Conflicting Digital Futures: An Analysis of the New Zealand Digital Television Debate in Relation to Public Service Principles and Commercial Imperatives

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aut.embargoNoen_NZ
aut.thirdpc.containsNoen_NZ
aut.thirdpc.permissionNoen_NZ
aut.thirdpc.removedNoen_NZ
dc.contributor.advisorHope, Wayne
dc.contributor.advisorCocker, Alan
dc.contributor.authorBrill, Yvonne Charlotte
dc.date.accessioned2015-11-16T23:12:32Z
dc.date.available2015-11-16T23:12:32Z
dc.date.copyright2012
dc.date.created2015
dc.date.issued2012
dc.date.updated2015-11-16T21:56:34Z
dc.description.abstractThe freedom to provide a wide range of content from diverse sources allows the media to fulfil its role as facilitator of the public sphere. Having access to a wide range of content from diverse sources is necessary if citizens are to fully participate in the democratic process. However, provision of non-commercial and public service content has proved problematic in New Zealand’s deregulated broadcasting environment. During the 1980s and 1990s the international trend toward deregulated national media markets put public service media under considerable pressure. In a deregulated environment commercial interests flourished, often at the expense of the public interest. This was certainly the case with broadcasting. Since then, New Zealand’s television broadcasting market has struggled to provide a balance of commercial and non-commercial content for a variety of reasons. But the digital era of broadcasting brings with it new opportunities for public service broadcasting provision. A by-product of the government’s decision to begin the switchover from analogue to digital broadcasting was the establishment of two non-commercial digital channels, administered by state-owned broadcaster, TVNZ. However, less than five years after the digital initiatives were announced, both channels had ceased broadcasting and once again the market became dominated by commercial interests. This thesis begins with a political-economic overview of New Zealand broadcasting history. The latter part of the overview traces the emergence of the neoliberal orthodoxy which informed the radical deregulation of the broadcasting sector, as well as ‘Third Wayism,’ which entailed a partial recommitment to public service broadcasting. In this context, the establishment of the Freeview platform and TVNZ’s digital channels, as well as the subsequent demise of these channels are examined. These developments were reported in the mainstream media in certain ways. In this context I provide a case study of how public service broadcasting was framed in news coverage from 2006-2011. This makes it possible to evaluate the parameters of the debate concerning public service broadcasting in the digital era. My conclusion here is that the debate was framed in such a way that public broadcasting was made to appear as if it was an imposition on the taxpayer, and commercially driven broadcasting was positioned as the default.en_NZ
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10292/9219
dc.language.isoenen_NZ
dc.publisherAuckland University of Technology
dc.rights.accessrightsOpenAccess
dc.subjectPublic sphereen_NZ
dc.subjectDigital broadcastingen_NZ
dc.subjectPublic service broadcastingen_NZ
dc.subjectNeoliberalismen_NZ
dc.subjectThird Wayen_NZ
dc.subjectPolitical economyen_NZ
dc.subjectFrame analysisen_NZ
dc.subjectPublic serviceen_NZ
dc.subjectMedia framingen_NZ
dc.subjectState ownershipen_NZ
dc.subjectMedia ownershipen_NZ
dc.subjectTelevisionen_NZ
dc.subjectNew Zealanden_NZ
dc.subjectTVNZ charteren_NZ
dc.subjectBroadcasting reformsen_NZ
dc.subjectTVNZ 7en_NZ
dc.subjectNews framesen_NZ
dc.subjectNon commercial broadcastingen_NZ
dc.subjectRogernomicsen_NZ
dc.subjectTVNZ 6en_NZ
dc.titleConflicting Digital Futures: An Analysis of the New Zealand Digital Television Debate in Relation to Public Service Principles and Commercial Imperativesen_NZ
dc.typeThesis
thesis.degree.discipline
thesis.degree.grantorAuckland University of Technology
thesis.degree.grantorAuckland University of Technology
thesis.degree.levelMasters Theses
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Communication Studiesen_NZ
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