The mass media in New Zealand include television stations, radio stations, newspapers, magazines, and websites. Most outlets are foreign-owned; media conglomerates like NZME,

Stuff Stuff, stuffed, and stuffing may refer to: *Physical matter *General, unspecific things, or entities Arts, media, and entertainment Books *''Stuff'' (1997), a novel by Joseph Connolly (author), Joseph Connolly *''Stuff'' (2005), a book by Jere ...

, MediaWorks,

Discovery Discovery may refer to: * Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown * Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown * Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence Discovery, The Discovery ...

and

Sky The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from outer space. In the field of astronomy, ...

dominate the media landscape. Most media organisations operate Auckland-based newsrooms with

Parliamentary Press Gallery The Canadian Parliamentary Press Gallery (french: Tribune de la presse parlementaire) is an association established to oversee rules and responsibilities of Canadian journalists when at Parliament Hill. The organization was formed in 1866 by Tho ...

reporters and international media partners, but most broadcast programmes, music and syndicated columns are imported from the United States and United Kingdom. The media of New Zealand predominantly use

New Zealand English New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

, but Community Access and several local other outlets provide news and entertainment for linguistic minorities. Following a

Waitangi Tribunal The Waitangi Tribunal (Māori: ''Te Rōpū Whakamana i te Tiriti o Waitangi'') is a New Zealand permanent commission of inquiry established under the Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975. It is charged with investigating and making recommendations on cla ...

decision in the 1990s, the Government has accepted a responsibility to promote the

Māori language Māori (), or ('the Māori language'), also known as ('the language'), is an Eastern Polynesian language spoken by the Māori people, the indigenous population of mainland New Zealand. Closely related to Cook Islands Māori, Tuamotuan, and ...

through

Te Māngai Pāho Te Māngai Pāho (the Māori Broadcast Funding Agency) is the New Zealand Crown entity responsible for the promotion of the Māori language and Māori culture by providing funding for Māori-language programming on radio and television. In 198 ...

funding of the

Māori Television Service The 'Māori Television Service'' is a state sector organisation in New Zealand that was established on 7 May 2003 under the ''Māori Television Service (Te Aratuku Whakāta Irirangi Māori) Act 2003'' to replace the ''Te Reo Māori Television Tru ...

, the Te Whakaruruhau o Nga Reo Irirangi Māori and other outlets. NZ On Air funds public service programming on the publicly owned Television New Zealand and

Radio New Zealand Radio New Zealand ( mi, Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa), commonly known as Radio NZ or simply RNZ, is a New Zealand public-service radio broadcaster and Crown entity that was established under the Radio New Zealand Act 1995. It operates news and c ...

, and on community-owned and privately owned broadcasters.

Censorship

There is limited censorship in New Zealand of political expression, violence or sexual content.

Reporters Without Borders Reporters Without Borders (RWB; french: Reporters sans frontières; RSF) is an international non-profit and non-governmental organization with the stated aim of safeguarding the right to freedom of information. It describes its advocacy as found ...

rates New Zealand highly for

press freedom Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the fundamental principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic media, especially published materials, should be considered a right to be exerci ...

, ranking it eighth-best worldwide in 2018, up from thirteenth in 2017, and down from fifth in 2016. The country's libel laws follow the English model, and

contempt of court Contempt of court, often referred to simply as "contempt", is the crime of being disobedient to or disrespectful toward a court of law and its officers in the form of behavior that opposes or defies the authority, justice, and dignity of the cour ...

is severely punished. The Office of Film and Literature Classification classifies and sometimes censors films, videos, publications and video games, the

New Zealand Press Council The New Zealand Media Council (Māori: ''Te kaunihera ao pāpāho o Aotearoa'') is a non-governmental organisation which exists to uphold standards in the New Zealand media industry and promote freedom of speech in New Zealand. Founded in 1972 as ...

deals with print media bias and inaccuracy and the Broadcasting Standards Authority and Advertising Standards Authority considers complaints. The Department of Internal Affairs is responsible for

Internet censorship in New Zealand Internet censorship in New Zealand refers to the New Zealand Government's system for filtering website traffic to prevent Internet users from accessing certain selected sites and material. While there are many types of objectionable content under ...

and runs a voluntary filtering system to prevent Internet users from accessing selected sites and material that contain sexual abuse or exploitation of children and young people.

