With Tova O’Brien’s move to Breakfast and changes ahead for Herald Now and RNZ, the AM is set to heat up in 2026.
After a busy year filled with interviews, breaking news and sizeable melons, the nation’s morning television news and current affairs shows will air their final episodes for 2025 today. Breakfast has been sliding towards Christmas for several weeks now, with its set slowly being consumed by giant teddy bears and Christmas trees (last tree count: eight), while over on the less-festive Herald Now, Michael Morrah has been filling in for the show’s usual presenter Ryan Bridge. Broadcaster Wendy Petrie has had a foot in both camps, filling in as a Breakfast presenter one week and reading the news on Herald Now the next.
But as the sun sets on the flaming skip fire that was planet Earth in 2025, mornings are looking a little brighter for news fans next year. Earlier this week, TVNZ announced that award-winning journalist Tova O’Brien will join Chris Chang on Breakfast, replacing presenter Jenny-May Clarkson who left TVNZ in November. TVNZ news and current affairs executive editor Phil O’Sullivan said in a statement that O’Brien brought a wealth of broadcast experience to the role, having delivered numerous high-profile interviews and provided live breaking news coverage in her almost 20-year career. “She’s sharp, energetic, and trusted. Best of all, she understands morning audiences inside out.”
Breakfast returns on January 26, but TVNZ has not confirmed when O’Brien will begin her new role. She is currently Stuff’s chief political correspondent, but has enjoyed a varied career on both screen and radio.
After joining Mediaworks in 2007, O’Brien became a reporter for 3News and was Newshub’s European correspondent, when she was arrested and cautioned during her coverage of the 2015 Chris Cairns perjury trial. Later, as Newshub political editor, O’Brien’s searing 2020 interview with former MP Jami-Lee Ross went viral around the world, and her “exhilarating, absurdist, dark comedy” report on a shambolic National Party became the stuff of legends. She left Newshub to join new radio station Today FM in March 2022, and travelled to Ukraine to interview president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. When Today FM was shut down after just one year, O’Brien reacted to the abrupt axing live on air, saying “they have fucked us”. She also exclusively revealed to The Spinoff that she was once nearly blown away by a gust of wind.
O’Brien’s arrival on Breakfast will bring some much-needed political grit to the show, which often verges into Good Morning territory with its increasing reliance on advertorial segments and lighter lifestyle stories like “how to revamp your summer wardrobe” (“push up your sleeves” was one helpful suggestion). Breakfast already interviews a variety of politicians each week, including the prime minister every Monday and the leader of the opposition on Tuesdays. Under O’Brien’s influence, both viewers and politicians should expect these types of interviews to become more focused and probing as the country rolls into an election year.
Breakfast isn’t the only show preparing to amp up its morning news coverage in 2026. Herald Now has grown in confidence since its launch in May, with host Bridge delivering the news of the day through a strong mix of headlines, panels and interviews. Herald Now currently streams live on the NZ Herald website and YouTube, but the Herald recently reported that Sky and NZME are in talks to expand the show to ThreeNow. This would bring Herald Now to a new audience, and would also give viewers more opportunities to watch politicians and public figures held to account on live local television.
Radio news, too, is greeting the new year with change. Yesterday, RNZ announced that veteran broadcaster John Campbell will replace Corin Dann as a co-presenter on RNZ Morning Report, alongside Ingrid Hipkiss. It’s been seven years since Campbell was last on RNZ airwaves, having presented Checkpoint between 2016-2018, before leaving for TVNZ (and going on to score a full house on the New Zealand news bingo card by joining Breakfast in 2019). RNZ says Campbell is a key part of their dedicated audio plan, which aims to grow RNZ National’s audience. Dann will become RNZ’s new business editor, while Guyon Espiner will present RNZ’s Midday Report from January.
With TVNZ also launching an early morning business show in 2026, these changes could signal much-needed new life being breathed into an industry that has seen much of its broadcast news and current affairs shows gutted over the past two years. Is morning news about to be reborn in 2026, just in time for the next general election? Now that’s something worth waking up for.
