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Speaker 1: Ever do for ze Ellen nineteen ninety is the text number,

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Speaker 1: standard text fees apply and let me know what you think.

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Speaker 1: We're going to talk to Barry Soper about it later

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Speaker 1: on in the meantime, and then obviously Peter Dune after five.

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Speaker 1: In the meantime, Local Government New Zealand is calling on

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Speaker 1: the central government to put some money into local newspapers.

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Speaker 1: Now this comes as inz ME, the company that owns

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Speaker 1: news Talk ZB proposes to cut fourteen North Island based

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Speaker 1: community papers before Christmas. In the Hawks Bay what is

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Speaker 1: being cut potentially is the Central Hawk's Bay Mail. Now

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Speaker 1: the Central Hawk's Bay Mayor and Local Government New Zealand

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Speaker 1: Rural chairs Alex Walker, Hey, Alex Calder, Alex, why did

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Speaker 1: the Central Hawk's Bay Mail shut down?

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Speaker 2: Well, that's a great question. Some would say sign of

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Speaker 2: the times. Some would say this is the same challenge

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Speaker 2: we've been having for decades actually, but making sure that

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Speaker 2: we've got a media outlet at the local level at

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Speaker 2: the right size and such a purpose. But in zeed

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Speaker 2: me are the ones that are clearly making some business

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Speaker 2: decisions at the moment, and we've got figure out what

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Speaker 2: it means.

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Speaker 1: I mean, obviously I don't know any of the detail

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Speaker 1: about this, right, but it would suggest to me that

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Speaker 1: this paper is it hasn't got enough readers, It hasn't

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Speaker 1: got enough advertisers to actually wash its face. So if

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Speaker 1: people aren't actually engaging with it, then why should the

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Speaker 1: government put money into providing the same service.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, but here's the question. Is it actually about those

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Speaker 2: individual papers or is it about the business model that

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Speaker 2: nzb ME is running to do this. We don't know

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Speaker 2: that because that has been how the choice has been

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Speaker 2: about how nzb ME runs it, and community would probably

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Speaker 2: give you feedback to say well, actually, if it's relevant,

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Speaker 2: if it's good local content and it's good circulation locally,

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Speaker 2: then advertisers will be there. If it's not popular enough,

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Speaker 2: they need to tell us so that we can figure

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Speaker 2: out how we can solve it.

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Speaker 1: So what would be the business model that you're talking about?

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Speaker 2: Oh, look, I don't know. We need to get creative

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Speaker 2: about how we change. This is not just a local

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Speaker 2: newspaper issue. This is about wider media and look, we're

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Speaker 2: particularly concerned about what this means for local democracy. If

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Speaker 2: we don't have the local papers hitting the kitchen tables

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Speaker 2: around our rural and provincial areas. How are we getting

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Speaker 2: good engagement on candidates for elections and on the really

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Speaker 2: crunchy local issues.

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Speaker 1: Don't you need to take it online.

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Speaker 2: Potentially, But look across our rural communities we've got we

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Speaker 2: have don't have reliable access to internet all of the time,

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Speaker 2: and it's a really tangible link of community getting together.

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Speaker 2: And we have high proportions of elderly people in our

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Speaker 2: rural communities, more than the national average. That security of

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Speaker 2: the paper landing on their front door step every Thursday

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Speaker 2: is actually really important now.

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Speaker 1: Alex, I mean, look, I love news, right, it's my business,

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Speaker 1: so I'm sympathetic to what you're saying. But I also

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Speaker 1: feel as if we can't keep throwing money at things

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Speaker 1: that people don't want. And I reflect on the fact

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Speaker 1: that you know, we've got in one of the communities

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Speaker 1: that we live, we have got a fantastic Facebook page

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Speaker 1: where everybody gets together and shares content. Everybody's on it,

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Speaker 1: we know everything that's going on in that community. Isn't

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Speaker 1: that the kind of thing. Actually, I'm not suggesting that

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Speaker 1: everybody is onto Facebook because I hate it, but isn't

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Speaker 1: that the kind of thing that we should be doing

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Speaker 1: we should be figuring out ways to keep our community

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Speaker 1: connected in a forum that people now use, which is online.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely agree with you, and community has strong conversations online

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Speaker 2: as well, but it's not always for everyone, and I

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Speaker 2: think we have to think carefully about what is that

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Speaker 2: independent media role and the role of the local democracy reporting.

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Speaker 2: That's why local Government New Zealand are calling for the

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Speaker 2: strengthening of that service because that's actually what's plugging the

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Speaker 2: gap at the moment, putting good reporters into test, challenge

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Speaker 2: and report on the key issues happening at the local

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Speaker 2: government level. And so that's why we're pushing into that space.

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Speaker 1: How much money would this take, I don't know.

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Speaker 2: We've got local democracy reporting around the country. It's not

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Speaker 2: even coverage and some of it's really tentatively contracted. So

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Speaker 2: for instance, in my community, there is a local democracy

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Speaker 2: reporter who is part of a regional group under the

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Speaker 2: Hawk's Bay today one person for the whole Hawks Bay

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Speaker 2: region from white or to put on the home and

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Speaker 2: they're only on a test until the end of December.

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Speaker 2: How you can operate a business model with that lack

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Speaker 2: of certainty on the funding, I don't know. We need

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Speaker 2: to deepen the commitment to this. If this is how

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Speaker 2: we're going to.

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Speaker 1: Do it, Alex Sisten, thank you very much for talking

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Speaker 1: us through to appreciate it. That's Alex Walker, Central Hawk's

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Speaker 1: Bay Mayor and also the local government New Zealand Rural Chair.

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Speaker 1: For more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive.

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Speaker 2: Listen live to news Talks.

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Speaker 1: It'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast

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Speaker 1: on iHeartRadio