Analysis: The prime minister has stripped Melissa Lee of her media portfolio. Her time in Cabinet may have been extended if she’d ever put forward a plan for the industry, writes Q+A presenter Jack Tame.
“A solution in search of a problem.”
Former Media and Communications Minister Melissa Lee was fond of the phrase when in opposition, as she questioned the purpose of the proposed TVNZ/RNZ merger.
She was strong in the House as she questioned her opposite number about the merger, and the previous government failed to effectively sell the merits of a new public media entity.
Politically, that merger’s demise was Lee’s win. But two years on, her words are startling for just how wrong they turned out to be.
Although no government has direct control over a broadcaster’s programming decisions, Lee’s short tenure overseeing the media sector has borne witness to the single largest culling of journalist jobs in New Zealand media history. TVNZ, for which she was the shareholding minister, cut its last two prime time current affairs programmes and some of the country’s most experienced journalists.
To be fair to Lee, she’s not the only one that’s been caught out by the change in TV business fortunes.
For years, TV bosses have been slow in innovating and adapting to changing audience habits and the inevitable digital video future. The Covid-19 years provided an artificial and unsustainable financial reprieve, but as the economy has cooled, so too have advertisers.
A policy void
Lee’s tenure in Cabinet might have lasted a little longer if at some point in the last several years she’d put forward a distinct vision. It’s always easier in politics to oppose than to propose, but media and communications was a conspicuous absence from the National Party’s election manifesto.
While the decision to omit the portfolio from election campaigning may have been made for strategic purposes, Lee has publicly done little during her time in government to build on those non-existent campaign policies.
Although she promised to take proposals to Cabinet, Lee was yet to publicly articulate what changes she actually envisaged or supported.
Nothing about the media appeared in the Government’s initial 100-day plan or subsequent quarterly action plan. Despite a crisis in broadcasting, it did not warrant priority status.
What’s more, in a curious irony for a Media and Communications Minister who boasts personal experience in broadcasting, Lee was notably unenthusiastic about being questioned in her role.
She refused to appear on Q+A during last year’s election campaign and declined an additional four separate requests to be interviewed on the show this year.
Her reasoning? She didn’t feel there was much she could really say.
Well … yes.
Perhaps Prime Minister Christopher Luxon agreed. Unlike the TVNZ/RNZ merger, this time there was little complexity.
A problem found a solution.