Recruitment ‘slowdown’ affects roles on Ryan Bridge’s new show; One NZ and ad agency part ways; Why police didn’t front up on all six Piha cases for record-smashing docuseries; Frenzy over ZM radio station’s Taylor Swift ticket giveaway; Big changes loom for regional media.
It is one of the most anticipated additions to the New Zealand media landscape in 2024.
But Ryan Bridge’s new 7pm show on Three still appears to be weeks away from its debut - partly caused by some roles not yet being filled.
Media Insider understands it might not appear until at least March - or even April - but even that is not confirmed.
Three won’t comment specifically on the timeframe, other than to say there is no fixed date.
With Seven Sharp already back this week and Shortland St next week, that gives TVNZ a big headstart in the 7pm battle this year.
Nevertheless, Warner Bros. Discovery is confident that Bridge - whose new show is expected to have a harder news edge than Seven Sharp and the show it replaces on Three, The Project - will find his own audience.
“It’s a brand new show, brand new format, with a brand new set. It was never going to be on air now,” says a Warner Bros. Discovery spokeswoman.
“At the moment we have no fixed date for it airing.”
A source told Media Insider that Warner Bros. Discovery’s sinking lid policy - non-replacement of staff who have left - was having an impact. Another source told Media Insider this morning that the hiring freeze was in place until April and that various roles were still to be advertised.
“As you alluded to, there is a recruitment slowdown in [Warner Bros. Discovery] affecting some of the roles on the show,” said the spokeswoman.
“But we’re not worried because with any new programme the actual start date is not as important as getting it right from the start.
“Ryan is a superstar, it’s why he’s fronting the new show and we know that Kiwis will come check him and the new show out when it does air, and find that they love it, giving them a new 7pm home.”
In an exclusive interview in December, Bridge - who left the AM show for his new role - told Media Insider he was excited about the 7pm show.
“It’s different from what has come before in that it’s going to be much harder, I think, in its approach,” says Bridge. “It’s more news-focused and [with an] emphasis on live.
“[That’s] something that I definitely have a preference for. Obviously, you have to do some pre-record stuff, but I just love being live on telly - that’s what I love doing in the morning.
“A return to that style of interviewing at 7pm is the goal and I guess the big get for us will be that big daily news interview. Whatever is the most important or the most interesting interview of the day will be what we’re aiming to put up front.”
The ingredients make for compelling television. The disappearance, without trace, of six young people - three women and three men - in and around Piha over almost 30 years.
The backdrop: The small, isolated community in one of New Zealand’s most rugged and beautiful locations. And an undertone - a sinister element lurking. Unidentified individuals with past histories of danger and drugs.
Black Coast Vanishings - Three’s captivating and beautifully shot four-part docu-series focusing on the mystery disappearances of Éloi Rolland, Iraena Asher, Kim Bambus, Laurence Wu, Cherie Vousden and Quentin Godwin - has smashed streaming records this week, and attracted more than half a million viewers from Sunday to Wednesday.
“Four days in, Black Coast Vanishings has already broken records on ThreeNow, becoming our biggest local platform debut ever and a key driver of new registrations,” says Warner Bros. Discovery senior director commissioning Vicki Keogh.
“The four-part true crime mystery series has captured the nation and the bravery of those families and women who have shared their stories so openly has generated important conversations. More than half a million viewers tuned in on Three for the multi-night viewing event.”
But along with new revelations - cases of women who have survived harrowing, close calls with erratic, strange men - there are lingering, unanswered questions.
Are any of the disappearances linked? Unlikely.
Is there a serial killer on the loose? Most unlikely.
Do some of the cases warrant more investigation? Definitely.
Should police have fronted up on more than just one of the cases? Most definitely.
Detective Inspector Callum McNeill comes across brilliantly on Black Coast Vanishings.
He talks on camera and at length about the disappearance of French student Éloi Rolland, the sixth and most recent case. He speaks eloquently and articulately.
