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 and Sky, a terrestrial service provided in the main centres by Freeview, 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 Freeview terrestrial service is a high definitiondigital terrestrial television service launched on 14 April 2008, initially serving Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga, Napier-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.
Provincial and community newspapers, such as the Waikato Times daily, serve particular regions, cities and suburbs. Ownership of New Zealand newspapers is dominated by Stuff and New Zealand Media and Entertainment with Stuff (formerly Fairfax) having 48.6% of the daily newspaper circulation.[1] 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.
An early New Zealand printer used by CMSPaihia to publish Bibles during the 19th century.
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 developed a written form of the Māori language to publish Bibles. The literature of New Zealand includes many works written in English and Māori by New Zealanders and migrants during the 20th and 21st centuries.
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.
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.[14][15]Digital subscriber line over phone lines provides two-thirds of broadband, and fibre to the home now covers over a third of the main towns and cities. Parts of Wellington, Kapiti and Christchurch have cable internet access, satellite internet is widely available, most of the country is covered by 3G mobile broadband, 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.
New Zealand's blogosphere is dominated by a small community of blogs that comment on New Zealand politics, society and occurrences.[19] 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.[20] Some personal blogs have been around since the mid 1990s,[21][22][23][24] but there are now blogs about cities,[25][26] science,[27][28] law[29] and fashion magazines.[30][31][32] Political bloggers include current and former party apparatchiks such as David Farrar (Kiwiblog), Jordan Carter,[33] Peter Cresswell[34] and Trevor Loudon,[35] and journalists and commentators such as Russell Brown.[36]
New Zealand politicians and political groups operate blogs which, unlike overseas counterparts, allow comments. Craig Foss operates a personal blog.[37] The Green Party expands on party press releases,[38] and Labour MPs discuss policy and Parliamentary business.[39] Blogging is a central campaigning tool for many political lobbying groups.[40][41][42][43] Political bloggers have been described as potentially the most powerful "opinion makers" in New Zealand politics.[44] There is also an active political and non-political New Zealand community on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr and Flickr.
Public opinion and perceptions
In April 2020, the Auckland University of Technology's (AUT) research centre for Journalism, Media and Democracy (JMAD) first annual "Trust in Aotearoa News in New Zealand" report found that 53% of New Zealanders trusted "most of the news most of the time" while 62% trusted the news they personally consumed. State broadcasters Radio New Zealand (RNZ) and TVNZ (Television New Zealand) were the most trusted news brands, with ratings of 7/10 and 6.8/10 respectively. Despite strong levels of trust in the news, respondents were concerned about poor journalism, spin, commercial and political messaging presented as news, and "fake news." 86% of respondents were concerned about politicians using fake news to discredit news sources while 50% were stronglt concerned with fake news. The Trust in Aotearoa News report, which was produced in collaboration with the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (RISJ) and conducted by Horizon Research Ltd, surveyed 1,204 adult New Zealanders (aged over 18 years) between 23 and 30 March 2020.[45]
In April 2021, the Trust in News in New Zealand 2021 report found that overall public trust in the news had declined from 53% in 2020 to 48% in 2021. Trust in the news that people consumed declined from 62% in 2020 to 55% in 2021. Trust in news generated by search engines fell from 27% last year to 26% in 2021. Trust in news generated by social media fell from 16% in 2020 to 14% in 2021. All media brands experienced a decline in trust, particularly commercial radio station Newstalk ZB and commercial TV news broadcaster Newshub. The top three most trusted media brands were RNZ (6.8/10), TVNZ (6.6/10) and Newshub (6.3/10). 62% of New Zealanders believed that the mainstream media was the best source of COVID-19 pandemic news, compared with 12% for social media platforms. Key reasons for media distrust included political bias, the perceived politicisation of media, agenda building on issues like climate change, opinionated coverage, selective reporting and poor journalism standards including factual mistakes and grammatical errors. The Trust in News in New Zealand 2021 report surveyed 1,226 adult New Zealanders between 4 and 9 March 2022.[46]
In April 2022, the Trust in News in Aotearoa New Zealand 2022 report found that public trust in the news they consumed had declined from 62% in 2020 to 52%. Additionally, general trust in the news in general fell from 53% in 2020 to 45% in 2022. Between 2021 and 2022, trust in the Iwi Radio Network, Whakaata Māori (Māori Television) and TVNZ dropped by more than 10% while trust in RNZ declined by 9%. The top trusted media outlets were RNZ (6.2/10), the Otago Daily Times (6.0/10), TVNZ (5.9/10) and Newshub (5.8/10). The Trust in News in Aotearoa New Zealand 2022 report surveyed 1,085 adult New Zealanders between 22 February and 1 March 2022. Key factors fuelling the decline of media trust included Government funding for the media and a perceived pro-government bias in covering COVID-19 related news including vaccinations, vaccine mandates and protests.[47]
In April 2023, the Trust in News in Aotearoa New Zealand 2023 report found that general trust in the news had declined from 45% in 2022 to 42% in 2023. However, trust in the news that people consumed rose from 52% to 53%. Trust in RNZ, Whakaata Māori and Newstalk ZB declined by 14.5%, 14.3% and 14% respectively. The top three trusted brands in 2023 were RNZ, Otago Daily Times and TVNZ. The study also found that 69% of respondents avoided the news since they found them depressive, negative, anxiety-inducing, repetitive, boring and over-dramatic. The 2023 Trust in News in Aotearoa New Zealand 2023 report surveyed 1,120 adult New Zealanders between 13 and 18 February 2023.[48]
In April 2024, the Trust in News in Aotearoa New Zealand 2024 report found that general trust in the news had declined from 42% to 33% while the number of respondents avoiding the news had risen from 69% to 75%. All media brands experienced declines in trust. The top ranked brand was the Otago Daily Times, followed by RNZ and National Business Review tied for second place. TVNZ was the biggest source of news for New Zealanders, followed by Facebook despite a drop in trustworthiness. The Trust in News in Aotearoa New Zealand 2024 report surveyed 1,033 adult New Zealanders between 12 and 16 February 2024.[49][50]
^Myllylahti, Merja; Treadwell, Greg (2024). "Trust in News in Aotearoa New Zealand 2024"(PDF). AUT Research Centre for Journalism, Media & Democracy. Archived(PDF) from the original on 9 April 2024. Retrieved 9 April 2024.
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