Internet censorship in Australia Internet censorship in Australia is enforced by both the country's criminal law as well as voluntarily enacted by internet service providers. The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has the power to enforce content restrictions ...

is more extensive, and New Zealand has refused to follow suit.

Traditional media

Television

Television in New Zealand was introduced in 1960. Initially broadcasting from four separate stations in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin, television was networked nationwide in 1969. Colour television was introduced in 1973, and a second channel was launched in 1975. Provision was first made for the licensing of private radio and television stations in New Zealand by the Broadcasting Act 1976, although the first private television channel didn't launch until 1989. Satellite services are provided nationwide by

Freeview Freeview may refer to: *Freeview (Australia), the marketing name for the digital terrestrial television platform in Australia *Freeview (New Zealand), a digital satellite and digital terrestrial television platform in New Zealand *Freeview (UK), a ...

and

, a terrestrial service provided in the main centres by

, and an internet service provided by Vodafone. There are currently 20 national free-to-air channels, 24 regional free-to-air stations and several pay TV networks. Programming and scheduling is done in Auckland where all the major networks are now headquartered. The first nationwide digital TV service was launched in December 1998 by Sky Network Television, who had a monopoly on digital satellite TV until the launch of Freeview's nationwide digital satellite service in May 2007. The

terrestrial service is a

high definition High definition or HD may refer to: Visual technologies *HD DVD, discontinued optical disc format *HD Photo, former name for the JPEG XR image file format *HDV, format for recording high-definition video onto magnetic tape * HiDef, 24 frames-pe ...

digital terrestrial television service launched on 14 April 2008, initially serving Auckland,

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

, Tauranga,

Napier Napier may refer to: People * Napier (surname), including a list of people with that name * Napier baronets, five baronetcies and lists of the title holders Given name * Napier Shaw (1854–1945), British meteorologist * Napier Waller (1893–19 ...

- Hastings, Palmerston North, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin. This was later expanded to include more regions. Broadband television is currently operated from Vodafone, The Vodafone service includes all Freeview channels and allows customers to add Sky channel packages to their accounts, through a wholesale deal with Sky. High Definition programming is available from Freeview on terrestrial broadcast only and on Sky.

Radio

New Zealand radio is dominated by twenty-seven networks and station-groups, but also includes several local and low-powered stations.

operates four public service networks: the flagship Radio New Zealand National, the classical music network Radio New Zealand Concert, the Pacific

shortwave Shortwave radio is radio transmission using shortwave (SW) radio frequencies. There is no official definition of the band, but the range always includes all of the high frequency band (HF), which extends from 3 to 30 MHz (100 to 10 me ...

service Radio New Zealand International and the Parliamentary broadcasters AM Network. Two companies have a staunch rivalry in the commercial radio market. NZME Radio operates music station Coast, hip-hop station Flava, rock station Radio Hauraki, 80s and 90s station

Mix 98.2 Mix was a greatest hits radio station in New Zealand, broadcasting music from the 70s, 80s and 90s. Mix was owned and operated by New Zealand Media and Entertainment. Mix is targeted at 35 to 54-year-olds. Its head office and studios were locate ...

, talk network

Newstalk ZB Newstalk ZB is a nationwide New Zealand talk radio, talk-radio network operated by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, NZME Radio. It is available in almost every media market, radio market area in New Zealand, and has news reporters based in m ...

, sports network Radio Sport, pop station The Hits and youth station ZM. MediaWorks New Zealand operates sport network

LiveSport TAB Trackside is a New Zealand horse racing and sports broadcast network, incorporating two pay TV channels. The TV channels are available on Sky channels and the Spark Sport streaming service. The radio station broadcasts on 14 AM radio and ...

, dance station

George FM George FM is a New Zealand dance music radio station, owned and operated by MediaWorks from its Hargreaves Street headquarters and relayed on Freeview and radio frequencies around New Zealand. Its seventy-five regular presenters and additional ...

