Matthew Hooton’s controversial appointment: A smart move?

 It takes a lot to bowl over seasoned journalists but the appointment of Matthew Hooton as editor-in-chief of The Post in Wellington skittled more than a few. Even the Stuff website described it as “a bombshell move”.

Hooton’s background is political communication and public relations. He was one of Jim Bolger’s press secretaries and a National Party strategist. He has never been a journalist, although his commentaries have been a regular feature in the New Zealand Herald and other publications.

His website describes him as “the country’s leading centre-right political commentator”. It goes on to say he “is well connected with the most senior figures in all three parties in New Zealand’s centre-right National-Act-NZ First Coalition Government and with the Opposition Labour Party.” Perhaps he is not on the Green Party or Te Pāti Māori invitation lists.

Although he has widespread consulting experience beyond politics, it is his perceived political leanings that will create the greatest controversy over his appointment at The Post.

There will be critics aplenty, who will see The Post being printed on blue paper and espousing the unchallenged views of the Right (with a very large Capital R). They will be goaded into red-faced rage when they see the title of his recently completed PhD thesis: “Groundwork and Principles of Applied Conservatism”.

I suspect that controversy has a large part to play in Sinead Boucher’s decision to appoint him editor-in-chief of Wellington’s daily newspaper, but it will not be through any desire to provide him with a powerful soapbox for political allegiances. Continue reading “Matthew Hooton’s controversial appointment: A smart move?” →

A prediction: New Zealand’s media when I turn 100

Commentators who project themselves into the future are either very gifted or exceedingly stupid. Only time will tell which of those I have been.

I have been encouraged to lay my credibility on the line by a series of reports over the past week that address the future of mass media – the print, broadcasting, and mainstream digital outlets that are the primary producers of journalism.

I have projected myself forward to a time when I am preparing for my 100th birthday. Okay, it’s not that far away. We are talking about a leap in time of not much more than 20 years. Given the pace of technological change, that is as far forward as any sane person should be prepared to predict.

What I see is a landscape in which print is the quaint pursuit of an artisan group of niche periodical publishers, broadcasting is no longer a term in common use because it has been replaced by streaming services, and ‘mainstream’ is something that marketers recall with wistful fondness.

I see China and Bangladesh continuing to flood the world with mass-produced use-and-throw-away garments with which we clothe ourselves, while information seekers turn to the equivalent of nineteenth century bespoke tailors for their news. Journalism will become personal.

Several developments have drawn me to that prediction. Continue reading “A prediction: New Zealand’s media when I turn 100” →

RNZ budget cuts are more ideology than good sense

Why doesn’t the National Party and its coalition partners simply admit that they want Radio New Zealand to die a natural – or perhaps unnatural – death?

First, the National government under John Key froze RNZ funding for eight years. Then the coalition led by Christopher Luxon wasted little time to impose a $4.9 million annual reduction. Now the latest Budget imposes a further $1.4 million a year baseline cut. The broadcaster was already operating at a net deficit of $886,000 on last year’s accounts.

That $6 million cumulative annual cut is in addition to the effects of inflation, which has breached the 1-3 per cent target in the past two quarters and is expected to hit 4 per cent in the current quarter. Treasury predictions of a future rate fall fail to allow for a demagogue in the White House and a dictator in the Kremlin.

It is clear that National and its bed mates do not like the state-owned broadcaster, and Christopher Luxon installed a minister to reflect that attitude. Paul Goldsmith has been anything but a champion for RNZ and, as result, it has had no-one to fight its corner in Cabinet

RNZ is seen as a bunch of Lefties whose sole aim in life is to bring unjustified grief to the good people on the other side of the political spectrum who really do know how to run the country.

Of course, that is nonsense. Continue reading “RNZ budget cuts are more ideology than good sense” →

Political potshots should not define RNZ CEO’s term


RNZ chief executive Paul Thompson’s announced departure will forever be linked in the public mind with the last salvo fired by ACT leader David Seymour. The state-owned media’s leader deserves better, much better.

If Seymour – publicly or privately – claims a scalp he will be both wrong and, once again, in breach of the spirit of the statute he is charged with upholding as RNZ shareholding minister.

I say “once again” because I stated publicly that I believed he was in breach of the spirit of the Broadcasting Act when he criticised the appointment of John Campbell as Morning Report co-host and hinted in the same breath that Thompson could lose his job.

Speaking to The Platform, Seymour did not name Thompson in his criticism of the Morning Report appointment, but it was obvious he was referring to Thompson when he said “Look, that guy’s got an awful lot to answer for, and I suspect that he won’t be answering the call at RNZ for much longer.”

To many, it will appear that Seymour now has his wish – in spite of an emphatic statement by RNZ board chair Dr Jim Mather that the chief executive had signalled to the board last December that he intended to step down at the end of 2026.

After that announcement by the RNZ board last Friday, Seymour stated that he had been unaware of Thompson’s disclosure to the board last year. We must take him at his word but I have to confess I wondered what had happened to the much-emphasised ‘no surprises’ policy that successive governments have demanded of not only ministries but state-owned enterprises. Continue reading “Political potshots should not define RNZ CEO’s term” →