Letters: Media is a business after all

Over the last couple of months I have noticed more and more comments on Facebook about how readers would like to "read the whole story" but won't pay to do so. The tone of many comments suggests it is a God-given right to receive our news for free.

The recent news about TV3 being put up for sale prompts me to put pen to paper, so to speak. I fear for the day when we only have one news source. Even more, I fear having a news service that is merely sound bites, with little or no proper investigative journalism and no in-depth stories or articles.

I fear having to rely on overseas news services for our news – New Zealand will not be a priority for them. I enjoy reading my news online but prefer to ponder over the printed version, which I find much more satisfying. My local paper is important to me.

Do those people who object to paying for their premium content stories not realise that without people paying, the journalists who produce this content are likely to become unemployed as more newspapers fold? Media is a business after all.

With two children who work in newspapers some might say I have a vested interest. But this goes beyond the personal. A strong country needs a vibrant and proactive news industry. I'm happy to forego a few coffees to read premium content.

Lynn Gillespie
Rotorua

Conscription could solve gang problem

Simon Bridges' idea of cutting off the money to gang members won't work. Money is not the problem.

Being a gang member brings more than money. It brings self-respect for the individual, social empathy, meaning to an empty life, and fulfils the otherwise empty and hopeless existence these gang members face.

The only way to change that is to provide the things that gang membership provides, and the only way to do that is to bring in conscription. Most of these young gang members will make damn fine military people, all they need is training and discipline - strangely enough, it is something they already obtain in the gang.

Many countries benefit from giving their youth military training and it will heighten New Zealand's esteem to have a reserve of trained personnel, they would prove very useful in an emergency situation. They could be taught skills and trades - again, just what we need.

Jim Adams
Rotorua
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