The Vote

NZ on Air announced:

NZ On Air extends support for current affairs with The Vote

The Vote extends NZ On Air’s support for current affairs under the Platinum Fund.  Q + A and The Nation have also been supported for another season on TV ONE and TV3 respectively.

Ten new programmes will involve a series of informative and engaging debates on issues of national importance.  Each programme will incorporate interaction with viewers and conclude with a citizen’s vote.  It will be presented by Guyon Espiner and Duncan Garner.

This is excellent. Ten one hour shows on a topical issue, which hopefully will canvass the variety of views on an issue.

It is ironic that as some people lie and say there is no public broadcasting in New Zealand, in reality we are getting more than ever. TVNZ used to use the charter money as a general revenue source and did almost no public broadcasting with it.

Now with that money in a dedicated contestable platinum fund for current affairs, we have The Nation, Q+A, The Vote, Media 3 and Backbenches. Also Native Affairs on Maori TV.