John Drinnan is the Media writer for the New Zealand Herald.
We are your advocate, Aotearoa. Uncovering stories that matter, asking hard-hitting questions of those in power, live-blogging sport events, monitoring the highs and lows of the NZX and providing Premium expert opinion and analysis. Bringing you distinctive, quality journalism and breaking news from across New Zealand and around the world. With specialists working together to create indepth reads, engaging video, and unmissable podcasts.
John Drinnan: Media join MeToo movement
Campaign aims to identify abusers, but what about the risk of false accusations?
John Drinnan: Current affairs gets a new look
COMMENT: These are dizzying days for TV current affairs.
John Drinnan: Right strategy on human rights?
Does the Human Rights Commission help — or just add to disagreement?
John Drinnan: Maori news unit to boost te reo?
Sources say a new operation could service a variety of news outlets.
John Drinnan: Radio NZ te reo strikes the wrong note
Maori language effort is well-meant, but RNZ needs to sell it to listeners.
John Drinnan: Labour mixes its signals to TVNZ
Govt isn't requiring state broadcaster to provide public broadcasting.
First 'The Hobbit', now for the sequel
Labour plan for movie-making employment law will heal old wounds, says Minister.
John Drinnan: Life left yet in the set-top box
Freeview and Vodafone have new offers - and new gadgets for TV watchers.
John Drinnan: Funding freeze kills TV shows
Pressure on NZ On Air means no money for long-running public service programmes.
John Drinnan: TV awards are back, with a gap
COMMENT: TVNZ says news and current affairs better left to Canon Media Awards.
John Drinnan: Plus-sizing Radio NZ
COMMENT: Labour Party wants RNZ to move into free-to-air TV, but at what cost?
John Drinnan: TVNZ sure cost won't repeat
COMMENT: TVNZ confident in deal with Warner Bros deal after Disney losses.
John Drinnan: TVNZ looking to sharpen up at seven
Broadcaster ponders how to make best use of Mike Hosking's talents.
John Drinnan: Bauer rebuts MediaWorks claim
Bauer Media is interested in buying radio assets, but not from MediaWorks.
John Drinnan: Aussie shakeup, NZ ripples
COMMENT: Political moves could mean big changes to media ownership.
John Drinnan: Jacinda mania a step too far
COMMENT: Labour's leader is being treated like a new Joan of Arc.
John Drinnan: TVNZ's plan to win over the kids
NZ On Air funding will support new website for young viewers.
John Drinnan: What's a celebrity really worth?
COMMENT: Calling newsreading an 'artistic pursuit' might be a bit rich.
John Drinnan: Hilary Barry's Breakfast role safe
TVNZ says it is happy with the cast of its morning show.
John Drinnan: It's the magic of the movies
Film festival attracts a big crowd, despite the temptations of the small screen.
Simon Barnett's departure an 'own goal'
How did MediaWorks miss signs that breakfast host Simon Barnett wanted a change?
No wedding, so it's de facto for Voda-Sky
John Drinnan writes the zagzigger.com site. He receives a free Sky TV service.
Goodbye to 'Scotty' on the graveyard shift
Veteran leaving late-night programme, as Radio NZ puts more focus on Auckland.
It's open season for attack ads
Politicians are gearing up for a new landscape in run-up to poll.
Radio NZ comes in from the cold
COMMENT: Government finally ends the 8 years funding freeze on RNZ, John Drinnan writes.
Time to defrost RNZ funding
COMMENT: Broadcaster's reinvention has helped its case for more government cash.
Drinnan: Aussie quakes, NZ aftershocks
COMMENT: Whatever happens to Australian media asset will also affect NZ
TVNZ tells Radio NZ: No, Prime Minister
COMMENT: Radio NZ offer of free interview series came too late, says TVNZ.
No laughing, this is New Zealand TV
NZ politics provides plenty of raw material, so where is the TV satire?
Plain talk, or just plain hateful?
COMMENT: Media reflects public division over where to draw the line on freedom of speech.
TVNZ departures signal more change
COMMENT: TV, radio bosses depart, and a Commerce Commission delay creates a log jam.
Radio NZ survives the big freeze
COMMENT: Digital content is a key strategy for the public broadcaster.
Kiwi voice of the right takes off in US
COMMENT: One-time Act Party vice-president finds an audience among US conservatives, John Drinnan writes.
John Drinnan: Kiwi actors at home in movieland
More New Zealanders are finding work in American movies and TV shows.
What's the point of TVNZ?
COMMENT: Why should taxpayers own a commercial broadcasting company that offers unexciting returns, John Drinnan writes.
Changes planned for journalism education
COMMENT: AUT University says it is looking at developing journalism as a skill-set rather than a career prospect, John Drinnan writes.
Kiwi Thunderbirds are go in China
MediaWorks bosses know better than anyone that the rebranding of TV3 will not send viewers racing to the channel, John Drinnan writes.
Lightbox staying, says Spark
COMMENT: Spark is standing by Lightbox amid speculation that it has also signed a deal with Netflix, writes John Drinnan.
