Tag: newsroom cuts

Where are much-needed party policies on media?

Two months out from the election, and we have yet to see new policy from any of the seven main political parties on media and communication.

Only the Greens have a media policy on their website – and it is effectively a repeat of the 2023 policy that was heavy on high-minded rhetoric but very light on functional detail. No party has yet presented voters with practical initiatives that take account of the significant shifts in the media industry since the last election.

Admittedly, this is not the sort of policy that will sway voters, but manifestos are more than vote-grabbers. They represent commitments by each party to use their best endeavours during the coming Parliamentary term to give effect to what they say they will do in the interests of the public good.

Unless there is a sudden avalanche of media policy promises, the signal the parties are sending is that, in this area of public policy, they plan to do very little.

I do not believe our politicians are unaware of the precarious state of journalism in this country. They have been lobbied by every media organisation and left in no doubt that the cuts that have kept newsrooms in operation are not sustainable in even the medium term.

The have been warned we will see the loss of significant news publications and news broadcasts within the term of the next government unless there is a reset. The playing field needs to be levelled to overcome the pernicious effects of uncontrolled foreign digital players in our media market. Continue reading “Where are much-needed party policies on media?” →

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” →

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” →

Time to heed warning signs on regional press

The disclosure that Stuff is to drastically reduce its regional newspaper local reporting staff came as a shock, but I fear that worse is to come for this sector of the media.

Our regional newspapers are following a path which, for counterparts in Australia, Britain and North America, has quite literally led to nowhere.

The pattern established here by both Stuff and NZME – staff cuts, shared content, reduced frequency, and closures – has a familiar ring to anyone in the regional media in other English-speaking countries.

But first, let’s recap on what emerged last week. Continue reading “Time to heed warning signs on regional press” →