Tag: Radio New Zealand

Editorial executive: ‘There must be more to life than this’

The hierarchy of New Zealand’s news media organisations, once a relatively stable environment, is changing with the speed and effect of a Nek Minnit video. In part, it is a consequence of vacancies and reorganisations but several of the moves also point to a deeper-seated issue. Some media executives have given so much of their lives to the job that they have had an epiphany and want some of that life back.

Three senior news executives in as many months have quit their jobs, not to take up another position, but to take extended breaks. RNZ’s head of news, Richard Sutherland, was first. He was followed by senior TVNZ producer Sam Robertson, and last week Miriyana Alexander – the star of NZME’s premium subscription drive – resigned and said she was taking a break from journalism altogether. Continue reading “Editorial executive: ‘There must be more to life than this’” →

TVNZ board needs expertise, not ideology

I am hoping beyond hope that speculation over changes to the Television New Zealand board are wide of the mark. I’m banking on the conjecture being a product of the mischievous side of Willie Jackson’s personality that keeps people guessing.

The Minister of Broadcasting and Media, in a recent interview with the New Zealand Herald’s editor-at-large Shayne Currie, made it clear he wants to see change and a much stronger commitment by the state-owned broadcaster to a “New Zealand identity”.

His interview with Currie left no doubt that changes to the TVNZ board, whose members come up for re-appointment or replacement on June 30, will be political appointments. Unlike commercial boards, where replacements are usually sought out by existing directors and confirmed (or rejected) by shareholders, it is Jackson’s office that is managing the process with both TVNZ and replacement directors at Radio New Zealand. Continue reading “TVNZ board needs expertise, not ideology” →

Government media strategies: A dating game that may not end well

I am worried.

I am worried that New Zealand’s media ecosystem is about to be adversely affected by Government initiatives that should be closely coordinated but which are each taking their own course.

There may be a grand strategy but, if that is so, the New Zealand public have not seen it.

Instead, we are slowly becoming aware of strands of policy that have different focal points, different timeframes, and different potential impacts. There are cross-currents that mean each of these policies will have consequences for media outside the primary focus.

The situation is made worse by the fact that much of the policy work has dealt with high level concepts that leave the detail until later.

These combined factors are not necessarily a recipe for disaster, but they are certainly from the Unintended Consequences Cookbook. Continue reading “Government media strategies: A dating game that may not end well” →

Churchillian view of public media’s future

 The New Public Media Entity has turned into a Churchillian quotation, and it is not “their finest hour”.

Following last Thursday’s Budget, the project to replace Television New Zealand and RNZ has become “a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma”.

The Budget told us the project would receive $327 million of Government funding over three years in roughly equal annual instalments. The total appropriation for the “Strong Public Media” project over the next four years is $370 million, meaning $43 million will be used to establish the new entity and for the Ministry for Culture & Heritage to “monitor’ it.

That is a sizeable chunk of money, but the Government does expect some pay-back from the commercial operations of what is now Television New Zealand. It estimates a dividend of $306 million over six years.

And that is where the detail ends. Continue reading “Churchillian view of public media’s future” →