Following our Open Letter, the Forum on the Future of Public Television to be held at Victoria University, Wellington, is planned to bring together stakeholders from industry, Parliament, the state sector and academia to try and identify workable policy options to sustain the future of public television in New Zealand. To that end, the forum will include panels focusing on the issues of funding and structural alternatives, sustaining local content, the challenges for free-to-air networks, and regulatory arrangements. The panels will consist of short position statements or policy proposals with additional time for debate from the floor. Please note that the discussion will take place under Chatham House rules. This means that the themes and substance of the discussion can be reported but the specific comments cannot be linked to named individuals or institutions.
We will be asking our speakers to provide a written version of their presentation and, in conjunction with the Pacific Media Centre at AUT University, we intend to publish these online. The ideas from the forum will also be summarised and provided to the government and relevant ministries.
There are, of course, many more views on public television than there is time for panels in which to air them. If you are not speaking at the forum but would like to contribute a position statement or policy proposal relating to the themes of the panel, we are happy to invite electronic submissions which we will consider for online publication. These need not be complete articles, but they should address some aspect of the institutional, financial or regulatory arrangements that are important to the sustaining of public television and related local content forms in New Zealand.
We realise this is relatively short notice, but we have only just finalised the panel arrangement and our speakers. The good news is that attendance at the forum is free of charge courtesy of funding from VUW, and lunch will be provided! You will see from the flyer that the forum starts promptly at 9am. Coffee and registration are available from 8.30am.
We hope you will consider attending and/or submitting a paper. Please confirm your interest by Thursday, June 16.
Organisers: Dr Trisha Dunleavy and Dr Peter Thompson, senior lecturers in media studies, Victoria University of Wellington
When: Wednesday, 22 June 2011
Time: 9am-6pm
Where: Council Chamber, Victoria University of Wellington (Gate 2, Kelburn Pde)
Seminar flyer
Open letter on TVNZ7 and public broadcasting in NZ - Trisha Dunleavy and Peter Thompson
Danger signals of NZ's profit-driven television - Paul Norris
Other articles on the public television crisis