Broadcasting Minister Willie Jackson says he wants to see change on TVNZ. Photo / Mark Mitchell
‘I want to see change’, says Broadcasting Minister as he lines up TVNZ; Gary McCormick calls in top lawyer; new survey rates bias at eight media outlets (including the Herald); Buzzfeed News closes; Reporter of the Year leaves Stuff; PR’s best campaigns, finalists named
TVNZ is in for a major shake-up – far beyond hiring a new CEO and chair, with Broadcasting Minister Willie Jackson confirming he wants to see a stronger commitment from the state broadcaster to reflect the “New Zealand identity”.
And there are no sacred cows – he says that “identity” now stretches beyond Country Calendar, one of the most popular shows on television and – it seems – often raised with him as an example of public-media broadcasting.
Jackson says he’ll be meeting TVNZ to discuss its commitment to a public-media strategy. “I want to have a chat with them about where they’re going,” he says. And: “I want to see change.” Most or all of the state broadcaster’s board may be overhauled as their tenures come up for expiry on June 30.
The minister wants to see more New Zealand stories on air and in primetime on TVNZ channels. “Can we get the balance right? Obviously, they’ve got to make a buck. We all get that, but can we just balance it a bit more?
“I want to see and hear a New Zealand identity, and for me – despite what critics might be saying – it’s more than just about Māori.”
In a wide-ranging interview, the minister says he wants to see all underserved audiences – including Pasifika and younger Kiwis – addressed.
He loved live coverage of Te Matatini on TV2 in February and last weekend’s TVNZ 1 Sunday show, which profiled boxer Mea Motu.
“We don’t see enough of that in primetime. I want to see that sort of stuff.
“I want to see some of the country stuff. Country Calendar has been brilliant for New Zealand TV, but I think our New Zealand identity, with respect, is much more than that now,” says Jackson.
“They’ve been just saying ‘oh, well, there’s the New Zealand story, it’s Country Calendar’. I think it’s wider than that. I think Kiwis are growing – this country has been changing.”
Country Calendar has been a staple of the state broadcaster’s menu since 1966 - the longest-running local show on television. Each week, it attracts a viewership of more than 500,000.
Jackson says: “We have young people growing up across different cultures, appreciating each other’s needs. The face of New Zealand has changed. We’ve got a lot more ethnic people.
“Is that being reflected on TV and radio? Well, in my view probably not enough. It’s that I want to see. I want to see change – and people who want to carry that out and people who will work with us.”
He adds: “That’s the type of kōrero I want to run with them to see if we are playing on a similar playing field. I don’t know if we’re too far off what each other wants.”
He says it’s not so much a step back in strategy, but more finding a “middle line”.
All of this leads to the question of exactly who at TVNZ will “work with us” to carry out the change in direction – finding the “middle line” that the minister so desires.
With Simon Power’s surprise resignation as CEO, TVNZ will be soon on the hunt for a new boss – the most pivotal and critical role in public media. There’s almost a Succession-like subplot under way.
Coinciding with the appointment of a new CEO is the overhaul of the TVNZ board – chairman Andy Coupe, deputy chair Kevin Malloy, Toko Kapea, Trish Carter, Keiran Horne, Meg Matthews and Aliesha Staples.
The board members’ terms were due to expire on April 30 but that date has been pushed out to June 30. Power himself leaves on the same day.
Jackson has been clearly unhappy with some aspects of the current TVNZ approach – the company was not exactly rushing to celebrate a potential merger with RNZ.
But, as one of its last acts, the board may still get to appoint a new CEO who will lead TVNZ’s future strategy. TVNZ says it has not started the hiring process yet; it will put out a statement in due course as to whether the current or new board leads the recruitment.
Jackson himself wasn’t sure of the sequence. “It’s an interesting one. It’s not for me to say; there are no strict rules from me over it; it’s their call. They probably have to appoint that person before Simon goes.”
The RNZ board is also facing an overhaul, with at least three board members’ terms coming up for renewal on April 30 - chair Jim Mather, Michael O’Donnell and Jane Wrightson.
Jackson confirmed: “My team of officials is interviewing people now in terms of the two different boards – we’ll see how that goes.
“Over the next couple of weeks, they’re interviewing people; there’ll be some good people on both boards and some of them will stay and then there’ll be new people who want to come through. We’ll just see how it all works out.”
Former MP Tracey Martin – who chaired the TVNZ-RNZ merger advisory board – is a frontrunner to take over as chair of TVNZ and RNZ CEO Paul Thompson is in a similar, fancied position to move across to the CEO role at TVNZ.
Both were supporters of the merger, and Jackson has been impressed with RNZ’s stronger commitment to public media under Thompson’s watch.
