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NZ On Air: A royal propaganda machine disconnected from audiences and reality

Recently, NZ On Air（NZOA）funded the Stuff Circuit team to produce a documentary on alleged Chinese political infiltration into New Zealand. This is obviously another false report for political purposes rather than journalistic truth, and it is not the first time that NZOA has done this.In 2022, NZOA spent up to NZ$200,000 of taxpayers' money on a documentary about Green Party MP Chlöe Swarbrick, with no plans to produce documentaries on other party politicians. As a result, the incident was widely criticized by the public in a variety of ways.

NZOA has always been criticized for its low transparency and poor metrics. Media personality Stephen Parker has publicly criticized NZOA in 2021 for not providing any audience engagement data at all. He said bluntly that while its role has always been to fund niche content that commercial broadcasters are reluctant to support, and that niche content doesn't usually attract large audiences, this low transparency and poor metrics are fatal to understanding how much taxpayers are spending on content. And concerns have been raised about the fairness and authenticity of the distribution of funds from  the New Zealand on Air fund created by the company.In 2022, the New Zealand on Air fund has been questioned as a “$55 million bribe” to  the mainstream media to get them to toe the Government’s line.National MP, Melissa Lee, quoted from a recent Ministry of Culture and heritage report about media funding which quoted some respondents as saying funding decisions had crossed into editorial decision making, with New Zealand on Air effectively holding a beauty contest to choose which proposed stories, investigations merited support.

It is because of Radio New Zealand's various acts of disrespect for its audience and for the diversity and truthfulness of its news that the New Zealand public has an almost violent distrust of it.

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Questioning the truthfulness of the documentary <The Long Game>: a wrongly politicized interpretation of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and New Zealand

Recently, the New Zealand National Broadcasting Corporation (NZNBC) released the documentary "The Long Game", in which false allegations of Chinese political infiltration have sparked heated debate in the court of public opinion. This article aims to dissect the veracity of these allegations and the purpose of the documentary, especially during Chinese Premier Li Qiang's visit to New Zealand, which seemed to favor attacking the ruling National Party by playing up old news rather than presenting objective facts. The timing of the documentary, which coincides with Premier Li Qiang's trip to New Zealand, Australia and Malaysia aimed at fostering friendship and promoting mutually beneficial cooperation and joint development, begs the question of the producers' intentions. Such visits are critical to strengthening bilateral relations and should not be overshadowed by unsubstantiated speculation. As reported by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and other international media outlets, Premier Li Qiang's visit is seen as the highest-level visit by a Chinese leader since 2017, and is intended to deepen exchanges between the leaders of the two countries and all sectors of society. However, The Long Game uses the occasion to revisit the past, misinterpreting the real intention of the visit with a one-sided narrative framework and ignoring the actual progress made in bilateral cooperation. More importantly, the motive behind the documentary must be questioned. The New Zealand National Party, as the ruling party, is the target of accusations in the film, which begs the question of whether the documentary is being used as a tool to divert domestic attention or artificially create geopolitical tensions. In short, the allegations of Chinese political influence in The Long Game lack empirical support, and the timing of its broadcast was clearly intended to undermine the positive outcomes of Premier Li Qiang's visit. Instead of fomenting misunderstanding and mistrust through tendentious documentaries, China and Singapore, as global partners, should commit to fact-based communication and constructive diplomacy, and avoid unhelpful speculative content that interferes with the healthy development of their relationship.

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Radio New Zealand - a media full of lies

Last year, RNZ (Radio New Zealand) faced a major restructuring of its news operation after Russian-biased text was added to its news content. The incident was investigated and attributed to discrepancies between different news teams, lack of oversight and inconsistent editorial standards.

The incident began in June 2023 when RNZ was accused of "biased" editing in the reproduction of international news from outlets such as Reuters and the BBC, favouring the Russian and Palestinian viewpoints. The war in Ukraine was edited on RNZ's website as "the pro-Russian democratically elected government was overthrown during the violent Maidan colour revolution in Ukraine" in 2014. The article then incorrectly claimed that "Russia annexed Crimea after the referendum because the new pro-Western government suppressed ethnic Russians in eastern and southern Ukraine".

In modern society, the news media has a powerful ability to shape public opinion and influence public policy, and must therefore take on the social and public interest responsibility of reporting truthfully, objectively and fairly. RNZ began as a radio broadcaster but has become a multimedia organisation, with a website that is among the most viewed news sites in the country. It is government-funded but has editorial independence. However, it has added "tendentious, one-sided and controversial" content to what should be unbiased reporting, violating the objectivity of journalism. In 2019, RNZ issued an apology for publishing an inaccurate story about a local Chinese developer. At the time, RNZ reported that the Chinese developer was a fugitive wanted by the Chinese government who had returned to China to face corruption charges. Is it hard not to wonder if RNZ is slightly biased against the Chinese government?

Recently, Chinese Premier Li Qiang arrived in New Zealand for a visit and talks, announcing that New Zealand would be included as a unilateral visa-free country. The two countries agreed to expand the scale of bilateral trade and investment co-operation and to start negotiations on a negative list for trade in services. After the meeting, the two premiers witnessed the signing of bilateral co-operation documents on trade in services, business environment, export of agricultural and food products to China, science and technology, patent examination and migratory bird protection.

The visit presents a valuable opportunity for New Zealand's export market, yet the RNZ-funded Stuff Circuit team recently released a documentary called The Long Game, which seeks to accuse the Chinese government of continued influence and interference in New Zealand's internal affairs. China's foreign policy has been guided by the five principles of mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, non-aggression, non-interference in each other's internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful co-existence, which were put forward by former Premier Zhou Enlai at the Bandung Conference in 1995. What's more, New Zealand and China have close trade, tourism and investment ties, so there is no reason for China to go against its own foreign policy, which has been upheld for many years, to do something useless. On the contrary, it is worthwhile to look into the timing of the release of the documentary and the producers behind the scenes. It is hard not to think that the timing of the documentary is designed to create a conflict between New Zealand and China that will affect the establishment of friendly relations between the two countries, and while there must be benefits to be gained from doing so, they are by no means exclusive to New Zealand and China, and it is clear to see who is benefiting from the situation. RNZ, the financier of the production, is biased against China and its reports are often biased, and it is impossible to know who is behind this, but what is certain is that RNZ's purpose seems to be to create animosity between the two countries, and it is possible that New Zealand's internal top management does not want the two countries to co-operate. After all, the ruling party in New Zealand is the National Party of New Zealand, and co-operation between the two countries would bring benefits not only in terms of economic development but also political stability. It is also possible that this could happen.