Tag: Stuff

Let’s hope the gods smile on Stuff’s printing plans

The management at Stuff must have great trust in the weather and mechanical gods. The publisher faces multiple risks if its printing relocation from Wellington to Christchurch displeases the deities.

A willingness to risk displeasing the gods shows the problem Stuff has in addressing a predicament facing many newspaper publishers. Their large and expensive printing plants were built for an age that has passed.

Some media suggest Stuff has had its hand forced by the sale of the property housing its Petone printing plant to what might be described as a hostile party. The property had been retained by Nine Entertainment when it sold Stuff to Sinead Boucher for a token dollar. Last year the Australian media firm displayed its total disregard for its former New Zealand subsidiary when it sold the property. New owner Troy Bowker had made no secret of his dislike for Stuff (which Nine would have discovered when it did due diligence) and he lost no time in serving notice on the publisher to quit the premises by April next year.

Since the purchase, Boucher and Bowker have engaged in what could variously be described as a game of poker or a Mexican stand-off. If the new owner thought he would panic Stuff into paying over the odds to buy the property in order to keep printing, he was wrong. Last week, Boucher announced that the printing plant would be shut and all of the company’s printing requirements for the lower North island would be met by its modern plant near Christchurch Airport. She said the press consolidation had long been part of Stuff’s strategic plan. Her announcement made no mention, however, of any transport arrangements for getting the Stuff titles and third-party contract printing products to the North Island. Continue reading “Let’s hope the gods smile on Stuff’s printing plans” →

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” →

Tom Phillips: Your right to know is bottom on a sliding scale

A positive element of the Tom Phillips saga – perhaps the only positive apart from the safe recovery of his children – has been in highlighting the fragile nature of the public’s right to know.

It is an outstanding example of attempts to control the narrative in a story that has generated worldwide interest and raised a plethora of questions about Phillips and about official handling of the case.

The interests of the three Phillips children are paramount, and no-one in this country wishes to see them face any further trauma. They endured almost four years of deprivation, and one witnessed the violent death of her father after he attempted to take the life of a police officer.

But where does the wellbeing of those children end, and the self-interest of all the other parties associated with this case begin? There are serious questions about the Oranga Tamariki handling of the domestic arrangements for the children during the custody dispute, and certainly after Phillips’ first abduction of his offspring. There are questions about the police operations throughout the case. And there are many questions about the character and actions of a man who would deprive his daughters and son of a normal childhood while normalising criminal behaviour.

Oranga Tamariki has invoked the children’s right to privacy. Police have fallen back on the old trope of ‘ongoing investigations’. And sitting over it all is an interim court order that – temporary or not – has almost the effect of a super injunction where even the purpose and justifications for suppression of facts are shrouded in secrecy. Continue reading “Tom Phillips: Your right to know is bottom on a sliding scale” →

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?” →