Three Pasifika oriented organisations have been awarded funding under the New Zealand On Air $18 million Public Interest Journalism funding boost.
Successful organisations include the Government owned and operated National Pacific Radio Trust that operates, PMN News, 531pi, Niu FM and 10 Pacific language programmes, privately owned and operated Sunpix media content production company that produces the popular Tagata Pasifika series, and E-Tangata online Sunday magazine run by the Mana Trust, dedicated to building stronger Māori and Pacific presence in New Zealand media.
The Public Interest Journalism $18 million boost includes funding for an additional 110 journalists (including 16 Local Democracy Reporter roles that were funded for a fixed term originally out of one-off allocation) across Aotearoa with a specific mandate to produce stories that keep New Zealanders informed and engaged, and support a healthy democracy. Statistics NZ figures show that journalists numbers halved between 2006 and 2018.
NPRT will receive up to $275,000 for four roles for one year, Sunpix will receive up to $273,600 for two roles, and Mana Trust up to $650,000 for four roles for E-Tangata. NZ On Air Head of Journalism Raewyn Rasch says, “funding journalists back into newsrooms particularly at regional and local levels will help redress the drastic reduction in journalist numbers over the past few years and ensure the sector has the workforce to deliver strong public interest journalism.”
A map showing distribution of funds to date can be downloaded here.
The funding is the result of the second competitive funding round via NZ On Air’s $55m Public Interest Journalism Fund. 25 media outlets were successful in the second funding round of the PIJ Fund.
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