CAANZ/CCC ceo Paul Head is strongly criticising the Commerce Commission decision to reject the proposed StuffMe merger.
“If the Commerce Commission had been making a determination on the merger of NZME and Fairfax in 2007, their decision this week to decline said merger would probably have had reasonable grounds,” Head told M+AD (in response to our request).
“But in the intervening decade the media world – and the world generally – has changed beyond recognition.
“This was not a good decision by the commission from the perspective of the media industry, agencies or clients.”
“I believe that the merger would have created a single, stronger entity more capable of footing it with the global competition in New Zealand.
“The result of the decision may well be less competition in the market, lower standards of journalism and poorer plurality – exactly the outcomes the commission said it was trying to prevent.
“This was not a good decision by the commission from the perspective of the media industry, agencies or clients.
“And ultimately we may look back and say it was a bad decision for New Zealand and New Zealanders.”
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