7 August 2023
The Local Democracy Reporting and Open Justice schemes were funded under the Public Interest Journalism Fund, which closed at the end of June 2023. The purpose of this review by Dr Gavin Ellis is to determine how well each of the schemes achieved their stated purpose.
Both schemes have been the recipients of significant funding, and assessments of their outcomes and effectiveness assists in determining the value of the two schemes and whether they have been efficiently organised and managed.
This is a second review after an initial one, on the LDR solely, was carried out during July and August 2020. This 2023 review was assisted with cooperation from the News Publishers Association (NPA), news executives representing host newsrooms, the LDR and Open Justice reporters, administration of both Open Justice and LDR, local authority representatives, courts and judiciary representatives, and with audience analytics provided by NZ On Air, RNZ and NZME.