There's one pass time that's enjoyed by more Kiwi's than any other, watching television. It's our most popular leisure time activity by a long shot and often holds the attention of the entire nation with a diverse range of programming.However that diversity has been steadily declining since our only public broadcaster TVNZ7 had their funding cut by the National government, ending transmission in June 2012... Other free to air channels simply disappeared without explanation around the same time.
Because of that, we no longer have as much free access to foreign news coverage, movies, documentaries or even as many programs produced right here in New Zealand.
But it's not just the decreased coverage that's the problem... There's been a dramatic decline in the quality of our current affairs programs and news coverage as well, which along with the advent of more infotainment and reality TV shows, has a detrimental impact on how informed us Kiwis are.
Information isolation is something New Zealanders should be wary of, because if we're not properly kept up to date with relevant coverage on the happenings both here and abroad, we run the risk of being seen as backwards. The ignorance that a lack of proper coverage causes is a clear disadvantage within a global community.
Thankfully all the major opposition parties have expressed their concerns about the lack of a public broadcasting network, and hopefully that concern will formulate into funding more public programming after National lose the next general election in December 2014.
