Author: Gavin Ellis

Gavin Ellis is a media consultant, commentator and researcher. He holds a doctorate in political studies. A former editor-in-chief of the New Zealand Herald, he is the author of Trust Ownership and the Future of News: Media Moguls and White Knights (London, Palgrave) and Complacent Nation (Wellington, BWB Texts). His consultancy clients include media organisations and government ministries. His Tuesday Commentary on media matters appears weekly on his site www.whiteknightnews.com

NZME’s ‘news that resonates’ sets off bad vibrations

LSD and LCD are not so far apart. Each in its own way is a drug.

The former is lysergic acid diethylamide, a powerful hallucinogenic. The latter is an abbreviation for liquid crystal display ­– the technology that dominates your addictive television, computer and cellphone screens. It also stands for Lowest Common Denominator, an equally powerful narcotic.

Announcements last week by NZME have raised fears that the Lowest Common Denominator is going to dominate the New Zealand Herald’s online presence and, inevitably, inject even more populism into the pages of a newspaper that once stood proudly on its news values.

In January, NZME signalled planned staff cuts. Last week the realities of that plan were revealed. Thirty editorial jobs will go, including people I think it can ill afford to lose. They include political editor Claire Trevett, deputy business editor Grant Bradley, senior sports reporter Chris Rattue, science writer Jamie Morton, investigative reporter Nicholas Jones, and several other key staff.

Some, no doubt, will step willingly off the treadmill and into a more leisurely lifestyle. Others will have had enough of the stress of uncertain futures. Nonetheless, the Herald will be poorer for their going.

While the loss of good, dedicated journalists was sad in itself, I was saddened further by the company’s statement of its future strategy. Through its Media Insider Shayne Currie, the company stated that in future there would be “a stronger focus on ensuring the newsroom is focused on journalism and other content that resonates with audiences, including subscribers”.

Let me translate that: “We will give the audience what they want”.

Let me further explain: “We will be driven entirely by our online analytics – more clicks mean more of the same”. Continue reading “NZME’s ‘news that resonates’ sets off bad vibrations” →

Media reform paper: The good, the not-so-good, and the ugly

I must start by shooing the elephants back to the waiting room: There is nothing in last week’s Media Reform discussion paper that will help to sustain New Zealand journalism, nor battle the scourge of transnational social media and search platforms.

I am not dismissing the pachyderms. Far from it, the survival – let alone its sustainability – of principled journalism in this country will confront politicians (and the communities they represent) much sooner than they realise. The looming crisis must be addressed. So, too, must the impact of the Facebooks and Googles of this world.

The Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill (a flawed attempt to extract some money from the platforms for news media) gets only a passing mention in the discussion paper and is clearly not intended to be part of its feedback loop. In any case, it is on hold and faces the wrath of the empowered tech oligarchs of the Trump Administration if resurrected.

So, for the moment, I will direct my attention to the content of the discussion paper released by Media and Communications Minister Paul Goldsmith last Wednesday. It was an invitation for the public to have their say on a range of proposals affecting the wider media sector. You can access the discussion paper here .

Some of the proposals impact on news media, even if none of them actually addresses the core problems facing that portion of the sector. Each of the proposals in the paper is described as “high level” and the Coalition Government has yet to decide whether to implement any of them.

The discussion paper is devoted primarily to audio-video production and distribution. In many respects, it is a sensible response to increasingly anachronistic structures and regulation that were a product of the age of broadcasting.

There are five proposals in the paper. Continue reading “Media reform paper: The good, the not-so-good, and the ugly” →

Comedian’s press conference gatecrash no laughing matter

Guy Williams’ gatecrashing of the ACT leader David Seymour’s press conference at Waitangi was not funny, not justified, and not acceptable.

It debased the role of bona fide journalists and, worse, it was signal to every grandstander and malcontent that stand-up press conferences represent an ideal soapbox that is there for the taking.

In spite of his self-description as a “volunteer journalist”, Williams is not a journalist. He is a comedian and presenter. The closest he gets to the news is in lampooning current events. In short, he had no place there.

At Waitangi, David Seymour – rightly the focus of attention over his divisive Treaty Principles Bill – was holding an outdoors press conference with a large gathering of journalists when Williams interjected.

Microphone in hand and no doubt being videoed for his New Zealand Today show, Williams threw vitriol rather than questions at the ACT leader. He accused Seymour of spreading misinformation and “spinning shit” before obliquely casting doubt on the honesty of modern politicians. The only question Williams actually appeared to ask was whether Seymour was joking when he said he was improving the mana of the Treaty.

Seymour made light of the encounter and – smile on face – counterpunched with his opinion of Williams’ comedic skills.

It could all have been dismissed as a bit of silliness on the part of an entertainer looking to get a rise out of a politician. On the surface, that is exactly what it was. I have no doubt the footage, complete with Williams’ additional tuppence worth, will wind up in his show.

However, there is a deeper issue arising from the comedian’s antics: He violated an environment in which journalists collectively hold power to account by questioning those that hold that power. Continue reading “Comedian’s press conference gatecrash no laughing matter” →

Brace yourself: This could be crunch year for NZ news media

Buckle up because 2025 is going to be a rough ride for news media.

It has started inauspiciously with NZME’s announcement of 38 job losses at the New Zealand Herald and NewstalkZB, the full impact of which has yet to be seen. That followed the closure of 11 of the company’s community newspapers at the end of last year, plus the loss of 11 roles in its regional newsrooms last July.

We began the year with the effects of TVNZ’s cuts, announced last November, starting to appear. Familiar faces on its sports team reappeared on Sky and Trackside over the summer break, and yesterday Breakfast was back with a reduced lineup but no reduction in forgettable chitchat. The state-owned broadcaster has lost almost 130 staff since 2023. The latest tranche took out 50 jobs and adverse effects on its newsgathering are inevitable.

In December Whakaata Māori cut 27 roles and ended its news programme. Jobs have also gone at Stuff, although musical chairs have made it difficult to determine exactly how many have gone. Earlier, of course, TV3’s American owners walked away from their responsibility to provide its own news service.

What more, you ask, could be lost when news services have been cut to the bone? The answer: A lot. Our commercial news media are in a worrying financial state. Continue reading “Brace yourself: This could be crunch year for NZ news media” →