Myles Thomas: Better Public Media Trust

For decades, Grey Lynn local, Myles Thomas has been a consistent and compelling voice in the ongoing conversation about the future of media in Aotearoa. As the founder of the Better Public Media Trust (formerly the Coalition for Better Broadcasting Trust), Myles has tirelessly championed the cause of a robust, independent, and well-funded public broadcasting system. His insights and advocacy remain profoundly relevant, particularly in today’s rapidly evolving and increasingly precarious media landscape.

Myles’s core argument is simple yet powerful: a thriving democracy requires a strong public media. 

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In his numerous articles and commentaries, Myles has consistently highlighted the unique role public broadcasting plays in reflecting New Zealand’s diverse cultures, fostering social cohesion, and holding power to account – roles that are often compromised when media is driven primarily by commercial imperatives.

He suggests we need just look to similar nations to see what public media can be. Australia, Canada, Ireland, the UK and across Europe, public media organisations are cornerstones of a nation’s identity. They provide civic engagement, informed citizenry, and a lot of entertainment too. 

Myles notes the equivalent in Aotearoa are RNZ and Whakaata Māori which are small but generally very good considering their budgetary constraints, and TVNZ which is a wildly commercial network owned by the government. The necessity for TVNZ to chase advertising revenue inevitably leads to chasing the biggest audience possible, therefore keeping all content unchallenging, easy to understand and superficial. This has created a “dumbing down” of news and current affairs such as Seven Sharp, and the loss of in-depth current affairs and documentaries, in favour of reality shows and cheap international fodder. 

“The lack of funding of TVNZ is the key to the problem,” Myles says. 

“At Better Public Media we’ve been proposing a levy on media businesses that benefit from the rise in online media and give nothing back – internet service providers, online streamers like Netflix, online advertising, and retail sales on media devices. A small “media levy” on those industries would provide hundreds of millions of dollars each year to fund TVNZ so that it need not rely on advertising ever again and could instead focus on producing quality news and programmes for online and broadcast that are informative, creative, distinctively Kiwi and diverse in all ways. A levy could also fund RNZ, NZ On Air and Whakaata Māori removing politicians from influencing media by reducing its funding.”

Like many Grey Lynn residents, Myles worked for years in the television industry. But in 2019, Myles was looking for a change and remembered that he had never gone to university, though had always planned to. So one day, at the tender age of 49 he pulled out his old 6th Form Cert grades and applied for a special entrance at the University of Auckland. There he realised that Law is not as boring as he had always assumed and ended up graduating four years later with an LLB (Hons). Myles then became the oldest law clerk in Auckland, and is now a barrister and solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand.

Myles’ transition from creative to well-heeled professional (not yet well-paid sadly!) mirrors demographic changes in Grey Lynn. As we all know, buying a house in Grey Lynn now requires a substantial household income or an inheritance. Grey Lynn is no longer a Pasifika and Māori hub nor is it the hopeful working class suburb of the early 20th century. 

But Myles believes Grey Lynn is still unique for its creativity and community cohesion, two core values he associates with public media. 

“Grey Lynn is diverse and friendly, Grey Lynn’s Facebook pages are the wittiest in the country, Grey Lynn drivers are considerate, and Grey Lynn provides more submissions to creative agencies than any other suburb in Aotearoa,” he says.

“The challenges of improving public media are significant, but in the meantime at least, there’s still Grey Lynn.”