Wasn't there journalism funding from the government that went from COVID until recently? I wonder if cutting that was the last straw since they mention advertising dollars have dried up (something the government funding was meant to help).

[–] deadbeef79000@lemmy.nz 4 points 8 months ago (1 children)

That rings a bell.

Though I personally disagree with public funds subsidising a commercial operation.

One or other other, exclusively. Operate commercially or be publicly funded.

[–] Dave@lemmy.nz 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

As I understand it, it wasn't: "Here's some money so you don't go broke"

And more like: "We commission you to write articles about the subjects of X, Y, and Z"

Personally I get the hesitation for state funded journalism, but I would read RNZ over Newshub any day. Interestingly, there is a lot of syndication between the major media outlets so you get a lot of the same stories anyway.

[–] deadbeef79000@lemmy.nz 2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

I meant that journalism shouldn't be commercial!

As soon as journalism is for profit it cannot be impartial. It's either chasing eyeballs for advertisers or its funding is contingent on not upsetting the vested interests.

Commissioning content is just fine, it's no different to any other public spending.

RNZ is my go-to news source.

[–] Dave@lemmy.nz 3 points 8 months ago

I meant that journalism shouldn’t be commercial!

Yeah, it's a nice idea, but the world is fully of countries with state funded journalism and in general it cannot be trusted. It's hard, because the commercialisation of the media is what keeps it independent of the government it criticises.

In NZ I trust the state funded media the most, but world wide that is not the case at all.