Co-director Candida Beveridge can’t speak highly enough of McNeill - she says he chased every possible thread on Éloi. Anything she gave him would be investigated immediately. “I couldn’t have had a better example of a policeman doing good police work,” she says.
But there’s a very telling footnote at the end of each of the four episodes:
Beveridge says of the five other cases: “It would have been better in a PR sense if they [police] had fronted up.”
It’s a critical point. The lack of police comment on the other cases has, in my opinion, contributed to a vacuum of speculation.
Waitematā District Commander Superintendent Naila Hassan told Media Insider: “Police staff regularly make themselves available for interviews with a variety of media outlets and production companies on active or historical investigations.
“The police media team has had extensive dealings with the production company since 2021. In consultation with the investigation staff involved in these cases, the decision was made to decline interviews for the five cases as coronial findings had been issued.
“It was deemed inappropriate for police to engage in speculation on those cases given findings had been issued.”
But there is nothing to stop police from commenting on historical cases or their approach to investigations. And there are plenty of questions - and criticisms - about those.
Police came in for heavy criticism for their handling of Iraena Asher’s disappearance in 2004.
And in the case of Cherie Vousden, who disappeared at the Ahuahu/Mercer Bay Loop Track in late 2012, her partner believes the search was called off way too early.
There are legitimate public-interest questions for police to answer.
Five years later, Kim Bambus disappeared in the same area as Vousden.
Former Mayor Sir Bob Harvey told AM: “I think they’ve been taken, and the police now need to step up and go over exactly what they thought happened.”
And what about police comment on the new cases uncovered by the documentary, of women being chased into the bushes?
“We weren’t directly approached around matters involving women who have been interviewed as part of this series,” says a police spokesman. “So I’m afraid I can’t immediately add any comments around any specific incidents.”
Hassan says police are not aware of any new reports or leads prompted by the series “at this point”.
“However, the best advice for anyone with any new information is to contact police. They can call our 105 number or lodge a report online by going to https://www.police.govt.nz/use-105.”The spokesman said any reports made to police would be reviewed.
“It’s too early to add any commentary around any follow-up action that may or may not be taken. If any reports are made to police as a result of the programme, or in the coming days/weeks, these will need to be reviewed first.”
Judging by social media comments, the series has irked a small number of Piha residents, while others have taken more affirmative action, setting up support networks - including walking groups.
Beveridge is thankful that such an intense subject matter has resonated so strongly with the public. She says the response has been “amazing”.
“From that point of view, it’s really good - a lot more stories of predatory behaviour have come out from it. And I think that people had no idea - I just didn’t think they really understood.
“I’ve been thinking about it today, and I thought, it can’t just be Piha. This must be a bit like #MeToo - you give women permission to come out and say, ‘Actually, I was stalked’. There’s a story on one of the pages about a woman who was chased by a red ute in Huia, terrified.”
She says people are coming forward with information - she is also urging them to go to police.
“The documentary was really a place to air concerns that people have had. It’s created a momentum to look at predatory behaviour in a small town.
“And if that starts a bigger movement throughout New Zealand and other small towns and that helps women to be brave and stand up and say enough, then that that’s what I would be happy with.”
She adds: “I hope that when people watch it, they’re moved enough by watching those missing people’s stories. That if anyone knows anything that they’ve been holding or keeping, they will be brave enough to report it.”
A big parting of ways in the New Zealand advertising world - a “conscious uncoupling” as Gwyneth Paltrow might say.
One NZ and DDB Aotearoa have parted ways after five years, apparently by mutual agreement.
One independent advertising industry observer described the split to Media Insider as a blow but DDB is putting on a brave face and already embracing what it calls an exciting 2024.
One NZ spokesman Conor Roberts said: “At the end of 2023 we mutually agreed with DDB to conclude our contract with it. Over five years of the relationship, through pandemics and rebrands, we developed several popular campaigns together and we’re extremely proud of that work.
