Longform journalistic content on TVNZ+ is destined to “expire”.
Longform journalistic content on TVNZ+ is destined to “expire”.

MediaNovember 27, 2024

The hidden problem when ‘news’ isn’t popular

Longform journalistic content on TVNZ+ is destined to “expire”.
Longform journalistic content on TVNZ+ is destined to “expire”.

Longform current affairs content has an expiry date on TVNZ+. What does that mean for our collective archive?

In July, TVNZ released the four-part documentary series Gang Mums on its TVNZ+ platforms and Youtube. Gang Mums explored the lives of women who are family to active gang members, and their experiences with abuse and finding community within gangs across Aotearoa. Hosted by broadcaster Indira Stewart, the series provided a snapshot of New Zealand society and culture and a tool for understanding the role of women in gangs.

Thirty days later, the series was gone. It had “expired” on the TVNZ+ platform and was no longer viewable. The Spinoff understands it returned briefly following requests from viewers but is now gone again, seemingly for good. 

The Youtube videos are still active (the first episode has 100,000 views) but only accessible for those outside of New Zealand. There are written articles about the subjects too, on the 1News website, though much of the kōrero has been lost by no longer providing the full interviews.

This is just one example of TVNZ’s policy around longform current affairs content. A TVNZ spokesperson explained the show’s disappearance as an expiration – after one to three months, “longform current affairs content” shared to TVNZ+ will “expire” (no longer available for viewing). The expiry date for bulletins from shows such as Breakfast, 1News at 6pm and Te Karere, designed to report on the news of the day, is seven days after airing. These episodes are tagged with an “expiring” label and a timer recording how long the series will continue to exist on TVNZ+.

As TVNZ prepares for the “digital first” future, its streaming platform TVNZ+ has seen a significant rise in longform consumer affairs content since investigative shows Sunday and Fair Go were shut down in mid-2024. In the modern age, many audiences expect instantaneous and easily accessible news, and some may assume this means video content replacing written stories would have the same shelf life on an outlet’s platform, just as so much written journalism is still discoverable (though not exactly easily) years later.

A screenshot from TVNZ+ (credit: TVNZ).

TVNZ has never operated this way – when investigative show Sunday was still on air, episodes uploaded to TVNZ+ would expire after a month. The broadcaster retains a digital news archive, meaning material may be republished or used within other related content, but the archive is only available to view through request and typically requires a fee.

Its former rival outlet Newshub also did not keep a complete and accessible archive of video content and bulletin segments by the time it ceased operations in July. The Newshub website hosts a large bulk of its bulletin stories from over the years, but it is set to disappear in the coming months, with plans for Stuff to host at least some these stories on its own website.

In comparison, with ThreeNews now having replaced Newshub, its bulletin segments are archived on Stuff.co.nz, though without a “next page” or search function, viewers will have to use Google to find older content. The website also archives video content from Patrick Gower’s The [Fucking] News. The website Paper’s Past keeps an online collection of many, but not all, newspapers and magazines printed in New Zealand between 1839 and 1989, with more added each year.

The UK’s BBC operates a large online archive of many, but not all (requests can be made for access for commercial and non-commercial use), of its video news content dating back to its launch in 1936. The constantly expanding archive is designed to protect content created by the BBC, with the goal of no longer having to use out-of-date technology to be able to look back at its broadcasting history.

Gang Mums, hosted by Indira Stewart, is one of the most recent longform news pieces to “expire” on TVNZ+. (Screenshot: 1News)

Some longform content published more than three months ago continues to exist on TVNZ+, such as the bulk of Re: News docuseries made over the years, and John Campbell’s longform sit-down interview with former Green MP Golriz Gharahman, posted in June.

A TVNZ spokesperson said Re:News content which continues to exist on TVNZ+, such as Red Light Boys and Rediscovering Aotearoa, is NZ On Air funded and has an extended window of availability “as required by that”. NZ on Air funding is given for content to be consumed freely and in perpetuity by all New Zealanders. Campbell’s Gharahman interview has not yet been taken down as it is “still being consumed”, said the spokesperson. 

A digital future for news media has seen many outlets create decade-spanning archives of stories – you can still read the original copy of Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood published in 1965 for The New Yorker, as well as the front page of The New York Times on the day of the moon landing. Evergreen stories may go years before finding a second audience, but to do that, they must still be discoverable. Gang Mums still features in ads that continue to play on channel one to promote TVNZ+ offerings, despite not being accessible to New Zealanders.

With TVNZ recognising its role as a digital and video focused platform, a move to producing news for consumption on TVNZ+ does create an opportunity to draw new audiences and find more effective ways to tell stories – though the importance of making these stories may be lost on audiences if the national broadcaster can’t commit to making them available for more than 30 days.

This work is supported by Auckland Radio Trust in memory of Vince Geddes.

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