AGENDA ITEM 2.7
PUBLIC INTEREST JOURNALISM: INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENT FUNDING
FUNDING DECISIONS
RECOMMENDATION
That the Staff Investment Committee
approves funding of up to:
•
$7,600 to Attitude Pictures for
Disability: Industry Development Funding
•
$141,280 to Go Global for
Chinese Journalism Cadetship Programme Extension
•
$98,824 to Kowhai Media for
Data Aotearoa
and
declines
•
•
3 applications recommended for total funding of up to $247,704.
applications recommended decline seeking total funding of
.
BACKGROUND
1.
In January 2021 Cabinet agreed to draw down $55 million over three years (2021 - 2023) from the tagged
contingency set aside by Cabinet for broadcasting initiatives. This funding is administered by NZ On Air to
support the production of public interest journalism including Māori and Iwi journalism that is relevant to
and valued by New Zealanders.
2.
General Guidelines for the PIJF were published in April 2021. The principles set out in
the Cabinet paper have
informed the design of the Public Interest Journalism Fund (PIJF). NZ On Air collaborated with Te Māngai
Pāho on the design and delivery of the fund. Th
e General Guidelines were updated in March 2022.
3.
The PIJF supports journalistic capability across three funding pillars: Projects, Roles, and Industry
Development Funding (IDF).
OVERVIEW
4.
under the Official Information Act
The final general contestable round (Round 7) of the PIJF saw $3,247,617 available for funding. A further
$3m is committed to an upcoming Te Māngai Pāho co-fund supporting Māori regional news media.
5.
Staff sought advice from the PIJF Industry Advisory Panel on 9 December 2022 as to the pil ars this round
should focus on. The strong consensus was that maintaining roles previously funded by the PIJF, and
supporting the long-term sustainability of the sector via industry development training programmes would
meet the greatest need. Given the limited pūtea available in this round it was recommended that
applications be limited to extending existing funded roles and IDF. Projects would not be included.
6.
On 15 December 2022, the Round
7 guidelines were published limiting applications to one IDF application
(new or previously funded) and/or up to five previously funded roles across both targeted or content
Released
creation role categories.
7.
Applications opened on 12 January 2023 and closed on 9 February 2023 with 22 applications received under
the Roles pillar covering 40 roles and five under IDF. The total funding sought is $3,936,646.
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8.
This SIC paper assesses recommended funding of up to $247,704 across three IDF applications. The Roles
funding paper is included as Agenda Item 2.6
9.
The assessment panel for Round 7 included:
•
•
•
•
Raewyn Rasch (Ngāi Tahu) – NZ On Air Head of Journalism. Former General Manager Māori
and Pacific programmes at TVNZ, executive producer of
Seven Sharp, producer of
Fair Go and
Marae Investigates, TV and radio journalist.
•
Gabriel Thomas - Journalism Manager, NZ On Air. Former executive producer of
The Nation
and
Firstline, producer
Newshub Live at 6.
•
Dr Fairooz Samy - Journalism Funding Advisor, NZ On Air. Recently graduated from Victoria
University of Wellington with a PhD in Media Studies.
GENERAL ASSESSMENT & STAFF OPINION
Disability: IDF
Attitude Pictures
$7,600
Key personnel
Title/s
Relevant Past Work
Synopsis
10. Attitude seeks to advance the skills of a current PIJF intern video storyteller/editor who is non-verbal and lives
with cerebral palsy.
General Assessment 11. Attitude Pictures applied for a disabled journalist intern to train as part of its Disability Road Show project
approved in Round 1 of the PIJF. The internship was extended for a further year with funding in Round 5 along
with funding for a second intern.
12.
under the Official Information Act
13. Attitude Pictures has supported
desire to be a writer and digital producer with one-on-one mentoring
enabling him to produce 15 online stories so far.
14. Funding wil enable an edit tutor to provide 12 one-day coaching sessions with an output of 8 original videos.
15.
Released
Editor Levi Beamish will coach
in editing and work alongside Attitude Digital Head Daniel Stevens to plan
the specific video content. Attitude founder Robyn Scott-Vincent and broadcast journalist Pete Cronshaw
continue as
’s journalism and storytelling coaches.
16. Funding requested covers $7,200 for tutor fees and $400 for technical accessibility costs and overheads. This
contract wil run concurrently with funding from Round 5 of $142,520 which covers
and one other intern’s
training through to the end of 2023.
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Staff Opinion 17. Staff counts
internship and resulting growth as a disability journalist as one of the success stories of the
PIJF. His upskil ing and content production meets the goals of the PIJF and NZ On Air to support diverse voice
journalists and the disability community. Assessors were unanimously in favour of supporting this application.
18. This support will enable
to gain skills in a medium he is passionate about; empowering not just him, but
also the community he seeks to give voice to.
says “
I love the art of creating a story with visual elements.
Editing is my happy place outside of my work and where I feel at home. My aspiration is to create stories and
projects that people can relate/ share, using my experience and disability to tel unique stories.”
