seymour did imply it was hypocritical for the media to ask the government for money while criticising them.
"But it’s also true, I saw a report on 1News Benedict Collins grinning down the camera about Chris Luxon’s apartment costs.
"These are the people that cry, ‘Oh you’ve got to give us sympathy, and you’re inhumane and you should be kinder to us’."
"They have spent years celebrating and dancing at every slip that a politician makes, competing to get scalps as they call them.
"And all of a sudden, they saw, but oh when we have a bad day you’ve got to be kind to us."
Up to 68 roles would go across all business areas in TVNZ's 700-strong workforce. There has been speculation main bulletin 1News at 6pm might be cut in half to 30 minutes, while other shows such as Sunday, Fair Go and Seven Sharp are understood to be in the spotlight.
Discussions around media funding and support have skyrocketed after it was also revealed up to 300 jobs are expected to be lost as Newshub is set to close at the end of June.
"I think it shows their delightful lack of self-awareness and immaturity."
Seymour also noted that some media outlets’ technology and format were dated.
"And yes, I do think that is a big part of the problem, the technology is changing. There’s also the problem of the ... product that they’re delivering through that technology."
The Television New Zealand Act, which governs the organisation is very strict on the matter of editorial independence, particularly in relation to shareholding ministers, like Seymour, who carries that responsibility with his Associate Finance portfolio.
The TVNZ Act says that “no shareholding Minister or any other Minister, and no person acting by or on behalf of or at the direction of a shareholding Minister or any other Minister, may give a direction to TVNZ or to any of its subsidiaries, or to any director or officer or employee of TVNZ or of any of its subsidiaries, in respect of .... any programme or other content... the gathering or presentation of news or the preparation or presentation of any current affairs programme or content”.
Former Broadcasting Minister Willie Jackson told The New Zealand Herald today that Seymour's remarks were a “disgrace”.
“This is our future Deputy Prime Minister wanting to censor the media because he gets tougher questions.
“’Why should we be funding people who are mean to us?’ I mean grow up David and remember the state or government has been funding media for generations and we ain’t suddenly going to change the rules because you and your two best friends [Mike] Hoskings [sic] and [Sean] Plunket are unhappy, OK?” Jackson said.
He said Hosking and Plunket had “worked for years with government funding”, citing the men’s work for RNZ.
Responding to Jackson’s comments, Seymour said: “Willie has road tested his outrage so much it’s lost all sense of traction”.
Regarding the TVNZ remarks, Seymour said he was raising a “legitimate question”.
“There are lots of calls for government to change its policies and assist media, where is the self-reflection on the part of reporters?”
He believed his comments did not amount to editorial interference because they used a story to illustrate a wider commercial point, rather than critiquing a specific act or reporting.
“My comments were not about a specific story they were designed to make a wider point. Using an example from a recent TVNZ story is not designed in any way to commentate on TVNZ."
The former Labour government got in trouble over alleged editorial interference when it emerged that then-minister Kiri Allan, who was not a shareholding minister, made remarks about RNZ’s treatment of Māori staff at a leaving function.
At the time, National leader Christopher Luxon described the remarks as typical of an “arrogant and entitled” government.
Speaking to Newshub’s AM last year, he said National wanted Allan “focused on fighting crime, not on a pining about Radio New Zealand”.
Seymour has been increasingly critical of TVNZ.
On X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, Seymour hit out at columns by TVNZ's chief correspondent John Campbell which referenced a “left-wing blog that is promoting wealth-tax supporting David Parker”.
