Another presenting shake-up is on the cards at TVNZ, with accomplished reporter and weatherman Chris Chang tipped to share the hosting of its sports coverage with Jenny-May Clarkson.
It is understood Clarkson will present the sports section at 1 NEWS at Six during the week and Chang will host weekends.
But Chang's appointment has ruffled some feathers. A source who didn't want to be identified said colleague and sports journalist Abby Wilson is "unhappy" she wasn't picked.
TVNZ One News reporter Chris Chang. Photo / Supplied
"She is one of their more experienced journalists so you can understand how she must feel," he said.
Wilson has been sharing the hosting with Clarkson while 6pm sports anchor and rugby editor Andrew Saville has been on leave.
Another source said: "Wilson was a journalist with credibility and not just a presenter. And they want a male and female, which is why Abby will be replaced."
He added: "I think they have an interesting balancing act to try to keep Abby happy because ... she is a journalist who has been breaking quite a lot of stories so I think they are trying to work with her to encourage her to stay."
This year Wilson uncovered allegations of bullying and inappropriate behaviour at Cycling New Zealand and broke the story about Rowing New Zealand allegedly using "scare tactics" to try to keep our best young talent here instead of taking Ivy League scholarships in the US.
An industry insider said Wilson had "broken some of the biggest stories in New Zealand sport in recent years".
"She has experience, credibility and journalistic nous. She has done an amazing job filling in as a presenter in the last few years ... I know it's something she really enjoyed.
"I'm sure it will be pretty disappointing for Abby to be passed on for someone who hasn't had the years of experience in sport that she has."
The broadcasting source said it would be "really disappointing" if Wilson had missed out purely to ensure TVNZ had both male and female sport anchors.
Another broadcaster said there should be no reason why two female presenters couldn't host the sports bulletin.
"It is 2018 after all."
This year TVNZ's Seven Sharp programme has had Anika Moa co-presenting with Hilary Barry while Jeremy Wells was on leave.
In a statement, a TVNZ spokeswoman wouldn't specifically address Chang's tipped career move.
But she said the network regularly brought "in presenters and reporters from our newsroom to cover presenters' leave".
"We don't have sports co-presenters on 1 NEWS at Six – we have single sports presenters in our bulletin," she said.
"Weeknights you'll see two news anchors, one sports presenter and one weather presenter – on weekends there's a single news anchor, sports presenter and weather presenter."
Wilson did not return calls to the Herald on Sunday and Chang - who is currently overseas on holiday - did not want to comment.
