Tag: Ryan Bridge

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” →

How crunchy are the Herald NOW numbers?

Let me say at the outset: I like NZME’s video breakfast show Herald Now.

It has the hallmarks of a serious news programme designed to inform me at the start of the day, and the relaxed manner of its host Ryan Bridge belies his skill in asking questions that put interviewees on the spot.

It has the ability to attract newsmakers from the Prime Minister and former judges to sports stars and social workers in Gaza. Its rotating list of panellists spans a useful social spectrum.

Ryan Bridge plays a key role in the show’s success but, even when he is not there, the format retains its appeal. Last week, seasoned television journalist Garth Bray (now with NZME’s BusinessDesk) was a quality stand-in who maintained the same pace and inquisitive style.

So, I was not surprised when NZME crowed that the show has attracted 2.4 million views in July. Well, that was the number from one survey source but it could include double-ups  where the same people watched on different platforms. By another measure, the programme has a million ‘unique viewers’ a month.

Herald Now screens on the Herald’s digital platforms and on YouTube. I watch it through the latter on the tv set in our lounge. And that is what roused my curiosity over the audience statistic proudly announced by NZME. When I logged onto the programme on YouTube one day last week it told me there were 407 other viewers. On another day, the number was about 1400. That suggests that the vast majority view it on the Herald’s platforms.

Fair enough, but what does either Herald Now audience survey number actually tell us? Continue reading “How crunchy are the Herald NOW numbers?” →

Herald streaming breakfast show’s best ingredient – news

NZME’s new streaming video breakfast show Herald NOW has debuted. And it’s refreshing to see that from start to finish it is about news.

It stands in stark contrast to TVNZ’s Breakfast and its giggly magazine format punctuated by obligatory bulletins and couch-bound conversations.

Ryan Bridge fronts Herald NOW. He is, of course, no stranger to breakfast television, He was a mainstay of TV3’s AM Show before Warner Bros Discovery axed it as a prelude to walking away from news production entirely.

However, the new show is not a remake of AM, in spite of the scheduled reappearances of familiar political panellists David Seymour and Chloe Swarbrick (the former was interviewed on the first show, but his fellow panellist was absent), and Mark Richardson who is swapping sports commentary for financial observations. Richardson’s role – he is now a financial advisor at Forsyth Barr – was previewed last week but the inaugural financial slot on the show was filled by his colleague Zoe Willis. Bridge previewed the lineup in the Weekend Herald.

The new show’s strong news focus was obvious from the outset. It comes from a glassed-off space in the Herald’s Auckland newsroom, with busy journalists all-too-obvious in the background. The set has none of the enforced casualness of couches: It is a radio studio with video cameras. And Ryan Bridge has no coffee-sipping co-hosts with whom he is expected to exchange inane banter to ease you gently into the day. Continue reading “Herald streaming breakfast show’s best ingredient – news” →