19.
disability is such that one-on-one tutoring is required, and staff believes this investment is small
compared to the potential outcomes for
ongoing career and the contribution he wil undoubtedly make
to journalism in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Funding is recommended up to $7,600.
Chinese Journalism Cadetship Programme
Go Global Ltd
$141,280
Key personnel
Title/s
Relevant Past Work
Synopsis
20. To provide a cadetship programme for the Chinese journalism industry in Aotearoa, New Zealand.
General Assessment 21. To meet the growing need for Chinese journalists, in Round 5 of the PIJF, Go Global was provided with
$137,280 to support a cadetship programme for Chinese language journalists. This programme supports two
cadets for one year and got underway in February 2023.
22. This application seeks to expand that programme to cover two further cadets saying expanding the
programme represents an economically feasible means of meeting the growing demands for Chinese
reporters. While the application does not detail start dates. the new cadets could not be recruited until
funding is approved in mid-June some five months after the initial cadets started.
23. Go Global Ltd via its platform Go Kiwi was founded in 2013 to focus on local news and current affairs for the
Chinese community in Aotearoa, New Zealand and
24. Go Global developed a comprehensive one-year training programme with a variety of modules using both in-
house and external tutors.
25.
under the Official Information Act
The funding request marks a $4,000 increase (2.9%) on the previous training programme to account for
increased costs.
Staff Opinion
26. While staff is confident Go Global has the capacity to undertake this training, it notes this would be only its
second contract with NZ On Air, and the organisation is new to running a training programme of this type.
27. As the initial programme only started in February, staff has had no opportunity to assess its quality so far. Staff
is also concerned that starting a second programme some months after the first might not provide the
efficiencies Go Global sought to achieve the current cadets wil be some five months into their training and
Released
modules may need to be repeated.
28. In discussions with Go Global, staff suggested that funding could be secured for a second year to start in 2024
once the current contract has been concluded and this was agreed.
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30. Despite the fledgling nature of this programme, staff believes it has the potential to provide a much-needed
boost to developing the skil s and knowledge of Chinese journalists and would be the only training programme
of its kind currently in Aotearoa New Zealand.
31. Staff believes such training wil also assist the PIJF funded RNZ Asia Unit Project not only providing a conduit
for trained journalists but also potentially content if they were to develop a partnership/relationship with Go
Global.
32. There is an acute need for more independent Chinese New Zealand journalists who can serve the growing
Chinese population in Aotearoa New Zealand and staff believes this project will go some way to alleviating the
current shortage.
Funding is approved up to $141,280
Kowhai Media
Data Aotearoa
$98,824
Key personnel
Title/s
Relevant Past Work
Synopsis
33. A four-day wānanga to develop 18 data journalists at both a senior and emerging level to increase the number
of skilled data journalists and to support diversity within data journalism.
General Assessment 34. This proposal is designed to strengthen data journalism in Aotearoa, New Zealand and has been developed by
New Zealand Geographic in partnership with the Science Media Centre.
35. The four day, live in, training programme will be convened by Pulitzer-Prize winning data journalist Matt Carroll
who is a professor of data journalism at Northeastern University in the United States.
36. The wānanga will combine masterclasses and mentoring with national and international experts along with
hands-on clinics that will involve diving into a range of real-life datasets to present new analyses. It will be
followed by ongoing mentoring across a six-month period.
37. The wānanga will also produce open-access documentation that wil support the development of data journalism
skills within the wider industry.
38. The programme has a seven-member advisory panel that includes industry and Māori representatives. With a
under the Official Information Act
strong te ao Māori lens, the programme aims to have at least 25% Māori participants and to have at least 40%
of participants representing underserved communities.
39. The budget will include funding for travel costs of journalists attending to ensure diverse representation.
Staff Opinion
40. Staff is excited to see a data journalism training programme come forward. The lack of data journalism in
Aotearoa New Zealand was raised at the beginning of the PIJF and this is the first training proposal to come in
for funding.
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41. It is based on the highly successful
Photo Aotearoa which was funded by the PIJF in Round 1 and was a wānanga
style programme for photojournalists.
42. The programme director, Rosabel Tan, has demonstrated through other PIJF training programmes that she is
highly capable of delivering in this space and the quality of the tutors is world leading.
43. Staff is impressed by the commitment to Te Tiriti inherent in this proposal and to diverse voice journalism.
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44.
Data Aotearoa is a comprehensive proposal that not only demonstrates the need for data journalism training
but also provides a strong solution that staff believes will have a significant impact on the sector.
Funding is
recommended up to $98,824.
ATTACHMENTS
ANNEX A: ALL PIJF INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENT APPLICATIONS
Company
Application Name
$ Requested $ Recomm Result
Attitude Pictures
Disability: Industry Development $7,600
$7,600
Approved – Panel recommends funding
Funding
approval
Go Global Ltd
Chinese Journalism Cadetship
$141,280
$141,280 Approved – Panel recommends funding
Programme
approval
Kowhai Media
Data Aotearoa
$98,824
$98,824
Approved – Panel recommends funding
approval
under the Official Information Act
Released
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Document Outline
