TVNZ under fire over government-sponsored content

Seven Sharp, fronted by Hilary Barry and Jeremy Wells, is especially well known as a vehicle for sponsored content. (Image: TVNZ)

Daniel Dunkley

Mon, 04 Sep 2023

As media business models come under greater pressure, sponsored content has become a useful source of extra income for news publishers and broadcasters in recent years. But when things go wrong, sponsored content can damage a company’s reputation, as Television New Zealand discovered last week.The state broadcaster is under fire for producing a $300,000 "package" of sponsored content pieces from government agency the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) last November, with details emerging after questions fro...

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