Just wondering what peoples thoughts are of the state of the media in NZ at  the moment.  I was pretty disappointed for example with local coverage of the council elections. Very few stories, mainly just token questions to people in the street about local issues. The Auckland elections were the only one really covered by TV.  In the end the voter turnout was the lowest ever in many regions, and people were disengaged, and in my area the same old people got voted back in, possibly because they were known names. I don't think it is good for democracy, as you need a good strong media for democracy. My own local paper seems to have cut down their paper size, and  where they once concentrated on the town, they now have very few local stories, and most are now republished stories from other town papers in the region. Their office is also closed most of the time. Online headings are also often not what they seem, they are designed to get clicks. There are also much local news that simply isn't reported on these days, such as good news and success stories.Rather stories tend to be quite negative, or are about 'celebrities'. Many are also opinions rather than impartial stories.  I also find news stories are very dumbed down, especially on TV. I'm wondering whether other people think we are being well served by the media.