Now is The Winter of Our Discontent. The Biggest Financial Story Since the Great Depression: How's NZ's Media Covering It?

No surprise; badly.

I was interested in how New Zealand's MSM were covering the impending dive into negative interest rate territory for the first time in history, so I did a back-of-the-envelope survey of two of the most influential non-business media outlets, Radio New Zealand and Stuff. I simply searched for OCR (Official Cash Rate) and produced a list of stories which mentioned the OCR, and took a subset written since March, which is when a negative OCR (NIRP) topped the Reserve Bank's list of alternative monetary policy tools to cope with the (then) coming economic crisis.

I searched each of these articles for the word 'negative'; those which contained it I read closely, looking in particular for discussion on the implications of private-debt creation as a policy tool to attempt to kick-start NZ's economy. I was looking for implications given NZ's already high levels of private-debt, the possibility of recession/depression, the increased government risk, interest rate implications (especially for savers), alternative policy solutions, and accessibility to the general public (i.e. a reliance on complex concepts and technical language was marked down).

Each article was marked from 0 - 5; 0 = no (or negligible) mention of negative interest rates and 5 = a comprehensive discussion. Results given as x (y) = mark (number of articles with mark):

0 (3) ; 1 (7) ; 2 (3) ; 3 (1) ; 4 (0) ; 5 (0)

Of the 14 stories examined, the best mark was a single 3. Ten stories were missing-in-action. Only four made any attempt to go beyond stating NIRP was being considered. So don't turn to our mainstream media and expect to be informed.

See here for more: NZ Reserve Bank Signals Impending Negative Interest Rates

____________________________________________________________

Radio New Zealand

12 August: - Not mentioned 0/5
Reserve Bank keeps official cash rate steady, expands bond buying by $40bn

30 June: - Not mentioned 0/5
Domestic economy coming back quicker than expected, finance minister says

24 June: - Not mentioned 0/5
Official Cash Rate kept at 0.25 percent

24 June - mentioned, no context 1/5
Reserve Bank expected to hold interest rates

14 May: mentioned, no context 1/5
Reserve Bank missed trick for bond buying - Fisher Funds manager

13 May: mentioned, no context 1/5
Reserve Bank holds OCR steady at 0.25 percent

13 May. mentioned, no context 1/5
Reserve Bank expected to announce increase in bond buying

28 April: mentioned, no context 1/5
Covid-19: What happened in New Zealand on 28 April

28 April: mentioned, no context 1/5
OCR predicted to fall below 0 percent by end of 2020

Stuff

14 Aug: mentioned, discussed, technical, no context 2/5
Groundwork shows Reserve Bank getting more serious about negative OCR

24 June: mentioned, not discussed 1/5
Reserve Bank holds OCR at 0.25% but says not clear stimulus sufficient

19 May: mentioned, discussed, technical, no context, audio 2/5
Reserve Bank doubles down on promise to keep OCR at 0.25pc until March

19 May: mentioned, discussed, some context, audio 2/5
What is a negative interest rate, and what would it mean for you?

28 April: mentioned, discussed, good context, audio 3/5
Coronavirus: Negative cash rate in November, Westpac chief economist predicts