Extra, Extra: News in New Zealand

Something I've noticed since being here is the way the news works.

First, I need to put this into perspective. In new Zealand, there are only really two major national news programs.

Some people might find this scary; you're worried that since there are so few options, those two programs control what you see, so they can control what you think.

I understand this argument. Competition creates diversity and promotes the cultivation of new ideas. But based on what I've seen, that's not a problem here.

As a journalist (and yes, I still think of myself as a journalist), you might think I'd be wary of a nation with so few news networks.

I'm not.

Almost every time I turn on the news, I feel like I'm getting an unbiased story and learning something new and important.

It's exciting and refreshing.

When I worked at KyForward, we would have the news on all day long, either CNN or MSNBC. While I love and respect both of those channels for their reporting and opinions, I got tired of the negativity. The coverage was rarely about something that made me feel good about what was happening where I lived. That's not limited to those two shows, but it's off-putting just the same.

When I moved to South Carolina, I didn't have cable, so the news I got was always online. I got the New York Times Breaking News headlines sent to my phone and if I wanted to read something else, I'd just search for it.

But back to the present.

In New Zealand, the program we always watch is 1 News. It's on at 6 p.m., so we usually watch while eating dinner. This program covers everything. They have to appeal to all types of people: Labors (similar to Democrats), Nationalists (similar to Republicans), working moms, sports fans, college kids, everyone. And they do an incredible job.

They cover big national news, important international news (and yes, that includes some Trump stuff), fun features on unique people here, and then... then there's sports.

Sports

But it's nothing like any sports news segment you've seen in America.

The sports anchor is a woman. And if that's not new, then how about the sports she covers?

There's Courtney Duncan, a 22-year old kiwi making a Motocross name for herself.

There's Lisa Carrington, the kiwi rower on course to win a handful of Olympic medals.

• There's cricket.
• And baseball. 
• And cycling.
• And American football.
• And horse racing.
• And golf.
• And shot put.
• And underwater hockey.
• And yes, there's Steven Adams, too.
• And then, of course, there's rugby. League. Union. Sevens. Tens. You name it.

The New Zealand women and men's teams won the Rugby World Cup Sevens in 2018.

The fact that they covered rugby is not what's exciting. The exciting part is that they cover the women's win as much as the men's.

It's incredible.

They also cover netball and field hockey, activities that are predominantly women's sports.

The news gives equal coverage and equal merit to men and women's sports and it's so impressive.

Let's be honest. WNBA players aren't famous in America. But who's fault is that? If their incredible amount of work was publicized more, then maybe more people would be interested.

Some people might disagree, saying that people who are interested will follow the sport and don't need the news to over it.

I beg to differ.

Since being here, I've been exposed to lots of rugby. And I'm beginning to love the sport. But I wouldn't have learned how much I like the sport if I hadn't been exposed to it on the news.

I also really like netball. Don't get me wrong, it's no basketball. But it's impressive none the less.

New Zealand sports are really interesting, so I'll be talking more about it in another post. I'll be getting into the specific awesomeness that exists here, so stay tuned.

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Weather

What news segment haven't I mentioned yet? The weather. And let me tell you, 1 News has really unique ways of sharing the national weather.

Fun fact: The city we live in is almost always featured when giving the high and low of the following day. And we don't exactly live in a big city.

But 1 News also enhances their weather reports using 3-D models to engage viewers. I don't mean they use 3-D tracking. I mean using special effects, the country surrounds the weatherman (who's name is Dan, which just makes me laugh every time... Dan, the Weatherman) while he talks about each island and the specific cities.

It's also really interesting to see why we don't get the same weather as the rest of the country. When using these effects, you can see why the storms that hit the west coast of New Zealand don't make it to us (they hit the mountains and don't get over them, or at least don't come at us as strong). It's really cool.

Weather can be mundane. Weather is the definition of "small talk" in a conversation. But the first time I saw this way of showing the weather, I was drawn in.

Everything else

Normally, I wouldn't skim over the government news or features, but this post is already really long.

First, I want to take a moment and acknowledge that the news anchors learned quite a bit of Maori or Te Reo for Maori Language Week in September. Maori, along with English and New Zealand Sign Language, is an official language for the country. I cannot imagine American news anchors learning and speaking on live television any Native American tribal languages.

What I want you to know about the international news is that they don't dwell on any one specific country's news. Yes, we see Trump, but he doesn't dominate. In fact, there are some days when I don't see him at all (which I LOVE).

Obviously, Australian stories impact us here, so we see a bit more about Australia than any other places, but we also see British stories, Thailand stories (obviously with the soccer team stuck in the cave), Korean stories, Turkish stories and Chinese stories. We see hurricanes in Hawaii, fires in Colorado and California, and the passing of Aretha Franklin, John McCain, and George H. W. Bush.

In national news, there's a lot about making life better for the average New Zealander: regulations on rental properties, raising wage of teachers and nurses (both groups went on strike recently), building affordable homes for New Zealanders to buy, and job opportunities for those who need one. They tackle homelessness and the struggles of heating a home in winter. But even these sad topics, they present with hope.

Hope. Not fear.

New Zealand news is exciting, fun, refreshing, and informative. And I hope U.S. news networks take note.