, New Zealand music station Kiwi FM, Māori station Mai FM, pop station

More FM More FM is a New Zealand radio network that plays hot adult contemporary music. It is operated by MediaWorks New Zealand. More FM broadcasts in 25 centres throughout New Zealand on 81 transmitters with a mix of local and network programming. ...

, talk station Radio Live, oldies station The Sound, easy-listening station The Breeze, youth station The Edge and rock station The Rock.

Rhema Media Rhema Media (previously known as Rhema Broadcasting Group or RBG) is a Christian media organisation in New Zealand. It owns radio networks Rhema, Life FM and Star, and television station Shine TV. It also publishes Bob Gass's quarterly devotio ...

operates four evangelical Christian networks, most student networks belong to the Student Radio Network and most public access broadcasters belong to the

Association of Community Access Broadcasters The Community Access Media Alliance (CAMA) (formerly the Association of Community Access Broadcasters (ACAB)), also known as the Access Radio Network, is a group of twelve New Zealand community radio media organisations. The stations were establ ...

. The

Iwi Radio Network Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori roughly means "people" or "nation", and is often translated as "tribe", or "a confederation of tribes". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, an ...

is funded by

and the Pacific Media Network is predominantly funded by NZ On Air.

Print media

The number of newspapers in New Zealand has dramatically reduced since the early 20th century as a consequence of radio, television and new media being introduced to the country. Auckland's '' The New Zealand Herald'' serves the upper North Island, Wellington's '' The Dominion Post'' serves the lower North Island and Canterbury's '' The Press'' and Dunedin's ''

Otago Daily Times The ''Otago Daily Times'' (ODT) is a newspaper published by Allied Press Ltd in Dunedin, New Zealand. The ''ODT'' is one of the country's four main daily newspapers, serving the southern South Island with a circulation of around 26,000 and a c ...

'' serve the South Island. Provincial and community newspapers, such as the '' Waikato Times'' daily, serve particular regions, cities and suburbs. Ownership of New Zealand newspapers is dominated by

and New Zealand Media and Entertainment with Stuff (formerly Fairfax) having 48.6% of the daily newspaper circulation. Local and overseas tabloids and magazines cover food, current affairs, personal affairs, gardening and home decor, and business or appeal to gay, lesbian, ethnic and rural communities. In early April 2020, German media company Bauer Media Group announced the closure of several of its New Zealand brands including '' Woman's Day'', '' New Zealand Woman's Weekly'', the ''

New Zealand Listener The ''New Zealand Listener'' is a weekly New Zealand magazine that covers the political, cultural and literary life of New Zealand by featuring a variety of topics, including current events, politics, social issues, health, technology, arts, f ...

'', '' The Australian Women's Weekly'', '' North & South'', ''Next'', ''

Metro Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to: Geography * Metro (city), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urba ...

'', Air New Zealand's inflight magazine ''Kia Ora'', and ''Your Home & Garden'' in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand.

Literature

Māori in New Zealand had non-literate culture before contact with the Europeans in the early 19th century, but oratory recitation of quasi-historical and hagiographical ancestral blood lines was central to the culture; oral traditions were first published when early 19th century

Christian missionaries A Christian mission is an organized effort for the propagation of the Christian faith. Missions involve sending individuals and groups across boundaries, most commonly geographical boundaries, to carry on evangelism or other activities, such as ...

developed a written form of the

to publish Bibles. The

literature of New Zealand New Zealand literature is literature, both oral and written, produced by the people of New Zealand. It often deals with New Zealand themes, people or places, is written predominantly in New Zealand English, and features Māori culture and the ...

includes many works written in English and

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

by New Zealanders and migrants during the 20th and 21st centuries. Novelists include Patricia Grace,

Albert Wendt Albert Tuaopepe Wendt (born 27 October 1939) is a Samoan poet and writer who lives in New Zealand. He is one of the most influential writers in Oceania. His notable works include ''Sons for the Return Home'', published in 1973 (adapted into a ...

and

Maurice Gee Maurice Gough Gee (born 22 August 1931) is a New Zealand novelist. He is one of New Zealand's most distinguished and prolific authors, having written over thirty novels for adults and children, and has won numerous awards both in New Zealand an ...

