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The Minister of Broadcasting and Media is a
minister in the government of
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
with responsibility for the government's broadcasting and media policies, including the diversity and accessibility of broadcast content, broadcasting standards, the regulation of the print media, and the oversight of state media corporations
TVNZ and
Radio New Zealand.
The current Minister is
Willie Jackson, a member of the
Labour Party.
History
In 1936 the
First Labour Government decided that broadcasting would be run by the state. As a result a government minister in charge of Broadcasting was appointed and new legislation (the Broadcasting Act 1936) was passed that abolished the existing New Zealand Broadcasting Board and established the new National Broadcasting Service in its place. A Director of Broadcasting was appointed and a Broadcasting Advisory Council formed as a result of the act to advise the minister. The Labour Party had specifically sought to broadcast parliamentary debates via radio as a means of allowing the public to listen and make their own judgment of events, rather than relying solely on the press, whom Labour were distrustful of.
Later the minister oversaw the introduction of television into New Zealand and became responsible for the
New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation
The New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation (NZBC) was a publicly owned company of the New Zealand Government founded in 1962. The Broadcasting Act 1976 then reformed NZBC as the Broadcasting Corporation of New Zealand (BCNZ). The corporation was ...
(NZBC).
Between December 2016 and October 2017, the broadcasting portfolio was disestablished, with portfolio responsibilities shared between the Minister for Communications and
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage
The Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage is a minister in the government of New Zealand with responsibility for arts, culture, heritage, and broadcasting, and is in charge of the Ministry for Culture and Heritage. The position was establish ...
. The position was recreated from October 2017 with a title change reflecting a broader scope. The Minister is advised by officials from the
Ministry for Culture and Heritage and the
Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE; mi, Hīkina Whakatutuki) is the public service department of New Zealand charged with "delivering policy, services, advice and regulation" which contribute to New Zealand's economic p ...
.
Under the
Sixth Labour Government, the focus of the portfolio has been creating a new
Aotearoa New Zealand Public Media
Aotearoa New Zealand Public Media (ANZPM) was a proposed public media entity consisting of the New Zealand public broadcasters Radio New Zealand (RNZ) and TVNZ. After exploring the merger of the two media entities in February 2020, the New Zealan ...
entity which will be formed by merging
TVNZ and
Radio New Zealand into a single state broadcaster.
List of ministers
The following ministers have held the office of Minister of Broadcasting.
;Key
See also
*
Television in New Zealand
Television in New Zealand was introduced in 1960 as a state-run service. The broadcasting sector was deregulated in 1989, when the Government allowed competition to the state-owned Television New Zealand (TVNZ). There are currently three forms o ...
*
Radio in New Zealand
References
*
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Minister of Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media
Broadcasting
Broadcasting is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum ( radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting beg ...
Broadcasting in New Zealand