Jackson said he had nothing to do with Power’s resignation. A former Cabinet minister in the John Key Government, Power quit after just 13 months in the role.
“I always thought he was one of the best Tories you could come across,” says Jackson. “You know, I thought he was on the wrong side. We were sort of mates – well, you don’t want to be calling someone mates if you’re a minister now, do you? I don’t know if I want to go that far. But I’m just talking about the old days.
“In 1999 we both went in [to Parliament] and I watched him as Justice Minister, I did some work with them. I had no problems with that. Even our kids went to King’s College together.”
He says people will speculate, “Oh, Jackson got rid of Simon Power”.
“Nothing could be further from the truth. I got a surprise when he was chucking it in. I haven’t talked to him since then. I only wish him the best, he’s a good man. And I know that people have quite a lot of time for him.
“He must have made a decision. I don’t know if he agrees with some of the things I’ve said but I think I’ve been pretty upfront … probably too upfront.”
So what does the future shape of TVNZ and RNZ look like, now the merger has been switched off?
For starters, Jackson wants to see the organisations working much more closely together, along with Whakaata Māori (Māori Television).
“My hope is that RNZ and TVNZ work in tandem together ... they’ve been working too separately for too long. Now that we’re not going to bring them together formally, there’s no reason why they can’t work together in a collaborative way, complementing and supporting each other.
“A lot of people were on both sides. You know you look at people like Corin Dann, Guyon Espiner, Jack Tame, Kim Hill.
“These people have worked on Television New Zealand and RNZ. And Mike Hosking … dare I say it, Mike Hosking!
“Why isn’t it possible to think there can’t be a complementary strategy with RNZ and TVNZ. I just know that these entities can work better together going forward.”
I put to him a range of scenarios – including whether TV1 should be a commercial-free public media channel, leaving a commercially focused TV2 (that could be sold off), and whether TVNZ and Whakaata Māori should come together as one state TV/digital video broadcaster.
He is open to transformation.
“Oh, everything’s on the table. It has to be. I didn’t take the broadcasting portfolio over just to roll out the merger.
“I took over the merger when it was three-quarters of the way forward. I know there are some people who want to blame me for it not rolling out, but it had been in the mix for about three or four years when I took it over.
“I was always very clear – merger or no merger – we still needed a co-ordinated strategy that taps into the best of RNZ, TVNZ, Māori media. That looks at where we’re going in terms of public obligation. That looks at the RNZ charter, that looks at the TVNZ charter and boards. We also have to, before the election, get this online news bill up.”
That bill is designed to get the digital giants – today Google and Meta; tomorrow, who knows – to come to the party to help fund news media companies for the journalism and content that helps attract and engage audience to their mega-platforms.
Unless the giants can strike deals with news media companies, they will be forced to the table under the new legislation, expected to be before Parliament by June or July.
NZME – publisher of the NZ Herald – has already signed fixed-term deals with the likes of Google and Meta and it is understood two other major firms, Stuff and Allied, are close to doing the same with Google.
Jackson says all New Zealand media companies, big and small, need reassurance, to help fund newsrooms and journalism. “It’s been really tough for the media companies. I want to see a fair and even playing field for all companies.”
He said he had been briefed that Google was doing more deals. Some local companies were doing one- or two-year deals, ahead of the legislation, and as an urgent measure to get money in the door.
Deals were important to help preserve journalists’ roles – it was “crazy”, Jackson said, that 50 per cent of journalist roles had been lost in the past decade.
Two weeks ago, Jackson announced a $25.7 million annual boost for RNZ - $12m to maintain public media services, $12m for digital initiatives (his original press release talked about a new digital platform, but this was an error by officials) and $1.7m for AM Transmission.
Jackson says RNZ has been “starved of opportunity” because of a funding freeze for many years.
(As a side comment, a funding “freeze” for most media companies would be a godsend – those in the private sector have suffered big newsroom cuts in the same time that RNZ has been complaining about a “frozen” funding line. Yet, most in the private sector have still managed to launch new audience initiatives and the likes of the Herald and Stuff invest in NZ regions far more strongly than the public media companies.)
Jackson said RNZ itself was surprised by the size of the budget increase. Half of it, however, was for day-to-day operational requirements, including tech upgrades. But they now had the opportunity to also develop new audience initiatives to attract underserved markets.
A stable of big-name broadcasters was suddenly silenced with the well-publicised closure of Today FM late last month. As Media Insider revealed last week, a large cohort of axed staff are looking at a group legal action to take on MediaWorks and the way it handled the closure.
You have to feel for one of New Zealand radio’s best-known voices, Gary McCormick, who joined Today just five weeks before its closure, shifting across from the breakfast show on one of MediaWorks’ sister stations, More FM.