; children's authors include

Margaret Mahy Margaret Mahy (21 March 1936 – 23 July 2012) was a New Zealand author of children's and young adult books. Many of her story plots have strong supernatural elements but her writing concentrates on the themes of human relationships and growi ...

. Keri Hulme won the

Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a Literary award, literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United King ...

for ''

The Bone People ''The Bone People'', styled by the writer and in some editions as ''the bone people'', is a 1984 novel by New Zealand writer Keri Hulme. Set on the coast of the South Island of New Zealand, the novel focuses on three characters, all of whom ar ...

'';

Witi Ihimaera Witi Tame Ihimaera-Smiler (; born 7 February 1944) is a New Zealand author. Raised in the small town of Waituhi, he decided to become a writer as a teenager after being convinced that Māori people were ignored or mischaracterised in literat ...

's novel '' Whale Rider'', which dealt with Māori life in the modern world, ' became a

Nikki Caro Nikola Jean Caro (born 20 September 1966) is a New Zealand film director and screenwriter. Her 2002 film '' Whale Rider'' was critically praised and won a number of awards at international film festivals. She directed the 2020 live action ver ...

film. Migrant writers include South African-born Robin Hyde; expatriate writers like Dan Davin and Katherine Mansfield often wrote about the country. Samuel Butler stayed in New Zealand and set his novel '' Erewhon'' in the country.

Karl Wolfskehl Karl Wolfskehl (17 September 1869 – 30 June 1948) was a German Jewish author and translator. He wrote poetry, prose and drama in German, and translated from French, English, Italian, Hebrew, Latin and Old/Middle High German into German. Bio ...

prepared works of

German literature German literature () comprises those literature, literary texts written in the German language. This includes literature written in Germany, Austria, the German parts of Switzerland and Belgium, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, South Tyrol in Italy a ...

during a sojourn in Auckland. New Zealand's lively community of playwrights, supported by

Playmarket Playmarket is a not-for-profit organisation providing script advisory services, representation for playwrights in New Zealand and access to New Zealand plays. Playmarket was founded in 1973 to encourage the professional production of New Zealand p ...

, include Roger Hall.

Film

The New Zealand film industry is small but successful, boasting directors such as

Peter Jackson Sir Peter Robert Jackson (born 31 October 1961) is a New Zealand film director, screenwriter and producer. He is best known as the director, writer and producer of the ''Lord of the Rings'' trilogy (2001–2003) and the ''Hobbit'' trilogy ( ...

and Jane Campion. The cinema of New Zealand includes many films made in New Zealand, made about New Zealand or made by New Zealand-based production companies.

's ''The Lord of the Rings'' film trilogy was produced and filmed in New Zealand, and animation and photography for

James Cameron James Francis Cameron (born August 16, 1954) is a Canadian filmmaker. A major figure in the post-New Hollywood era, he is considered one of the industry's most innovative filmmakers, regularly pushing the boundaries of cinematic capability w ...

's '' Avatar'' was primarily done in New Zealand; both films are among the highest-grossing movies of all time. The New Zealand Film Commission funds films with New Zealand content. Mainstream American, British and Australian films screen in theatres in most cities and towns. Some arthouse films and foreign language films reach cinemas, including weekly Bollywood screenings in many city cinemas. Asian films, particularly from India, China, Hong Kong and Japan, are widely available for rental on videocassette, DVD and similar media, especially in Auckland.

Modern media

Internet

Internet is widely available in New Zealand. There are 1,916,000 broadband connections and just 65,000 dialup connections, with almost every home having an internet connection.

