RNZ’s gravy train derails
$18M cut and not a moment too soon
Here’s some feel-good news for once, RNZ’s bloated funding is being slashed by $18 million over the next four years. One of New Zealand’s most insufferably biased, far-left media machines is finally facing financial reality, thanks to Finance Minister Nicola Willis and the 2025 Budget.
This isn’t just trimming fat. It’s correcting years of reckless spending. Let’s not forget the $26 million annual top-up RNZ received in 2023, courtesy of Jacinda Ardern and Chris Hipkins - an unmissable thank-you gift for pushing covid propaganda and toeing the ideological line during a period when dissenting voices were shut down. RNZ has been living large - funded by taxpayers who never signed up for their propaganda.
But the party’s over.
National MP Paul Goldsmith put it plainly: RNZ’s funding will be reduced by $4.6 million a year, a 7% cut from its $67 million operating budget. Some might call that modest, but it’s a much-needed start.
RNZ has long stopped being a public broadcaster and transformed into a megaphone for divisive narratives. It’s the safe space for woke ideology - gender theory, race baiting, cultural guilt, and the silencing of dissent. It’s the outlet that will go out of its way to defend people promoting sexually inappropriate content under the guise of progressive activism, and then gaslight anyone who dares to call it out.
Goldsmith says he “expects RNZ to improve audience reach, trust and transparency” during this so-called fiscal constraint. RNZ has already lost the public’s trust. Alongside Stuff, 1News, and the NZ Herald, it’s part of a rotten media establishment that’s more interested in controlling the narrative than telling the truth.
That’s why people are tuning out. That’s why platforms like X and Substack have become the go-to source for real news, real debate, and real voices. Because people are sick of being talked down to. They're sick of being manipulated.
This funding cut is a signal. A signal that the era of state-funded spin machines is coming to an end. Not fast enough, but it’s a start.
RNZ doesn’t represent the public. It represents an agenda.
Finally, some cutbacks. Goldsmith replied in his letter in August last year, the "news media companies have told us they do not want a handout, instead they want to be able to commercially bargain for the value of their news". I would argue that they need to prove their value through their ratings. He also stated, "New Zealand's state-owned broadcasters have operational and editorial independence, and make decisions at arm's length from the government". I had pointed out that they were so independent that they were under the influence of the previous government and should be defunded. Small steps...
Maybe rnz needs a huge shake up at board level, just like the Herald