According to an internal document, McCormick is an independent contractor and therefore not eligible for redundancy. This seems a harsh outcome for a man who spent 19 years behind the microphone at More, helping it become a ratings monster at one stage.
It is understood high-profile employment lawyer Penelope Ryder-Lewis will be representing McCormick - he has known her husband, Sir Hugh Rennie, for many years.
McCormick said he could not comment on any legal matters but he was looking at all of his options.
He said he was in a “state of shock” on the day of the closure. It had come completely out of the blue, as he was preparing for his weekly show, including an interview he had lined up. He had walked into the office and found a video call under way.
In an interview with Stuff’s Adam Dudding in February, McCormick said: “I am an organisation’s worst nightmare if they cross me. It’s just if I think something’s going wrong, then I’m not going to take it.”
Prescient words.
The NZ Herald is considered the most balanced of eight media outlets when it comes to political coverage, according to a new Curia poll.
Stuff, One News and The Spinoff are considered the most left-leaning, in that order, followed by Newshub and then Radio New Zealand. Newstalk ZB is seen as the most right-wing leaning, followed by The Platform.
Curia asked 1000 people how they regarded the eight outlets’ coverage of politics - strongly left-leaning, somewhat left-leaning, neutral, somewhat right-leaning, or strongly right-leaning.
Curia owner David Farrar said the “Herald should be pleased with how it is perceived” - around 40 per cent of the respondents think it covers politics neutrally, 30 per cent think it leans left and 30 per cent say it leans right.
“If you look at the breakdown by how people say they will vote, National and Act voters thought the Herald leaned left (+13 per cent and +29 per cent respectively) while Labour and Green voters think the Herald leans right (-25 per cent and -47 per cent respectively).”
Overall, the Herald was seen to be a net 1 per cent to the left. Other results - including Stuff +19 per cent to the left and Newstalk ZB + 36 per cent to the right - are detailed in the chart below.
“It is little surprise that New Zealanders saw NewstalkZB and The Platform as leaning right, which is common for talk radio,” says Farrar. “Worth noting that this is probably more a perception of the hosts than the newsrooms.”
He said New Zealanders’ view that both state broadcasters lean left should be “of concern”.
“I found it very interesting that New Zealanders saw Stuff as slightly more left-leaning than The Spinoff. Even Labour and Green voters saw Stuff as leaning left (+3 per cent and +25 per cent respectively).”
Breaking news out of the US this morning - Buzzfeed News is closing down after 12 years, a victim of a slowdown in online revenue and tough economic times.
The online platform went from producing viral social videos - the rubber bands and burst watermelon is a particular memory in 2016 (see below)- to a journalistic powerhouse as it opened its news division, including winning a Pulitzer Prize for a series on the infrastructure built by the Chinese government for the mass detention of Muslims.
AP reported a staff memo from CEO Jonah Peretti in which he told staff that he “made the decision to overinvest” in the news division, but failed to recognise early enough a lack of financial support.
“Digital advertising has plummeted this year, cutting into the profitability of major tech companies from Google to Facebook. Waves of layoffs have rolled through the tech industry and more are expected,” AP reported.
AP further reported that “journalists who previously worked at BuzzFeed lamented the end of the news division”.
“I’m heartsick about it, and proud of the great journalism we did when I was there and after I left,” said Ben Smith, BuzzFeed’s editor from 2011 to 2020. He is now editor-in-chief of Semafor.
AP reported that “Smith made the controversial decision in 2017 to publish a ‘dossier’ of information about then-President Donald Trump, though many outlets avoided it as unreliable and even Buzzfeed said there were serious reasons to doubt the allegations. He wrote then that ‘we have always erred on the side of publishing’.”
Kirsty Johnston – winner of the Voyager Reporter of the Year award in 2022 – is moving on from Stuff. She will join Radio New Zealand as a senior investigative reporter. In an internal RNZ memo, head of digital content Megan Whelan described Johnston as “fierce, fun and a clever, innovative storyteller”. Prior to Stuff, Whelan wrote, Johnston “spent years kicking ass on the NZ Herald’s investigation team”.
NZME has launched its long-foreshadowed youth brand, What The Actual?!
Published across TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, the brand is set to take on the likes of Shit You Should Care About and other youth-focused content and news brands. It is clearly NZME’s strategy to target the 16- to 24-year-olds, bringing them into the news conversation in a unique style.
While What the Actual?! has an association with the NZ Herald, I was careful, in my former role, to leave the younger experts to it.
The content will be curated by Mihingarangi Satele and Kahumako Rameka, two rising stars who have joined NZME after graduating as Te Rito journalism cadets. They are the ideal choices to bring the brand to life, says NZ Herald head of social Mitchell Powell.
