RNZ: Mediawatch

Law changes to limit foreign influence on business and politics in Australia prompted calls for similar moves here this week. One of those sounding the alarm tells Mediawatch our government now needs to look at links between the China and parts of our media. What’s the problem?  ​

New research concluding the lack of women in top jobs costs the whole country dearly got a lot of coverage this week - even in blank spaces in the Herald.

Veteran broadcaster Leighton Smith will step down from his radio show after a third of a century on the air -- but only one year from now. Newstalk ZB certainly believes in giving its listeners plenty of notice.  

Does China hold sway over media here?; fair dinkum kwaussie news; PR push highlights the glass ceiling; making plans for Leighton

Journalists in the Philippines take their life in their hands doing their job. What was already one of the world's riskiest places to be a reporter has become even more difficult under President Rodrigo Duterte and his ‘war on drugs’.

A controversial column condemning the use of te reo Māori on RNZ sparked debate about racism, free speech and even hate speech this past week. Mediawatch looks at the responses and asks a veteran Maori broadcaster if this is a big deal.

The fallout from complaints about too much te reo on the radio; golden rule broken at journalism awards shindig; reporting risks grow under 'The Punisher' and his war on drugs.

Two new podcast series telling the stories of missing people are pulling big audiences, but they also raise big questions. Mediawatch asks the makers: can they help solve the mysteries of the missing? Do they risk exploiting the sorrow of relatives?

A new plan for New Zealand's biggest ever water-bottling plant could revive struggling Bay Of Plenty towns, according to reports in the media this past week. But a few facts were missing from the eye-watering sums in the stories.

Controversial TV comeback over before it began; podcasts bringing cold cases to life; water stories with missing history.

Tony Veitch’s critics claimed an effort to put him back on TV this week proved that the business doesn’t take domestic violence as seriously as its bottom line. But while many in the media have had his back in the past, it didn't work this time.  

Winston Peters' pursuit of Super story sources; the rise of Creative Commons; the view from Peru.

Winston Peters has targeted two journalists in his legal action over the leak of his super-sized superannuation, alarming media freedom advocates.

More than a billion original works are now available to anyone to use thanks to Creative Commons, a global movement dedicated to legal online sharing. Mediawatch asks its global leader: is this boosting the media - or undermining them?   

Fans of Peru impressed our media and had some sports pundits pondering why our fans are so staid by comparison. What did the media in faraway Peru make of us in the week of the do-or-die World Cup football playoffs? Even the 'Dunedin Sound' got comprehensive coverage.