|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
MEDIA RELEASES
TV producers and directors cautiously welcome TVNZ charter (2 May 2001)
The publication of the TVNZ Charter has been welcomed by the Screen Producers and Directors Association but with reservations. "We are delighted that the Government has finally moved to publish the Charter", said SPADA chief executive Jane Wrightson. "It is a sensible document and we are pleased the Government has taken on board most of the comments we made about the earlier draft and its lack of consistency".
"But we remain agitated about the state of broadcasting policy in general. The slowness of progress has been unsettling and there are fundamental issues which do not seem to have been dealt with", she said. "For example, the promise to introduce local content programme quotas has not been addressed in any meaningful way over the last eighteen months. The foreign-owned private broadcasters seem to be getting off the hook entirely".
"Neither has information on funding policy been released. How is TVNZ meant to fund new Charter obligations" If, as rumoured, the Government intends to split out BCL from TVNZ, it is ludicrous on the one hand to impose new obligations and on the other remove a substantial revenue-generating activity, unless the revenue from the sale and subsequent profits are ploughed back into programme funding. And where do the NZ On Air functions sit?"
"Unless these issues are dealt with in a pragmatic and cohesive way, New Zealand audiences will be the losers" warned Ms Wrightson. "The industry is frustrated with the talk. We need good decisions and information now so we can develop good programmes which reflect the admirable goals of the Charter but which we know can be financially supported."
|
|
|
|
