Ian Smith says Justin Marshall (above) should be at the Rugby World Cup; Tova O'Brien is part of a group of former Today FM staff who are eyeing legal action against MediaWorks. Photos / Brett Phibbs, Voyager Media Awards
Broadcaster and commentator Ian Smith can’t believe Justin Marshall has been sidelined as a Rugby World Cup commentator; Former Today FM staff fume over a lack of response to personal grievance claims; Stuff’s new CEO Laura Maxwell tells of priorities.
Radio’s best and brightest were honoured at the industry’s annual awards but what started out as banter between Mike Hosking and Broadcasting Minister Willie Jackson took a more provocative turn when the minister made a passing comment about Hosking’s fellow ZB broadcaster and wife, Kate Hawkesby.
Hosking strode to the SkyCity stage twice – firstly to collect the best talk presenter (breakfast/drive) prize and then, for the third year in a row, the overall Sir Paul Holmes Broadcaster of the Year award.
On both occasions, he poked fun at Jackson sitting in the audience. “Is Willie Jackson here? Good luck in the election, mate.” And then later: “I miss Jacinda. Do you miss Jacinda, Willie? Good luck in the election.”
When Jackson came to the stage to present Station of the Year – to Newstalk ZB – he was invited to make some comments.
“Kia ora tātou, can I, first of all, thank Mike Hosking for all of his support,” he said with a grin. “I was quite humbled when he wished us all the best.
“As you all know, he’s a great supporter of Labour and the Government. So ngā mihi nui ki a koe, Mike, it would be great to get an interview on your show one day. I don’t think I’ve had one for about three years.
“And to your wife Kate. All the best, Kate. We know you’re a great supporter of Māori language broadcasting. Thanks very much, Kate.”
Jackson also turned to ZB Drive host Heather du Plessis-Allan who was presenting on stage, to make a similar comment, although he appeared genuine in her case (du Plessis-Allan has spoken in the past of her te reo lessons).
On social media, Hawkesby took issue with the minister’s comments, which were taken as a sarcastic swipe at her.
“It’s weird having a Minister of Broadcasting who hates broadcasters but here we are,” Hawkesby wrote on Instagram.
“The Willie Jackson dig at me during his speech at the Radio Awards was insinuating I was racist because I don’t speak enough Māori on my show (in his view).
“Thank you for all the messages from people who were there. Yes it was lame on his part and I give it the weight it deserves which is none.
“I do hope going forward that the minister can find some broadcasters he approves of but I’m very comfortable with not being one of them,” said Hawkesby, signing off with a peace-sign emoji.
Approached for comment, NZME said the minister’s comments did not warrant a response.
A spokesperson for the minister said, in an email response to questions: “In regard to the comments made last week at the NZ Radio awards, as you alluded to in your previous article last week, the minister was subjected to some friendly banter started by Mr Hosking when he was receiving his award, which you would’ve seen on the night.
“The comments were made in response to Mr Hosking who, as you said, ‘was poking fun at various people, including the Minister of Broadcasting’.
“The comments were in the spirit of the evening, and at no point did the minister infer that anyone was, or is, racist.
“The minister believes Ms Hawkesby to be an accomplished broadcaster and it is unfortunate that she has taken offence to what was a light-hearted and successful evening celebrating the New Zealand radio industry.”
A big group of former MediaWorks staff is growing increasingly frustrated with what some consider to be stalling tactics in their bid to seek compensation following the closure of Today FM.
“MediaWorks has shown zero compassion. Zero empathy. There is no urgency to meet or mediate,” says one former staffer.
At least 17 staff – including high-profile stars such as Tova O’Brien, Rachel Smalley, Carol Hirschfeld and a range of other producers – have filed personal grievances, with senior Auckland lawyer Charlotte Parkhill looking after their cases.
Parkhill herself won’t comment, but it is understood the possibility of a claim to the Employment Relations Authority is being raised.
A source said MediaWorks had yet to provide any formal response to individual personal grievance letters sent by staff more than a month ago.
“All of us are in regular contact and supporting each other, but it is beginning to bite now,” said the former staffer.
“No one can understand why MediaWorks keeps stalling. It is compounding the hurt and humiliation.
“The media is very good at holding corporates and politicians to account for poor behaviour, for failing staff, and for failing to follow process. But here we are, being treated in this way by a media organisation.”
