Shake-up pushes TV veteran to quit

Cameron Bennett. Photo / Supplied

News bosses set a new course for current affairs show Sunday but smooth-talking TVNZ journalist Cameron Bennett has decided to jump ship.

Last night, the state broadcaster's most experienced journalist confirmed he was leaving after 24 years, including reporting from numerous war zones and on cataclysmic current events.

He said the television news job cutbacks announced two weeks ago "gave me the push I needed".

"The channel has ideas of what they want to do with Television One and Sunday - they want to refresh the brands," he said. "But I don't know what they are planning."

As part of 15 job cuts, Bennett was told he would be losing his presenter's role on Sunday.

With other staff, he was asked to reapply for a diminished number of reporting jobs but opted to resign.

Bennett said he had been surprised by the shake-up because the show had been rating well.

A TVNZ insider said two current affairs jobs were dropped as part of the shake-up. Bennett's presenter role was likely to be shared among correspondents for this year at least.

But there is also speculation at TVNZ that Breakfast co-host Pippa Wetzell may take over as Sunday presenter when she returns from maternity leave next year - a front role similar to Alison Mau's on Fair Go. Wetzell is expecting her third child in February.

Bennett was Europe correspondent from 1991 to 1995 and covered the Bosnian civil war, the South African referendum and election and the Rwanda genocide. He leaves at the end of August.