“We’ve been engaged with a roster of agencies for a few years now, including The Tuesday Club, which has been great for delivering new ideas and collaboration between the teams.
“We’re coming up on the first birthday of our rebrand from Vodafone to One NZ. We’re looking forward to building on the success of the change as well as some great initiatives with the likes of the One NZ Warriors and our collaboration with SpaceX to bring satellite-to-cell coverage across New Zealand.”
DDB Aotearoa group chief executive Priya Patel said: “Obviously it’s always a shame to part ways with a client. But, as you are no doubt aware, there is a lot of change happening at One NZ and we both agreed that it made sense to end our partnership on a high at the end of 2023.”
She said DDB wished One NZ well.
“We’ve done some cool stuff with them over the last five years but Matty [Burton, chief creative officer] and I were really only here for the last two - when we did the One NZ work.
“We think the SpaceX launch and mobile work were really strong – it gave them a good, modern tonality and obviously introduced some of their newer product initiatives to the market.”
She said DDB was partnered up with “many other brilliant New Zealand businesses and brands” including McDonald’s, Samsung, New World, Tourism NZ, AAI, Sky, and The Warehouse and those partnerships - along with new business - meant there was no impact to any roles at DDB Group.
For almost 12 hours last Thursday, the phone lines at ZM virtually rang non-stop.
By the end of the day, 52,780 calls had been logged in just 11 hours at the Kiwi radio station - an average of more than one call every second.
The prize? Two concert tickets, airfares and accommodation to see Taylor Swift in Sydney.
There were similar numbers again yesterday and station bosses are preparing for another onslaught for the next two Thursdays.
Over the past few weeks, the station has had the real-life equivalent of Willy Wonka golden tickets on offer - airfares, accommodation and double passes to give away to one of Swift’s four upcoming, sold-out concerts in Sydney.
As soon as the station plays a Taylor Swift song on ‘Taylor Thursday’, the lines open up. A lucky caller goes into the draw, and a winner is announced at the end of the day.
ZM has even had to tweak its staff rosters to handle the calls.
“We got a small amount of tickets to give away early last year from the promoter,” says ZM content director Ross Flahive.
“Based on the success of that, we reached out to someone on her management team who has built a good relationship over the years and put forward a proposal with our fingers crossed to buy more tickets to giveaway. This was after the shows had all sold out so we weren’t sure how it’d go.
“He and the team were incredibly helpful and made it happen.”
ZM’s winners - there will be 64 in total (32 double passes) - will be all sitting together in the same A Reserve block at Sydney’s Accor Stadium.
Flahive himself is a “manic Swiftie” - he will be at three of her shows, two in Melbourne and one in Sydney.
“For us, it’s been an easy thing to lean into ... [we] knew the hype that was going to surround this.
“The competitions we did last year broke so many records for us, this one is no different. It’s a once-in-a-generation pop culture moment. With another year to go on the tour, it’s clear it’ll be one of the biggest ever.”
Flahive says Swift is on the same level - and even bigger - than the likes of Elvis, The Beatles, and Michael Jackson.
“Elvis, Beatles, etc were huge when countries/US states had one or two TV stations, a handful of radio stations and a newspaper or two. Mass saturation was actually pretty easy. To get that level of mania in the most fragmented media landscape ever is unreal.”
Swift is never far from the headlines - this week, X (formerly Twitter) was forced to ban searches on her following the emergence of deepfake explicit images. On Monday (NZT) she was in Baltimore to watch her NFL boyfriend Travis Kelce’s Kansas City Chiefs beat the Ravens for a spot in the SuperBowl on February 12.
Flahive says Swift and Kelce are this generation’s Posh and Becks.
He also sent Media Insider a Variety article in which chief music critic Chris Wilman, who reviewed The Beatles back in the day, equated Swift to the Fab Four.