Digital subscriber line Digital subscriber line (DSL; originally digital subscriber loop) is a family of technologies that are used to transmit digital data over telephone lines. In telecommunications marketing, the term DSL is widely understood to mean asymmetric di ...

over phone lines provides two-thirds of broadband, and

fibre to the home Fiber to the ''x'' (FTTX; also spelled "fibre") or fiber in the loop is a generic term for any broadband network architecture using optical fiber to provide all or part of the local loop used for last mile telecommunications. As fiber optic ...

now covers over a third of the main towns and cities. Parts of Wellington, Kapiti and Christchurch have

cable internet In telecommunications, cable Internet access, shortened to cable Internet, is a form of broadband Internet access which uses the same infrastructure as a cable television. Like digital subscriber line and fiber to the premises services, cable In ...

access, satellite internet is widely available, most of the country is covered by 3G

mobile broadband Mobile broadband is the marketing term for Wireless broadband, wireless Internet access via mobile networks. Access to the network can be made through a portable modem, wireless modem, or a Tablet computer, tablet/smartphone (possibly Tetherin ...

, and 4G is available in major centres. Broadband pricing is at, or above the OECD average, and most connections have a fixed data cap. There are about 80 ISPs, with two of them having three-quarters of the market. The New Zealand Government is funding two broadband expansion initiatives, with the aim of providing fibre to the home of 75% of the population and bringing broadband to 97.8% of the population by 2019. International connectivity is mainly provided by the Southern Cross Cable. Internet portals like Google New Zealand, Yahoo New Zealand, NZCity and MSN New Zealand have been popular in New Zealand since the outset of internet access. News websites like

, tvnz.co.nz, rnz.co.nz, nzherald.co.nz, newshub.co.nz,

Newsroom A newsroom is the central place where journalists—reporters, editors, and producers, associate producers, news anchors, news designers, photojournalists, videojournalists, associate editor, residence editor, visual text editor, Desk Head, s ...

, interest.co.nz, thespinoff.co.nz moneyhub.co.nz, odt.co.nz, newstalkzb.co.nz and stoppress.co.nz are increasingly taking over the portal role. Scoop and Voxy publish raw news coverage such as press releases, while skysport.co.nz, radiosport.co.nz and Sportal provide dedicated coverage of sports news. Online magazines such as businessdesk.co.nz, idealog.co.nz, nzbusiness.co.nz and NZ Entrepreneur.co.nz cover business News.

Blogging and social media

New Zealand's blogosphere is dominated by a small community of blogs that comment on New Zealand politics, society and occurrences. One list of over 200 "author-operated, public discourse" blogs in New Zealand (ranked according to traffic, links incoming, posting frequency and comments) suggests New Zealand blogs cover a wide range of ideological positions but a lack of female contributors. Some personal blogs have been around since the mid 1990s, but there are now blogs about cities, science, law and fashion magazines. Political bloggers include current and former party apparatchiks such as David Farrar (

Kiwiblog Kiwiblog is a New Zealand political blog written by pollster and classic-liberal National Party-aligned political activist David Farrar. Farrar started the blog in July 2003 at the instigation of then-prominent New Zealand blogger Gordon King ...

Jordan Carter Jordan Terrell Carter (born September 13, 1996), known professionally as Playboi Carti, is an American rapper. Carter was initially signed to local underground label Awful Records prior to signing with ASAP Mob's AWGE Label under Interscope ...

, Peter Cresswell and

Trevor Loudon Trevor Loudon is a New Zealand author, speaker, political activist, blogger and far-right conspiracy theorist. He was Vice President of ACT New Zealand, a classical liberal and libertarian political party from 2006 to 2008. Loudon is the auth ...

, and journalists and commentators such as Russell Brown. New Zealand politicians and political groups operate blogs which, unlike overseas counterparts, allow comments. Craig Foss operates a personal blog. The

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...

expands on party press releases, and

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

MPs discuss policy and Parliamentary business. Blogging is a central campaigning tool for many political lobbying groups. Political bloggers have been described as potentially the most powerful "opinion makers" in New Zealand politics. There is also an active political and non-political New Zealand community on Twitter, Facebook,

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

, Tumblr and Flickr.

References

External links

Journalism, Media and Democracy Research Centre
at Auckland University of Technology {{DEFAULTSORT:Media of New Zealand New Zealand New Zealand