I put each of these specific comments and allegations to MediaWorks, which came back – via a spokesperson – to say: “MediaWorks has received a number of personal grievance claims from the former Today FM team. Along with our appointed advisers, we are working through the details of each claim carefully and methodically. While this process is ongoing, we have been advised not to comment further.”
MediaWorks has hired lawyer Gillian Service, of Minter Ellison. She referred all comments back to the media company.
The former worker said staff had noticed a recent comment on LinkedIn by Barclay Nettlefold, the chair of MediaWorks shareholder QMS Media, “who shut us down”.
His comment promoted the station that replaced Today FM: “Great to see our MediaWorks team creating brilliant relevant opportunities for audiences.”
The former worker said there was “no doubt” in their view that MediaWorks breached employment law: “While they may be hopeful this will go away, it won’t.
“What happened was wrong, and MediaWorks needs to accept and acknowledge that its actions were deeply harmful to many people.”
Media Insider recently revealed Justin Marshall had missed out on selection for the Sky TV commentary team for the Rugby World Cup in France this year.
Former Sky commentator and cricketer Ian Smith – himself a renowned sports caller – can’t believe Marshall has been sidelined.
On his Senz radio show recently – the piece came into my social feed this week – Smith played a rip-roaring audio commentary clip of Grant Nisbett and Marshall calling Beauden Barrett’s try in the 2015 Rugby World Cup final.
“That, folks, is broadcasting at its best, it’s raw broadcasting,” Smith told his listeners.
“That is the two guys who are absolutely up for the occasion, reflecting it in the best possible fashion and reflecting it as you would have enjoyed it at home.
“I cannot get over the fact that we will not be able to have that opportunity again with Justin Marshall and Grant Nisbett – by far the best combination of in-the-box commentators in New Zealand rugby, perhaps even in world rugby.
“They’ve worked well together. They are in sync, they know exactly what’s going on. They don’t even have to look at each other, they know how to reflect the game.
“Every commentator has his detractors, every commentator has his fan brigade as well. I’m telling you, right here and now, that will be missed at this World Cup.
“That is the best combo upstairs we have in New Zealand rugby and I just, for the life of me, can’t understand why you turn your back on that.”
Speaking to D’Arcy Waldegrave on Newstalk ZB in April, Sky TV CEO Sophie Moloney would only say that Marshall “has an incredible voice”.
“Some people love him, some people don’t.”
When asked why Marshall didn’t make the cut for the tournament, Moloney said she backed the decision.
“I trust my team. They do an excellent job,” she said. “We have incredible talent [among the commentary team] and I am very excited about the team that’s going there [France]. I am very excited about having the Rugby World Cup on our screens - I think it is going to be phenomenal.”
There’s a fair bit of nervousness within Stuff – especially within its newsrooms – over its new senior leadership team. Nothing out of the ordinary; journalists are a naturally cautious, sceptical bunch and not overly renowned as lovers of change.
I remember a similar feeling at Herald publisher APN when Jane Hastings took over as chief executive in 2014. Hastings was already the CEO of our sister company, The Radio Network (TRN), owner of Newstalk ZB and a suite of entertainment radio stations including ZM, The Hits and Hauraki.
“Hurricane Jane” – she acknowledged the nickname herself in a 2014 piece in the Herald – lived up to the moniker, launching NZME as an entirely new, modern-day brand to encompass APN, TRN and GrabOne.
In Auckland, the three businesses moved from separate, grungy premises into a flash, new multilevel CBD building featuring an integrated NZ Herald-Newstalk ZB newsroom. It helped instill and energise a digital-first culture, workflows and storytelling techniques.
Tied in with that was a reorganisation across the entire business, and – for the newsroom – a period of upheaval in which resources were shifted to reflect audience demand. Some roles were disestablished and others were created, especially in the video and data journalism space.
I admired and respected the leadership and focus of Hastings (disclaimer: she appointed me managing editor and to the executive of NZME) but others couldn’t wait to get “off the bus” (another Hastings term).
Virtually overnight, my focus changed, in its entirety, from print to digital.
Another of Hastings’ executives at that time was chief digital officer Laura Maxwell, who has just been appointed CEO of Stuff and who will start in the new role in July. She will report to Stuff owner Sinead Boucher, who vacates the CEO role to be executive chair.
Maxwell is one of three former NZME senior leaders now firmly embedded at the top of the Stuff tree. Reporting to Maxwell, as part of her leadership team, are three new managing director roles – filled by former NZME newsroom head of content development Nadia Tolich, former NZME chief commercial officer Matt Headland, and Joanna Norris, who moves from her current Stuff chief content officer role.
