Ego poisons radio’s culture

Commercial radio really must stop feeding the Ego Monster.

By over-inflating the self-worth of some of their employees, the broadcasters create risks for the public, toxic environments, and rods for their own backs.

The problem is not limited to radio hosts, although they are the most obvious manifestation of the abnormality. It affects executives and, indeed, anyone in the organisation who buys into the belief that they are personally contributing to success in the latest audience ratings. Continue reading “Ego poisons radio’s culture” →

The man who kicked the hornet’s nest


Sometime this week Newsroom co-editor Mark Jennings is due to be interviewed under caution by Police because he kicked the hornet’s nest.

The particular hornet’s nest he disturbed was Oranga Tamariki, a state agency, and the reason it was given a boot was a now-discredited policy called reverse uplifts. Continue reading “The man who kicked the hornet’s nest” →

THE WEEKLY, THE ROYALS, AND THE WOMAN WHO MADE IT ALL HAPPEN

This presentation was delivered at the Auckland City Art Gallery on 12 May 2021 by my wife, Jenny Lynch, as a tribute to her mentor – fellow New Zealand Woman’s Weekly editor Jean Wishart

 She was a publishing icon. An editor whose magazine became the top selling women’s publication per head of population in the world.

 She was also an astute businesswoman. She became the first woman in the country to sit on the board of a listed company– NZ News. And the first woman in its 124-year history to be elected to the council of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce.

 Above all she was someone who became a valued friend — I use that word advisably — to thousands upon thousands of New Zealand magazine readers during much of the latter part of last century.

I’m talking about Miss Jean Wishart, New Zealand Woman’s Weekly editor from 1952 to 1985.

Continue reading “THE WEEKLY, THE ROYALS, AND THE WOMAN WHO MADE IT ALL HAPPEN” →

Two hundred candles on the cake

The Guardian has celebrated its 200th birthday and the London-based title is optimistic about its future. Can any New Zealand newspaper expect to reach that milestone?

Our oldest surviving masthead, the Whanganui Chronicle, has another 35 years – or more than 10,000 editions – before it can reach its double century. The Taranaki Daily News is a year behind and a further eight dailies – including four metropolitan papers – would celebrate it in the subsequent decade.

To meet that milestone, they must weather a perfect storm of technological, financial, and demographic challenges.

They will be in good company. Every news media outlet in the country faces those same storm fronts that threaten the bicentennial of some, the centennial or golden anniversary of others, and the ability of the remainder to move beyond their childhood or teenage years. Continue reading “Two hundred candles on the cake” →