Call for Jesson Prize Nominations

30 May 2012

Call for Jesson Prize Nominations

"Independent journalism in New Zealand is in crisis and it is by no means certain that it will survive," claims Auckland University political scientist Dr Joe Atkinson.

Speaking as the Bruce Jesson Foundation calls for nominations for their journalism prize, Atkinson says: "I'm more pessimistic now about New Zealand journalism than I've ever been before in my life."

He says metropolitan newspapers are "failing commercial enterprises. Their desperate efforts to slow their decline by going downmarket are almost bound to alienate the only readers they can now rely on and who still trust them."

He is scathing about New Zealand television which, with the imminent closure of TVNZ7, "no longer aspires to any higher purpose than bottom-line profitability. It tends to smother its vestigial journalism in a mind- numbing blanket of lowest-common-denominator entertainments..."

Even the internet has not fulfilled its early promise, in his view, being too fragmented and hypercompetitive to provide much more than an occasional supplement to mainstream journalism. Atkinson concludes: "Apart from Radio New Zealand, which has long been under siege, and fugitive episodes of advocacy journalism on TV3's Campbell Live, public affairs journalism in this country is a hospital case. That is what makes charitable trusts such as the Jesson Foundation so profoundly important. By subsidizing independent journalism, and nurturing emerging talent, they help to keep the ailing patient alive."

The Bruce Jesson Foundation was established in 1999 to commemorate one of New Zealand's greatest political journalists, the late Bruce Jesson. It aims to promote vigorous political, social and economic investigation, debate, analysis and reporting in New Zealand.

To this end, the Foundation holds an Annual Lecture and awards two Journalism Prizes:

• The Senior Journalism Prize which is self-nominated by the journalists themselves and involves an emolument of up to NZ$4,000 to assist them to produce the kind of critical and analytical journalism exemplified by Jesson's work.

• The Emerging Journalism Prize which has a fixed emolument of $1,000 and is designed to recognise "outstanding recent work by New Zealand print journalism students." It is nominated by the heads of New Zealand journalism schools or journalism programme leaders for published work by student journalists.

Nominations for the 2012 Bruce Jesson Journalism Prizes are hereby sought both from self-nominating senior journalists and the Heads of New Zealand journalism schools respectively. Nominees' work will be assessed by members of the Foundation's Journalism Subcommittee: Camille Guy (convener), Joe Atkinson, Simon Collins, Jon Stephenson, and Geoff Kemp.

Nominations together with copies of nominated work (preferably in electronic form) can be entered electronically on the Foundation website (http://www.brucejesson.com/awards/) or mailed to Dr Anita Lacey, Secretary of the Bruce Jesson Foundation, C/- Political Studies Department, University of Auckland, PB 92019, AUCKLAND (a.lacey@auckland.ac.nz). The DEADLINE for receipt of nominations is Friday, September 7, 2012.

Bruce Jesson Foundation - www.brucejesson.com

ENDS

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