Tag: NZME

Milestones: The punctuation marks of media moments

My attitude to milestones is somewhat ambivalent: On the one hand they mark notable events, but on the other they remind me that time presses on.

Speaking of presses, a milestone was reached last week with the announcement that NZME is to acquire the printing equipment from Stuff’s Petone plant. It will replace the behemoth that has printed the New Zealand Herald since 1995 in the purpose-built Ellerslie press hall, where I stood to watch redesigned newspapers come off the press under my watch as editor.

The Petone press is only a third the size of the machine that is housed in an iconic edifice beside the Southern Motorway at Ellerslie. It is also more modern and was relocated from Australia when Fairfax (then owner of Stuff) closed its Melbourne printing site at Tullemarine. Stuff is consolidating its printing to its more modern Christchurch plant (see Tuesday Commentary March 31 2026). 

More importantly, the Petone press is right-sized for the current circulation of the Herald.  When the Ellerslie plant was established three decades ago, the paper’s net paid circulation was well over 200,000. The Herald no longer publishes its circulation figures, but it is undoubtedly selling fewer than half the number the Goss HT70 presses were designed to pump out for each issue.

The agreement between Stuff and NZME is a good one. It ensures the equipment remains in New Zealand and push out another (inevitable) milestone. It will extend the life of the print edition of the country’s largest newspaper. NZME would not be replacing its presses if the print edition was about to be dropped. The company revealed last week that there would be annual operational savings of about $7 million a year, and that could be the deciding factor in maintaining a print edition longer than would otherwise be the case. On the other hand, it remains to be seen whether there is anyone looking to buy 30-year-old presses built for the golden age of newspapers. Continue reading “Milestones: The punctuation marks of media moments” →

A painless way to cut newsroom costs

Last September I warned of the prospect of news deserts developing in this country. Among my recommendations was a policy offering tax credits to news media organisations for the employment of journalists. The report was met with indifference by the politicians in a position to do something about the hollowing out of our news ecosystem.

Yesterday, the News and Media Research Centre at the University of Canberra released a report advocating the use of refundable tax offsets for the employment of journalists in Australia. It is an idea whose time has come – on both sides of the Tasman.

For two decades our news media have faced the profound effects of technological change on a business model that has become increasingly fragile. Part of their response to declining traditional revenue has been cuts to editorial staff. Those cuts have been made not with scalpels but with machetes. Our newsrooms are a shadow of what they once were, and regional newsrooms have suffered particularly deep incisions. Australia has suffered similar damage to its journalistic resource.

Payroll tax credits are not a new suggestion – such proposals have surfaced more than once in Australia. Canada and two U.S. states (New York and Illinois) have made them a reality. South Korea has an even broader scheme that embraces the creative industries, while France has tax incentives to encourage investment in news organisations. Continue reading “A painless way to cut newsroom costs” →

Business at 6.30am: Good move but watch for knock-on effects

NZME’s latest video venture, Herald NOW Business, had a solid launch yesterday into an uncertain world strategic environment. It also raises some strategic questions for the media company itself.

The 6.30 am business programme, available on the Herald app and streamed through ThreeNow and YouTube, is anchored by the thoroughly professional Garth Bray. He was an obvious choice and represents some of the greatest depth of television talent within NZME.

A former London correspondent for TVNZ and then a stalwart of the (sadly, axed) consumer show Fair Go, Bray is already a regular on the new programme’s companion show Ryan Bridge Today. His professional ‘home’ is the NZME-owned BusinessDesk.

Herald NOW Business (let’s abbreviate that to HNB) could not be described as innovative. It follows the familiar look and content of morning business programmes elsewhere. That, however, is not a criticism: Why change an established formula just for the sake of looking different? Continue reading “Business at 6.30am: Good move but watch for knock-on effects” →

My feeling of dread can reach biblical proportions

Three short words fill me with a sense of dread when they are linked to the media industry – private…equity…company. Collectively they represent a form of enterprise that never peers over the top of a sterile balance sheet.

Their sole purpose is to provide the best possible return for their investors. There is nothing inherently wrong it that goal, but the single-minded pursuit of profit makes them manifestly unsuited for ownership of companies providing social, cultural and democratic services to the public.

Media companies that produce or carry news and information services have impacts on society that were once recognised as imposing inherent obligations on the organisation.

In the past, owners accepted forms of cross-subsidisation without question. They funded journalism that was important, but which may not have attracted audiences as readily as the salacious or merely entertaining. They sent journalists far afield following politicians, when reporting a rugby tour was arguably more popular. They did so because one of those inherent obligations was holding power to account.

Some owners continue to shoulder those obligations and long may they continue to do so. However, for every organisation that continues to meet social and civic needs, there is another that has been decimated in the name of ‘return on investment’.

The latest manifestation of private equity bitemporal hemianopsia (I chose this form of tunnel vision because it doesn’t just affect the periphery but half of what we see) is what has happened to MediaWorks at the hands of Sydney-based private equity firm Quadrant and the New Zealand media company’s previous owners. Continue reading “My feeling of dread can reach biblical proportions” →