OPINION Dear Mark Weldon, Mediaworks chief executive



I usually start with some kind of pithy greeting, but I barely know where to begin. What subject line should I even use, RE: your destruction of TV3?



And yet that's exactly what I want to say – I feel like I have watched you single handedly destroy a brand that I, and many other Kiwis had a great affinity for, and I am not sure why.



The final straw was Mark Jennings. We all stood by and watched while a number of stellar journalists were either pushed, or jumped from what seemed to be a real-life version of Survivor: Broadcasting. But underneath all that, there was that small glimmer of hope embodied by the professionalism among those who remained, including Jennings. Now that, too, has gone.



Don't get me wrong, I get that the world of broadcasting and media is going through some rapid changes, and the best of them are struggling to keep up. People crave content, but on their terms. I understand that means that you've started counting clicks, and that in turn has started determining what content is produced, updated and magnified. But that model has the potential to be a dangerous vacuous spiral.

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Instead of carving out a space where people can rely on up-to-the-minute news and current affairs on multiple platforms, you seemed to prioritise gossip. I saw more advertising on billboards telling people where to find out about the latest celebrity pash than I ever did for 3D – a show whose journalists contributed to the release of Teina Pora.



There will always be news, current affairs and stories that should be told, not because they can be accompanied by a sexy headline but because we deserve to know them, and we need to know them. If anything, the rapidly changing world of broadcasting was a reason to strengthen the brand you had, not pull it apart until you were left with nothing more than a soulless satellite dish.

But instead of telling our stories, and the brilliant yarns that exist in our own backyard, you produced reality TV show after reality TV show. I don't mind the odd cook off, but where is the bold creativity that once had a home at TV3 (don't get me started on recent attempts to secure masses of NZ on Air funding simply to replicate Home and Away)



There is one thing I want to thank you for, though – and that is strengthening my resolve to see public broadcasting restored in New Zealand. We remain one of the few countries in the world who has failed to acknowledge the public good in a strong, independent media that doesn't take into account commercial imperatives when writing and presenting the news. It's an idea that has long moved on from being nice to have, to being critical.



The future of broadcasting is not going to be confined to one platform, and I have no doubt that the demand for quality content will only grow. It's just a shame that under you, some of the people who were best equipped to lead that charge were voted off the island.



Sincerely...

David Seymour responds:

I've enjoyed responding to Jacinda's columns about what government policy should be. They tell us what we'd expect if one of the Labour Party's top politicians became a senior government minister.

But this column is different because Jacinda targets a specific individual in a private media organisation. Should those people expect to be publicly lambasted by the nation's government in waiting? Imagine if a current government minister had singled out a particular media executive. The liberal left would have conniptions.

But she hasn't just overridden a free press, she's wrong about the facts.

Only this month Fairfax, which publishes this newspaper, has signed on three of the journalists who used to work for 3D to do investigative journalism. On the role of government funding, we have a 24-hour-a-day radio station that any New Zealander can listen to but surprisingly few do.

New Zealand is one of very few countries that's ever enjoyed a truly free press. Politicians like Jacinda should respect that.