“Cultural impact is a little harder to make specific superlative claims for,” Wilman wrote in the article.
“Even without wanting to be mean about it, some who remain resistant to Swift’s charms would like to see her touring success as part of an ever-repeatable series of cyclical phenomenon.
“Most students of pop history can pull out a few landmark tours that felt like signal moments,” he said, referring to specific tours from the likes of The Jacksons, Springsteen, Madonna and U2.
“Having seen all those tours at least once in their day, and now having seen the Eras Tour on four occasions, I can vouch that as much as those moments in touring lore deserved their reputations, there are few direct correlations with the once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon we’re seeing today.
“Really, the only thing it can be compared to is a Beatles tour.”
Big moves are unfolding in regional New Zealand journalism with one established operator expanding its empire, while a newcomer is set to build a big digital network, possibly with taxpayer support.
We outline the moves today.
Plans for a digital-focused regional news operation in New Zealand are moving ahead and may receive taxpayer support.
Media Insider understands from public sector sources that the Government is looking favourably at financial support for the Regional News Network - possibly through MBIE’s regional economic development fund rather than NZ on Air’s traditional media funds.
RNN plans to station journalists and salespeople in about 17 regions, but starting out in eight areas initially.
Those regions are likely to be Northland, Waikato, Gisborne, Taranaki, Manawatū, Canterbury, Queenstown and Otago. RNN is being born out of Crux, the news website run by Peter Newport out of Queenstown for the past six years.
Media Insider revealed details of RNN’s plans in May last year. At that time, it said it needed about $5 million to start and keep the operation running “through 36 months and to a stage where it’s sustainable and profitable”.
Under the model there would be three key people in each designated region (though not necessarily in the same town) – a senior journalist, a junior journalist and a sales rep.
Through a spokesman, Media and Communications Minister Melissa Lee, who is also Minister for Economic Development, said this week: “I have asked officials for advice on regional media. No decisions on commitments have been made.”
She said the Government was focused on delivering its 100-day plan. “Decisions on other areas will be made after considerations of advice and when and as appropriate,” she said.
I suspect any possible government funding for RNN will be looked at very carefully by existing media firms, including Stuff and NZME. Despite cutbacks over the years, they still invest heavily in the regions, especially compared with the likes of publicly owned RNZ and TVNZ.
Newport told Media Insider by way of an update this week that there had been “no dramatic changes in the operating model”.
“We are putting together RNN’s governance and management systems so we are ready to address the growing news vacuum in the regions as legacy media face increasing challenges around cost, revenue and distribution.
“Our view is that the regions need a strong voice not just from a journalism perspective but in terms of economic development, productivity and social cohesion.”
Otago Daily Times publisher Allied Press is buying The Blenheim Sun newspaper, further strengthening its South Island newspaper footprint.
Allied chief executive Grant McKenzie confirmed the sale. “The team at The Blenheim Sun will continue to provide great editorial coverage and innovative advertising solutions. This is an exciting time and opportunity,” he told Media Insider.
The purchase, for an as-yet-undisclosed sum, means Allied now has titles across the South Island - including its flagship ODT daily masthead in Dunedin and a portfolio of community newspapers including The Star in Christchurch; Mountain Scene in Queenstown, The Timaru Courier and the Greymouth Star.
Marlborough - and Blenheim in particular - is well served by community titles with the weekly Wednesday Sun newspaper and website; Stuff’s Marlborough Express; and another independently owned title, the Marlborough Weekly, whose content also appears on the Marlborough App.
Sun owner Les Whiteside did not wish to comment yesterday.
The sale drew a somewhat snarky response from the competing Marlborough Weekly.
Under the headline ‘Sun sells to out of region buyer’, the Weekly reported that the sale meant the Weekly was the only locally owned newspaper.
“We’re really proud that the Marlborough Weekly is the region’s only locally owned newspaper and supports the community that we are glad to be a part of,” owner Summa Donald was reported as saying.
