Media: Hirschfeld leaves a large hole

Carol Hirschfeld and John Campbell have been an effective team. Photo / NZ Herald

Carol Hirschfeld's exit from Campbell Live for a new role at Maori Television means a tough talent search for TV3 news boss Mark Jennings.

He will be looking for a new back-up presenter and executive producer for the maaaarvellous John Campbell.

But Campbell and Hirschfeld have been more than journalist colleagues.

At times they have been the corporate face of MediaWorks and of the channel, appearing in promotional roles on the Auckland social scene.

The duo's breakup is the most significant news departure since John Hawkesby jumped ship at the end of the 1990s from his disastrous but lucrative return to TVNZ.

Hirschfeld leaves TV3 in August to become head of programming at taxpayer-funded Maori Television.

"People are what make a workplace a satisfying place to be. I'm lucky as I've worked with the best," she said.

"I will of course particularly miss working with John but I'm immensely grateful to him for the gracious support he's shown over my decision to take up this new position."

The two broadcasters have maintained an exceptional rapport.

TV3 insiders said the pair held a lot of sway over what appeared on Campbell Live and had the ear of TV3 chief executive Brent Impey.

The question is whether Campbell - now on his own and still TV3's biggest star - will be able to maintain that independence.

CAROL CALL

Jennings is now looking for a replacement for Hirschfeld. Her second in charge, Kim Hurring, has worked with Campbell in the past.

Another name that has been mentioned in dispatches is Melanie Jones, a well-known media person who replaced Janet Wilson last year as a part-time producer on Campbell Live.

It is understood Jones' role lasted only a short time. She arrived at work one day to be told that her part-time role had been restructured out of existence, a MediaWorks insider said.

Jones was yesterday appointed to the new role of head of news and sport at Radio Live.

She is well qualified for the TV role.

She is a former producer for the Holmes show and One News. Some might remember she won a substantial settlement from TVNZ when she was wrongfully sacked by Bill Ralston.

DEVLIN DETAIL

Hirschfeld's partner - intellectual-about-town Finlay Macdonald - is also likely to be leaving MediaWorks.

Radio Live is pulling the plug on Sunday Live, the erudite show he presented with Graeme Hill.

The show is said to be "collateral damage" from MediaWorks chief executive Brent Impey's decision that Radio Live should focus on sports from 2pm to 6pm at weekends.

The new shows will be presented by Martin Devlin, who left the breakfast show in March 2007 under strained circumstances.

Radio Live's programming boss Mitch Harris said Devlin was suited to sports rather than news, and difficulties leading up to his departure were the result of a family bereavement.

Committed sports radio listeners I approached say rehiring Devlin made sense because sports coverage - on The Radio Network's Newstalk ZB and Radio Sport - is vulnerable right now. Tony Veitch has gone. Willie Lose has yet to emerge as a star sportscaster and Murray Deaker, let's face it, is not getting any younger.

Devlin had filled in for Brendan Telfer on Radio Sport a while back and there seemed a danger he could be snapped up. Impey is Devlin's biggest fan and was instrumental in his return. But a source said the new format was unlikely to meet universal approval from RadioWorks staff.

GOLD STANDARD

Advertising media buyer Carat has appointed Matt O'Sullivan as national planning director and Ryf Quail as digital director.

O'Sullivan was head of planning at Y&R, leading their national planning unit and covering communications planning, channel planning, research, one-to-one planning and digital strategy. Quail will be in charge of the Carat and Aegis Media digital interests across all offices in New Zealand. Both will join on July 1.

BUYING BRANDS

Media Wise and the Omnicom Media Group have announced the rebranding and integration of Media Wise into the M2M International network.

The change took effect on May 18.

The companies said the M2M International brand would hit the ground running in New Zealand with an established client base worth more than $90 million in rate card billings, ranking it the sixth-largest New Zealand media agency according to ACNielsen data.

TOON UP

Veteran cartoonist Peter Bromhead says he is disappointed over the "shabby" way he was dropped from the Sunday Star-Times last week.

He found out in an email from editor Mitchell Murphy the same day he received a Qantas Print Industry Award for Outstanding Achievement.

Bromhead has been a newspaper cartoonist for 38 years - much of it as a freelancer - and is the equivalent of royalty in the print industry.

He worked for 16 years at the Auckland Star and Sunday Star, and after a break has worked for the Sunday Star-Times for the past five years.

Bromhead says he has no gripes about being laid off from Fairfax as part of a cost-cutting exercise. All media are going through tough times and making cutbacks.

But he added: "As redundancies go I thought it was handled very shabbily. I could not do that with my staff - I have to talk to them.

"An email is not a good way to tell people they have been laid off.

"In my case the email went astray into my junk mail. It was only by accident that I found I had been dropped and I could easily have found out reading the paper on Sunday.

"It is the first time I have been so unceremoniously dumped by email."

VERY DECISIVE

Mitchell Murphy could not be reached for comment. Brisbane-born Murphy took over the editorship of the two Fairfax Sundays in October in the midst of an advertising downturn.

The former managing editor of Fairfax Digital in Queensland is overseeing a big revamp of the Sunday News and is scrapping up to 12 positions.

One journalist who has dealt with him said he impressed as "very decisive - somebody who sets his mind on something and does not muck around".

DOMPOST EDITOR

Fairfax has named Manawatu Standard editor Bernadette Courtenay as the new editor for the Dominion Post.

Courtenay was recognised for 2008's best general news story at last week's Qantas Media Awards for breaking the Tony Veitch saga.

She is a former assistant editor of the Dominion Post under Tim Pankhurst, who now heads the Newspaper Publishers Association.

Among the contenders were deputy editor Nick Wrench, Bryce Johns, the editor of the Waikato Times, which was named best daily newspaper over 30,000 circulation at the Qantas awards, and Paul Taggart, who is managing editor for production at the Fairfax sub-editing hub. There was also a mystery applicant.