“Like every generation, Gen Z has special characteristics that influence their news consumption habits. Both Mihi and Mako understand these characteristics first-hand and combined with their journalistic expertise, I know they’ll bring a vigorous and unique point of view to the news conversation,” says Powell.
NZME chief digital and publishing officer Carolyn Luey cited climate change, employment and healthcare among the topics the pair would cover with a fresh perspective.
Radio New Zealand, clearly not happy with being labelled “Government-funded media” by Elon Musk’s Twitter, took to the platform this week to explain why it was wrong.
🧵 RNZ’s editorial independence is enshrined in our charter and editorial policy. Twitter’s own policy defines government-funded media as cases where the government “may have varying degrees of government involvement over editorial content”, which does not apply to RNZ. (1/3)
— RNZ (@radionz) April 17, 2023
Congratulations to the 32 finalists for this year’s Public Relations Institute (PRINZ) awards. There’s a strong mix of corporate, public sector and PR firm finalists across multiple categories, led by Special PR with six nominations. Winners will be announced at a gala dinner on May 25. Lunch is on you all.
The finalists (in alphabetical order):
A ‘Booster’ of Happiness - Kelly Grindle, Special PR
A ‘Mighty’ Achievement - Kelly Grindle, Special PR
A bespoke campaign for a bespoke fridge - Liz Holt, Brianna Elder, Sean Brown, Mango Communications
AKL Open - Libby Middlebrook, Helen Twose, Auckland Airport
Are you cut out for the Coast? - Aaron Rees, Development West Coast
Bringing the sector together to build a better New Zealand - Maxine Glogau, Acumen
Closing the Pay Gap – gathering support from New Zealanders to influence policy change - Cas Carter, Mindthegap
Doppelmayr: Establishing ropeways as a credible public transport solution for Aotearoa - Carolyn Kerr, Charlotte Jackson, Anthem
Getting Kiwis on board with Jetstar - Kelly Grindle, Special PR
GO! Cut waste - Aakanksha Mehta, Kiwi Property
Have you heard what Bruce did? - Kelly Grindle, Special PR
How Charlies honoured a Kiwi legend at the Black Clash - Kelly Grindle, Special PR
HP – celebrating a landmark launch in a landmark location - Kirsten Blanchard, Renee Ji, Hayley Smith, Marissa Parr, Acumen
Improving Powerco’s relationship with the Greytown community - Rochelle West, Powerco
Let’s get to Synlait Safe - Josie Cochrane, Hannah Lynch, Emily Murphy, Jo Scott, Great Scott
McCensus: understanding the crew to attract the new - Brianna Elder, Simon Kenny, Mango Communications
McDonald’s at Fieldays – The most successful sequel ever - Brianna Elder, Simon Kenny, Sean Brown, Mango Communications
Shifting the dial on child abuse - Shae Skellern, Tegan Church, Jacky James, The Shine Collective
Shotgun blast from the deep - Jessica Rowley, Sarah Fraser, Rebekah Parsons-King, Rory Newsam, Niwa
Spark 5G Street Museum - Carolyn Kerr, Sarah Geel, Nalika Patel, Jack Whelan, Chanelle Nottle, Anthem
Te Kounga Paparangi – An intergenerational action plan for Ngāi Tahu to combat climate change - Nicki Tapa, Marcus Gibbs, Crisselda De Leon-Singson, Maisie Gray, Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu
The right decision for future generations: Securing Ngāi Tahu representation on Environment Canterbury - Marcus Gibbs, Ross Pringle, Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu
The road to restoring fluoridation and building back public trust - Vanessa Macfarlane, Wellington Water
The Silent Night, a fundraising event that no one goes to - Kelly Grindle, Special PR
Vote Phil Mauger - Erin Jamieson, Emma Maciaszek, Convergence Communications & Marketing
Vote, or else: Orange Man’s effort to get Palmy to vote - Liana Mua, Greg Berry, Palmerston North City Council
Vote 22 – New Plymouth District Council Local Election Campaign - Jacqueline Baker, Ben Kohlis, Aaron Boslem, New Plymouth District Council
We are Whānau – New Zealand’s First National Blood Donor Week - Sandy Trigg, Asuka Burge, Lee Stace, Lucy Body, Network Communications
You’re cooked – If you’re cooked stay off the stove - Kelley Toy, Fire and Emergency New Zealand
Former Labour MP Guarav Sharma on a life outside of politics.
* Don’t miss Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie’s weekly Media Insider column, published every Friday:
* Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand’s most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor and has a small shareholding in NZME.
The news company expanding in NZ and RNZ could move in with... who?