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Journalists are holding an unprecedented debate at Parliament this weekend over the state of their industry.
Cutbacks at Television New Zealand and the outsourcing of the sub-editing department at the Herald to an Australian company have prompted the conference.
Brent Edwards, one of the organisers and Radio New Zealand's political editor, says journalists cannot sit back any longer and watch the decline of their industry.
But Rick Neville, deputy chief executive of Herald proprietor APN, says journalists must accept that their jobs are changing and will continue to change.
The summit, Journalism Matters, will bring together journalists who gather, write and edit the news and their media executives, who are accused of chasing profits over quality.
Edwards says he hopes the debate will lead to more discussion in newsrooms about what can be done to combat a decline in standards.
"Because certainly I don't think you get a sense that media owners value journalism at all and we want to raise this as an issue for the public."
The conference is being run by the EPMU, a union that represents some journalists.
