Outgoing Newshub - and incoming Stuff - 6pm newsreader Samantha Hayes. Photo / Lee Howell IDC
Stuff, Warner Bros Discovery tell of “robust” discussions after senior Stuff leader’s meeting outburst; Top boss exits ad agency; New buyer for NZ Doctor and Pharmacy Today.
The launch of a media initiative is an exhilarating and frightening ride – over the years I’ve been lucky to be involved in various projects including the launch of the Herald on Sunday, the relaunch of the NZ Herald as a compact-shaped newspaper; redesigns of the nzherald.co.nz website and app; the establishment of an integrated multimedia newsroom; and the launch of NZ Herald Premium.
All have been challenging, uplifting and sometimes downright scary experiences for everyone involved. And, for sure, not all of them went smoothly. One or two bordered on disaster.
With about four weeks left to launch the Herald on Sunday in 2004, we had – from memory – about four of the required dozen or so reporters signed up. One senior editor was singlehandedly looking after the content and production of two magazines.
At that time, the Herald on Sunday was in a separate building from the daily NZ Herald, with completely different editorial teams. Almost all of the Herald on Sunday team had been drawn from outside of the Herald family - a mistake in itself in hindsight, in the sense there could have been a better balance - and there was no love lost between the established newsroom and the wannabe newsroom.
We were considered by many to be the barbarians at the gate.
On one infamous occasion, one of our leadership team had a massive blow-up with the journalists’ union over whether Herald on Sunday staff would be eligible for the NZ Herald collective.
The union wanted to sign up as many Herald on Sunday staff as possible – management held the opposite view, given the different working week and environment, and said Herald on Sunday staff could set up their own collective if so desired.
I heard one side of a phone conversation between the leader and the union representative - there were a lot of F-bombs, a slamming of the receiver (landlines were the norm back then) and an infuriated executive who had accused the union of trying to destroy the project.
So it’s not surprising to hear that the pressure of launching a new 6pm TV bulletin appears to be building at the highest levels of Stuff.
It all came to a head late last week, with a senior Stuff leader launching into an expletive-laden outburst during a meeting of top Stuff and Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) staff.
The flare-up - replete with a couple of rounds of angry F-bombs – comes amid what is understood to be rising costs attached to the 6pm bulletin project.
There are also questions over what Stuff plans to do, if anything, with Newshub’s high-performing website, with one Newshub newsroom worker saying the team was “deeply frustrated” with a lack of communication from Stuff.
There is a lot at stake for Stuff when it launches the new bulletin on Saturday, July 6, and it is understood the project might be more expensive than the company originally anticipated, with several issues and costs starting to come to the fore.
Stuff unquestionably has topline broadcasting talent coming on board, led by newsreader Samantha Hayes and a growing list of reporters including Newshub political editor Jenna Lynch.
But sources say there are indeed a lot of production-related issues that Stuff has to quickly work through – and some of them are expensive.
That includes the budget for hair, makeup and wardrobe and who other than Hayes that applies to; licences for broadcasting production systems including iNews and AVID; librarians and researchers to help with back-up footage for items, known as ‘B-roll’; and budget to host content on the Newshub website – if it is indeed retained.
It is also understood Stuff has employed – so far, at least – only a handful of camera operators compared with Newshub’s dozen or so.
I put all this to Stuff and WBD with a range of specific questions yesterday.
“As is the case with any venture where a brand new product is being developed, there have obviously been some robust discussions between our teams, who are working closely together and are in constant contact,” the companies said in a joint statement.
“Both Stuff and WBD have embarked on pieces of work like this a lot and there are always unknowns in projects of this sort. We are both working very hard on the new bulletin and we can’t wait to share it when we go to air on July 6.”
With just 46 days to go, Stuff has been head down on recruiting staff, pulling together entirely new production systems and workflows and initiating a massive training and human resources task, while also needing to find and preserve some banger scoops to launch its new endeavour.
Having come up with a competitive price to win the contract for the 6pm bulletin, Stuff won’t want to be eating too much into its margins.
On the other hand, it will be easy for viewers to see if the publishing company skimps on costs.
Back in 2004, after a very rocky start, it took the Herald on Sunday a good 12 months to find its feet in the market. They were different days – bigger budgets, a stronger economy and a more forgiving audience. Social media was barely a thing – Facebook only launched that year.
Stuff has been deservedly widely praised for providing a lifeline for the 6pm news on Three, but it will be a nerve-wracking (and exhilarating) period ahead for the publishing company to ensure it retains as much of that audience as possible, while also ensuring it does not erode its own brand in an entirely new realm.
Some shockwaves in the advertising industry with Zac Stephenson leaving GroupM’s EssenceMediacom as managing director.
He’s been placed on gardening leave immediately – I anticipate we’ll see his name shortly attached to another agency or project, although no one was commenting yesterday.
GroupM is now carefully managing Stephenson’s exit, reassuring its clients and making sure they’re comfortable that he’s not working on any sensitive projects while the company works through a handover.
“We’ll take a moment to sit back and focus on the teams and the clients and make sure that everything’s covered and then we’ll look at what that role might look like going forward,” said GroupM CEO John Halpin.
Only two months ago, GroupM was trumpeting a top appointment for EssenceMediacom.
Megan Smith had been appointed managing partner, responsible for the client leadership team and “enhancing levels of client focus, operations and delivery across the agency”.
Smith moved from Hearts & Science where she was chief client officer. “There’s a real buzz about GroupM currently and I’m thrilled to be coming on board to work with Zac and the EssenceMediacom team to strengthen our relationships, build our team’s skills and ensure we’re bringing our clients’ ideas that are shaping the next era of media,” Smith said at the time.
Stephenson returned a call yesterday and left a message to say GroupM would be issuing an official comment about his departure.
In a GroupM statement out of Australia, Halpin said: “Zac has been an incredible asset to GroupM, and I’d like to thank him for his contribution and the impact he has made on our teams and clients. For the agency, the team is in great shape to continue to deliver EssenceMediacom’s promise of breakthroughs and ensure continued success for our clients.”
Some great news to round out this edition of midweek Media Insider - the New Zealand Doctor and Pharmacy Today publications have been successfully sold and their immediate futures look assured.
Publishing firm The Health Media has been sold by Anna Mickell and Barbara Fountain to Australasian health data infrastructure company Group Healthcare Ltd.
In a statement, The Health Media said the deal ensured a future for its news, education and data products.
The purchase includes New Zealand Doctor and Pharmacy Today and The Health Media’s 50 per cent share of medicine analytics company Matui.
Group Healthcare, managed by former Green Cross Health chief executive Grant Bai and founder of Dr Info, Sam Jacobs, owns ReScript Ltd and Conporto Health Ltd.
Fountain would continue as managing editor in the business, the statement said, including “overseeing the publication of independent health sector news and the development of new delivery channels for news and education”.
Mickell will leave the business to pursue new opportunities.
The Health Media was set up in 2015 by Fountain and Mickell to purchase New Zealand Doctor and Pharmacy Today from its previous international owners.
“We have traded profitably since then, producing specialist news and clinical education,” Fountain told Media Insider in March.
The Health Media employs a team of 20 regular fulltime and part-time staff and it is anticipated most will be retained under the new deal.
Fountain said in the statement: “There’s a lot of love out there for our print products but we’ve known for some time we need to find a better digital approach and I’m really happy the work of our award-winning team is finding a home with ReScript.
“It’s also a huge relief that Group Healthcare see value in quality media, given the difficulties currently faced by the media industry the world over.”
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 Media Insider column appears midweek and every Friday.
Agency boss: 'NZ media market needs to reinvent itself'.