Essentially, Tolich will run the Stuff and Neighbourly websites; Norris looks after the three metropolitan paywall websites (The Post, The Press and Waikato Times), newspapers and magazines; Headland looks after commercial revenue.
Maxwell told Media Insider she had been appointed following a process run by an external recruitment agency. It is not known who or how many others within Stuff were in the running for CEO.
“We’re really excited. We feel like this is a fundamental shift in the business. It’s the first page of the new chapter,” said Maxwell, who would not disclose Stuff’s financial position.
Until now, Stuff’s leadership team has been dominated by leaders with strong journalistic backgrounds, including Boucher herself.
Norris and Tolich have journalism backgrounds as well but with Maxwell and Headland, a broader digital business and commercial skillset comes into play.
“I’ve got a proven track record working within a large organisation, creating, seeking and finding talent, creating great teams and giving them clear goals that they can charge towards,” says Maxwell.
“Sinead and I have really complementary talents. She is an incredible force from a journalistic perspective. We get on really well, we work really well together. I bring a really strong sense of where the business should be going in the future, but I’m not making that decision by myself.
“My role as CEO is to create a team that feels empowered to run as hard and as fast as they need to deliver the outcomes that are best for the functional area of the business – and obviously putting the customer at the centre of those decisions.”
Asked to list her priorities, she talks of growing, engaging and monetising audiences; using technology to drive efficiencies (including automation); and prudent financial management.
Wizened journalists might well raise an eyebrow at those last three words. One of her biggest challenges, perhaps, will be to get newsrooms to buy into broader business strategies.
She adds: “From a people perspective, [it’s] ensuring that we have a great culture, that we’re a great place to work and that people have the opportunity to develop new skills or build on their current skills and execute the jobs really well.”
My two cents’ worth? Stuff will need to sort out its confusing paywall strategy.
For all their comments about their three regional digital subscription sites (The Post, The Press and the Waikato Times) meeting “aggressive targets”, it’s hard to see that growth continuing without a more cohesive strategy to tie in the Stuff mothership website.
Maxwell’s role had just been announced and she had just completed a big town hall meeting at Stuff when she spoke to Media Insider. She brought many of her comments back to journalism.
“There were lots of great questions. We talked about where the industry is at … and the biggest threat/opportunity around AI [artificial intelligence]. That’s one of the biggest challenges to all of us. So there was a lot of talk around that. How we best position ourselves to take advantage of that but then also protect our businesses because it’s a great unknown.”
If you haven’t caught up with it already, here’s a great read from my colleague Damien Venuto - he’s ranked New Zealand’s 26 most powerful public relations practitioners.
“It has never been easier for a stressed journalist to plead pressure of work, and ignore requests from PR people desperate to get favourable stories into the media,” writes Venuto. “Those who excel in this cut-throat environment need a unique combination of influence, perseverance and competence.
“In compiling this power list, we aimed to draw attention to those who lurk behind the scenes, helping to tell the stories of some of New Zealand’s biggest companies. This was no easy task, given that PR today means so many things to so many people. The old stereotype of the spin doctor or Svengali, pulling the strings and shaping the message certainly still exists, but there’s much more to PR these days.”
Thomas Coughlan, of the NZ Herald political gallery, broke the story of the week. He revealed Transport Minister Michael Wood remained a shareholder of Auckland Airport, despite various assurances the shares would be - or had been - sold.
This week’s Media Insider Cabbage Award - dedicated to, and named after, the diabolical cabbage served up at the Voyager Media Awards - goes to Transport Minister Michael Wood (see above).
The Public Relations Institute (Prinz) has taken offence at a Stuff digital ad that promoted its new paywall sites. The ad read: “They say PR. We say BS.”
“Our board was equally shocked and offended by this advert as you, our members, were,” Prinz said in a post on its own website.
It said it wrote to Stuff’s management team, outlining various concerns including, “we are offended by the implication that the material our profession provides to media is bullshit, or, as the Oxford Dictionary defines it, ‘untrue nonsense’ that is meant to ‘deceive’.”
The board asked Stuff to pull the ad.
The company came back with a response that read, in part: “The ad was not intended to take aim at PR people specifically, but to communicate the essential role of the media in holding the powerful to account. We apologise if this caused any offense (sic) to the industry as our people have great relationships with many PR people across the motu.”
The industry has sought assurances the ad won’t run again.
* 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?