When advertisers run the show
COMMENT: TVNZ's new money programme will be 100 per cent funded by Kiwibank, and the funding model could be used again, John Drinnan writes.
Here comes the media crunch
COMMENT: Big merger decisions are soon to be revealed, writes John Drinnan.
Amazon video puts pressure on Sky TV
Yesterday's unveiling of Amazon Prime Video brings more competition to an area where Sky TV once had a monopoly, John Drinnan writes.
TVNZ Parker piece promoted Burger King
COMMENT: TVNZ has defended its live broadcast cross to Joseph Parker - including plugs for his fast food supporters, John Drinnan writes.
NZ on Air papers the cracks
COMMENT: New Zealand's funding body must spread its money further, John Drinnan writes.
Taking the measure of Facebook
COMMENT: Momentous times for media, including Facebook - even if it refuses to accept that it is a media company.
What's wrong with City of Sails?
COMMENT: The $500,000 proposal to change Auckland's slogan received predictable criticism, writes John Drinnan.
John Drinnan: News? What a laugh
US media will be asking themselves how and why they failed so badly, writes John Drinnan.
John Drinnan: Spark turns up the music volume
COMMENT: Telco is keen to make the move into entertainment.
Drinnan: Giving Hosking the all-clear
The BSA has given Mike Hosking the all-clear for his prime-time editorials, but TVNZ says it will look at how they cover issues next year.
John Drinnan: The future of Freeview
COMMENT: The media revolution is about to hit free-to-air TV.
John Drinnan: MediaWorks' man with the news
COMMENT: Hal Crawford is now driving broadcaster MediaWorks' news operation.
John Drinnan: Real housewives row rumbles on
COMMENT: The Real Housewives' race fiasco rumbles on, with the parties no doubt wishing it would all just go away.
John Drinnan: TV funding carve-up
COMMENT: The biggest shake up to NZ On Air is coming, John Drinnan writes.
John Drinnan: Embracing the video revolution
COMMENT: Growth in online advertising is creating more demand for moving pictures.
John Drinnan: Film industry riding high
COMMENT: Film Commission chief Dave Gibson is half-way through what he has insisted was a single five-year term.
Drinnan: Pressure on media leaves Govt unmoved
Most politicians have long taken the advice of the lobbyists and kept their noses out of regulating the media business, or giving
Drinnan: Bravo for the Real Housewives
COMMENT: The Bravo TV channel and MediaWorks are pleased with a promising start for their fly-on-the-wall show Real Housewives of Auckland.
John Drinnan: TVNZ undaunted by online shift
Free-to-air TV won't face such dramatic upheaval as the print media, believes TVNZ head of television Jeff Latch.
Drinnan: From enemies to best of friends
It's old news that some New Zealand media companies are no longer treating each other as the enemy.
Drinnan: 'KR' out of step with the times
COMMENT: It has not been adman Kevin Roberts' finest hour, but I wonder whether he might be secretly pleased.
John Drinnan: Mixed reviews for NZ Post
A New Zealand Post commercial has annoyed some staff, who are upset by the cost at a time when posties are being taken off the streets.
Drinnan: Slicing the state funding pie
COMMENT: TVNZ's declaration that it will find a prime-time spot for Terry Teo will quieten cries that it might only be shown through OnDemand.
Drinnan: Here is the news from Beijing
COMMENT: Running the eight-page China Watch PR/propaganda sheet (take your pick) seems self-destructive for this respected media brand.
Drinnan: 'Maori' will remain in the name Maori TV
Paora Maxwell said it was never the intention to remove the word Maori from its brand.
Critics cry foul at rugby campaign's fake video
This week some media lambasted the Wellington Rugby Union for issuing a video that faked sideline abuse of referees.
John Drinnan: Digital not pulling its weight
COMMENT: Spark chief executive Simon Moutter hit a nerve calling for Google, Facebook and other global media players to pay their fair share of taxes.
John Drinnan: Curious timing for dual roles
COMMENT: As massive upheavals rip through the media, our state broadcaster has shown an extraordinary sense of timing.
John Drinnan: Merger fever sweeps the land
COMMENT: Everyone wants a new partner these days. NZME is eyeing up Fairfax while Vodafone woos Sky.
John Drinnan: Voda-Sky deal a win-win-win
COMMENT: Another day, another media merger. The combination of Sky TV and Vodafone amounts to a takeover of Sky.
John Drinnan: Maori TV: $11m, RNZ: Zero
COMMENT: Bill English gave Maori TV n a $10.6 million boost in the Budget, although it has a $12.9 million nest egg built up over years of taxpayer funding.
Sky TV's threat to TVNZ over sport clips
Sky TV bosses say Television New Zealand is grabbing too much of its exclusive sports footage to use on news bulletins and websites.
Drinnan: Big deal - beginning or ending?
Some will see the proposed merger of Fairfax New Zealand and NZME as the beginning of the end of an era for New Zealand media.
John Drinnan: Merger talk a sign of the times
COMMENT: Two media giants into one? Changed market makes NZME-Fairfax tie-up a real prospect.