For more than a decade, Allied Press has printed Stuff’s The Southland Times newspaper in Dunedin. That contract, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars over that time, came about after Stuff closed its Invercargill print plant.
But now Stuff is ending the deal - and no doubt making a decent saving - with plans to print The Southland Times at its own print plant in Christchurch.
It will no doubt mean earlier editorial deadlines in order to have the paper trucked south and in letterboxes and retail outlets on time.
“I can confirm that Stuff are ending their print contract with Allied Press for the printing of the Southland Times later in the year,” said Allied chief executive Grant McKenzie.
Stuff masthead publishing managing director Jo Norris said: “We have a large number of contracts for our national publishing business. We never discuss commercially sensitive contracting arrangements.”
A number of candidates are likely for the TVNZ political editorship, vacated by Jessica Mutch McKay.
TVNZ is handling recruitment carefully - and has started advertising the role.
A frontrunner has to be deputy political editor Maiki Sherman but TVNZ is quite rightly testing the market, and opening up one of its most critical roles to other potential candidates.
Other possible internal options are Katie Bradford, Benedict Collins, and London-based European correspondent Mei Heron. Jack Tame’s name has been mentioned in some circles, but his star continues to shine brightly as a presenter.
Other potential candidates include Stuff’s Tova O’Brien and Andrea Vance and NZME’s Jason Walls.
“We are looking for talent that has proven, wide-ranging journalistic experience and news judgement with an interest in politics. Experience in political reporting is advantageous,” says the job ad.
Mutch McKay officially leaves TVNZ this month, for a top corporate role at ANZ.
* Sir Bob Harvey was just jumping on a plane when I texted him; He relayed his text message response verbally.
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The uncertain future of traditional television broadcasting has been raised in a briefing document to new Media and Communications Minister Melissa Lee.
“As the sector transitions online, companies will be required to consider the viability of ongoing investment in analogue broadcasting infrastructure,” says the Ministry for Culture and Heritage briefing document, released on Thursday.
“It is likely that the Freeview chief executives [from TVNZ, Warner Bros Discovery, RNZ and Whakaata Māori] will raise the future of traditional TV broadcasting with you. TV broadcasters pay a fee to Kordia (a Government-owned firm), and the costs are increasingly unsustainable as competition increases from global streaming companies.
“The ongoing transition away from legacy transmission infrastructure continues to require careful management. Analogue radio and TV broadcasting still contribute to New Zealand’s resilience during natural disasters and towards equity of access for geographically isolated New Zealanders.”
The document outlines the sector’s big shift to digital - TVNZ is investing heavily in a new streaming platform - but also details the impact that the likes of global tech giants such as Facebook, Google and Netflix have on the industry.
“Digital products provide only a fraction of the revenue previously provided by traditional operating models. At the same time, the expense of maintaining those traditional models means broadcasters are now facing the prospect of switching off TV and radio AM services and moving exclusively to online streaming.
“There are opportunities to support both sector innovation and greater audience choice. The media and content production sectors are aware of the need to find funding from sources other than government and are strong supporters of creating a more modern and streamlined system that encourages more effective investment.”
NZ Herald business editor-at-large Liam Dann has done the impossible - and got Sir John Key and Grant Robertson to agree on something.
They both like his new book - “a super-informative, entertaining introduction to money, how it works, what we should do with it, and why it matters”, according to its back-page blurb.
As well as describing the book as a “must-read” on the cover, Key says on the back: “Liam’s insightful, considered, and plain-English explanation of economics is a must-read for anyone wanting to know just what makes our economy tick”.
Former Finance Minister Robertson is also praiseworthy: “Makes the world of economics accessible, interesting and, dare I say it, even fun”.
Dann’s book, published by Penguin, is due out in early March.
Who's in line for influential TVNZ role?; $1 sales: Five NZME community newspapers saved.