IF NEWSTALK ZB is the blunt instrument of conservative politics, and the Herald, Stuff, and TVNZ are the velvet glove, then the question becomes: what next? It is not enough to expose the echo chamber. The left must build its own media infrastructure, capable of puncturing the conservative consensus and amplifying voices that the mainstream either ridicules or ignores. Without that, we are left shouting at the walls of someone else’s house, usually via social media.
The first step is to recognise that the mainstream media will not save us. NZME, Stuff, and TVNZ are structurally incapable of providing the platform we need. Their business models depend on advertising revenue, ratings, and the cultivation of 'respectable' audiences. That means they will always bend toward the status quo. Even when they dabble in progressive coverage—climate features or the occasional sympathetic profile of a union—they do so within a framework that leaves the fundamentals untouched. The market remains sacrosanct, redistribution remains taboo, and radical alternatives are treated as curiosities.
So, the left must stop waiting for scraps and start building. There are glimmers of what this could look like. Independent outlets like The Spinoff and Newsroom have shown that digital platforms can carve out space for deeper reporting. A recent important development has been the emergence of The Integrity Institute, which has taken on the task of 'scrutinising and challenging the role of vested interests in the political process.' Maori and Pasifika media also continue to provide perspectives that mainstream outlets sideline. Podcasts and blogs have become vital tools for political education, bypassing the filters of corporate newsrooms. But these efforts remain fragmented, mostly underfunded, and often hesitant to embrace a clear ideological stance. Some, unfortunately, mistake support for the Labour Party as support for progressive politics.
What is needed is a media ecosystem that is unapologetically left, rooted in class analysis, and committed to amplifying grassroots struggles. That means creating platforms that don’t just report on strikes, protests, or campaigns, but actively connect them, weaving them into a narrative of systemic change. It means producing journalism that doesn’t just describe inequality but names its causes: neoliberal policy, corporate greed, and political cowardice. It means giving airtime to the voices of workers, tenants, students, and iwi leaders—not as token 'human interest' stories but as central protagonists in the fight for a different future.
American journalist Abby Martin says that building a media alternative requires more than just independent outlets—it demands a radical restructuring of how information is produced and shared. She emphasises grassroots, non-corporate platforms that are accountable to the public rather than advertisers or political donors. This means funding models based on community support, worker-owned media collectives, and digital platforms that resist algorithmic manipulation by Big Tech. She also stresses the importance of international solidarity, pointing to how independent journalists across the globe face repression for exposing imperialism and corporate exploitation.
'A true media alternative must not only report the news but also empower movements for justice, amplify marginalised voices, and break the monopoly of corporate narratives,' she says.
International examples show what is possible. In the UK, Novara Media has built a loyal following by combining sharp analysis with digital savvy. Jacobin and Tribune have revived socialist publishing with a mix of polemic, history, and strategy. These outlets are not neutral, and that is precisely their strength. They understand that neutrality in a context of inequality is complicity. They have embraced their role as partisan media, aligned with movements for change.
New Zealand needs its own version of this. Not a carbon copy, but a platform rooted in our own struggles: the fight against climate collapse, the demand for public ownership and economic democracy. A media project that can speak to the frustrations of workers priced out of housing, communities abandoned by austerity, and young people staring down a future of ecological breakdown. A project that doesn’t just analyse but agitates, that doesn’t just comment but organises.
Of course, this requires resources. Corporate media has the backing of shareholders and advertisers. Independent left media must rely on solidarity. That means subscriptions, donations, and grassroots fundraising. It means unions, community organisations, and progressive parties recognising that media is not a luxury but a weapon. If we want to shift the political terrain, we must invest in the means of communication.
But resources alone are not enough. What matters most is clarity of purpose. Too often, progressive outlets shy away from polemic, fearing accusations of bias. Too regularly, so-called 'progressive' writers fear socialist politics as much as the right does. Yet bias is unavoidable. The question is not whether we are biased, but whether we are honest about it. The right has no qualms about using media as a weapon. The left should be equally unapologetic. Our bias is toward justice, equality, and democracy. That is nothing to be ashamed of.
Breaking the echo chamber will not happen overnight. It will require experimentation, collaboration, and persistence. It will require building audiences one podcast, one article, one video at a time. It will require confronting not only the hostility of the right but the complacency of the centre. But it is possible. The tools are in our hands. The question is whether we have the courage to use them.
Because here is the truth: if we do not build our own media, the conservative echo station will continue to define the terms of debate. It will continue to tell us that inequality is inevitable, that climate action is too costly, that Maori aspirations are divisive, that there is no alternative. And if we accept that, then we have already lost.
The task of the left is to refuse that story and to tell a different one. A story of solidarity, of struggle, of transformation. A story that insists another New Zealand is possible—and that we will not wait for the Herald, Stuff, or Newstalk ZB to tell it for us.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments are moderated.