July 30, 2007
EPMU Media Release

Journos to tackle declining news quality

Many of New Zealand’s top journalists will be gathering at the Engineering Printing and Manufacturing Union’s Journalism Matters summit in Wellington this August to discuss the direction of New Zealand’s news media and what can be done to make sure it delivers.

The summit follows a series of redundancies in APN and TVNZ due to financial decisions as well as the rapidly increasing move to staff reduction across New Zealand’s media.

EPMU Print and Media Industry Council convener Brent Edwards says the summit is critical for the future of the industry in New Zealand.

“Over the last few years we’ve seen commercial pressures and cost-cutting lead to a decline in the quality of New Zealand’s news. This summit is a chance for journalists to take a step back and think about what we can do to promote quality journalism.

“This is a conference predominantly for working journalists, those actually involved in gathering, writing and editing of news. That’s something we haven’t seen for a long time and we believe anyone who cares about the future of New Zealand journalism should be there.”

EPMU national secretary Andrew Little says the EPMU has called the summit because as the main union for journalists in New Zealand it has a major stake in the industry and its future.

“We owe it to our journalist members to consider the future of New Zealand’s news and the one thing that they and many others in their craft are talking about is how the current situation will impact on the quality of their work further down the track.”

The Journalism Matters summit will be held in Parliament’s Grand Hall and Legislative Chamber on August 11 and 12. Topics will include the state of the New Zealand media, commercial pressures on journalism and the impact of the consolidation of media ownership.

Anyone interested in the future of news in New Zealand is welcome to attend and a registration pack is available at www.OurMedia.org.nz

ENDS

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