PRESS RELEASE
The Better Public Media Trust becomes an Affiliate Member of the Public Media Alliance
4 December 2024
Affiliate membership cements collaboration between likeminded organisations in their support and advocacy for public media.
The Public Media Alliance (PMA) is delighted to announce that Better Public Media (BPM) has become an affiliate member.
The membership brings together two likeminded organisations who serve to raise awareness about the fundamental importance of independent public service media to democracy.
With a specific focus on Aotearoa New Zealand, BPM is a charitable trust that works hard to speak out in support of strengthening the country’s public media institutions through public events, written statements, and dialogue with government. They are also active participants in the broader debate with audiences, businesses, academics, policy makers and other stakeholders.
At a time of declining trust, funding, and audience figures for many public media worldwide, PMA sees this membership as an important opportunity to better coordinate to raise awareness and advocate for viable PSM in Aotearoa New Zealand and the wider region.
BPM is the third organisation from Aotearoa New Zealand to join PMA, following public broadcasters Pacific Media Network (PMN) and Radio New Zealand (RNZ).
“Better public media is exactly what we need in Aotearoa (New Zealand). BPM’s focus is on changes to help grow our content choices, stimulate innovation and creative enterprise, and foster the ideas and information that help us make our way in life. We love our physical landscape, but our media landscape is structurally stifled. We have a public media funding agency, NZ On Air, but most of its funding goes to support programming on commercial platforms that survive by selling space to advertisers with narrow demographic targets. So a big thank you from Aotearoa to the PMA for welcoming us aboard and supporting our work for unstifled public media. It’s good to be among friends!”
– David Jacobs, Chair of BPM
“BPM exists to promote media that serve the interests of the public as citizens, not just consumers. With public service media under pressure in many countries, not just Aotearoa New Zealand, it seemed a logical step for us to join forces with international partners. So we are thrilled that the Public Media Alliance has accepted BPM as an affiliate member. We’re only one small group but we have an important role to play and we’re looking forward to working with the PMA and exchanging ideas and resources.”
– Dr Peter Thompson, Vice-Chair of BPM
“I thoroughly look forward to working with BPM to deliver effective campaigns and research about the role of independent and viable public media in underpinning democracy. We hope this membership will allow BPM to draw on the collective experiences of our diverse alliance to inform the critical work that they do”.
– Kristian Porter, CEO PMA
About the Better Public Media Trust
Better Public Media (BPM) is a registered charity advocating for media that serves the democratic, educational, social and cultural interests of New Zealanders. Together the trustees combine academic, legal, educational and media production expertise. The patron is former Governor-General of New Zealand and Chair of the Commonwealth Foundation, Sir Anand Satyanand.
BPM had its origins in two public campaigns that revealed widespread concern about media in Aotearoa (New Zealand): the successful campaign in 2010 opposing the mooted commercialisation of RNZ; and the unsuccessful campaign to save TVNZ 7, which was an ad-free TV channel broadcasting from 2008 to 2012.
It began as the Coalition for Better Broadcasting Trust in 2013. Then in 2017 the name was changed to Better Public Media in recognition that the trust’s focus had evolved towards public media outcomes that are broader than broadcasting.
Since its formation BPM has made submissions on many media policy proposals and has regularly hosted cross-party public debates on media issues. It also runs an annual Student Challenge for secondary school students.
In 2023 the Court of Appeal of New Zealand ruled that BPM should finally be recognised as a charity – backdated to its application almost 9 years earlier – with a judgment that included this:
“The Trust aims to ensure that our democratic principles and institutions are enhanced through citizens being better informed about significant issues through public media platforms. Importantly, the Trust also aims to enhance social cohesion by promoting the voices of minority communities through public media.”
In 2024 BPM has been recognised as a stakeholder for media policy consultation by Manatū Taonga, which is New Zealand’s Ministry for Culture & Heritage.