spinofflive
dumpster-on-fire.png

MediaFebruary 28, 2024

The last 14 months in New Zealand media: a chilling play-by-play

dumpster-on-fire.png

There were some dramatic stories, and some big wins – but the overall trend was very troubling for New Zealand’s domestic media. Duncan Greive creates a month-by-month timeline to show just how bad it got.

First published in December 2023 and updated February 2024.

Recently a lump of concrete fell from the ceiling in one of New Zealand’s most important newsrooms. No one was injured – staff just steered clear of that area and got on with their work. It’s an irresistible metaphor for where New Zealand media sits as 2023 draws to a close: continuing to operate as best we can, while the infrastructure crumbles around us.

Is it really that bad? The media has been talking about the sky falling in – albeit less literally – for a decade now, and we’re still here. Or at least, some of us are (see below, over and over and over). A casual observer would be forgiven for thinking this is just more special pleading from an industry that is inherently conflicted when covering its own operations. But no one else is going to, and this time really does feel different. 

The local sector faces a more austere and indifferent government, a recession, an extremely soft advertising market, along with a fiscal cliff (on trend) with the end of a fraught support programme in the Public Interest Journalism Fund (PIJF). Now pile on international headwinds like a continued shift to social platforms, an epic strike by actors and directors, the rise of performance marketing and the existential threat presented by generative AI and you have a chilling combination.

If you talk to senior executives at the large news and media companies in New Zealand, the word being used is “existential”. This is new, and connected to a widespread belief that one or more of the largest media companies could face some sort of catastrophic financial event in 2024: liquidation, bankruptcy, a forced sale – something horrible and traumatic, basically. 

If you’re not in the weeds of daily media industry news, congratulations on your choices. But you might have missed just how dire it has been. The timeline below is an attempt to build a portrait of the major story beats, with a focus on the largest news and screen media that operates in New Zealand, along with international storylines where they have a clear impact on local operators. 

To help make it clear what’s going on, I’ve highlighted the key words – think “restructure”, “cancelled” or “closes” – along with the company names. This is so that as you read, you get a sense of how the sector as a whole is tracking. The cumulative impact should make anyone reading aware that New Zealand’s media is in a highly vulnerable state, and the prognosis might be worse than it has ever been.

(Related: if you enjoy and care about your friendly local independent media, please strongly consider becoming a member today.)

January 2023

  • The calm before the storm, only broken by Mediaworks kicking off a year of industry-wide layoffs with the loss of 90 staff.

February

March

  • The Spinoff reports the founding of Reality Check Radio. The positive is a new digital radio station launches, with popular talent like ex-TVNZ star Peter Williams and former ACT leader Rodney Hide… the negative is that it’s run by anti-vax conspiracists Voices for Freedom.
  • Mediaworks shocks the nation by abruptly shutting down Today FM a year after its launch, leading to a dramatic on-air protest by hosts Tova O’Brien and Duncan Garner, and the loss of dozens of jobs.
  • Former NZME editor-in-chief Shayne Currie resigns only to re-emerge as the ‘Media Insider’, quickly becoming the most-talked about column in the industry. He’s replaced as EIC by his colleague Murray Kirkness.
  • Sky TV announces the loss of 170 jobs as it offshores part of its operations.
Chantelle Baker, Rodney Hide, Paul Brennan and Peter Williams are among the names headlining Reality Check Radio (Image: Tina Tiller)

April

  • AUT’s unintentionally corrosive trust survey inevitably reveals further decline in trust in the doom looping local media – marking the fourth straight year of decline.
  • Labour minister Kiri Allan makes a public apology over remarks highly critical of RNZ’s treatment of Māori staff at a function to farewell her then-partner Māni Dunlop.
  • On the other hand, RNZ receives a massive $25m cash injection, commonly seen as a reward from then-broadcasting minister Willie Jackson for being more embracing of his merger proposal than TVNZ.
  • This news is announced a day after the resignation of TVNZ CEO and former National minister Simon Power is made public.
  • Stewart Sowman-Lund reports for The Spinoff that mayor Wayne Brown turned down more than 20 interview requests in the aftermath of Auckland’s floods – further undermining the role of news media.
  • Stuff announces three new paywalled sites for regional newspapers The Post, The Waikato Times and The Press.

May

Some recent Metro magazine covers (Image: Archi Banal)

June

  • A huge change to government media policy proposes a new super-regulator; but the void between highly taxed and regulated local media and unregulated social media looks likely to remain. News media are troubled by its broad emphasis on “harm”.
  • Stuff’s owner Sinead Boucher announces her resignation as CEO, with ex-NZME exec Laura Maxwell stepping into her role.
  • A Twitter account notices some pro-Russian edits on RNZ stories about the war in Ukraine, which quickly spirals into a massive scandal; a later review suggests it was more about process and structure failures than deliberate attempts to mislead.
  • Digital news bargaining legislation comes into view just as Google announces a range of deals with news organisations including Stuff, Allied Press and The Spinoff. National chills the mood somewhat by announcing its opposition – though it is likely to now support it to select committee.
  • The Spinoff scoops the debut of NZR+ – NZ Rugby’s digital platform which might ultimately give it an alternative direct-to-consumer platform to Sky – potentially cutting out the media’s role entirely.
  • The chaotic echo of the end of the merger sees three of TVNZ’s digital teams face major restructures.
  • BusinessDesk’s Daniel Dunkley scoops that Wellington news site CapitalNZ will close mere months after it debuted, citing financial difficulties.
  • Are Media and NZME announce that the Listener will be available as a digital subscription through the NZ Herald platform.

July

  • The D*List is founded, providing a powerful and modern platform for disabled voices in Aotearoa.
  • TVNZ sharply acquires Spark Sports’ package of rights, returning to sports in a substantial way for the first time in more than a decade.
  • TVNZ also forecasts a $15m loss – deeply troubling given that it is typically the most solid performer in all of free-to-air broadcasting.
  • Newsroom’s Mark Jennings reports that Three’s owners Warner Brothers Discovery have had to inject $35m into the loss-making subsidiary; it will later ask for government help.
  • RNZ board member Jason Ake lasts just a few weeks before resigning after criticising media coverage of Kiri Allan’s car crash and arrest.
  • Stuff wins the race to hire former Today FM host Tova O’Brien, who will go on to create analysis and an eponymous podcast.
RIP Today FM
All of Today FM has been erased from the internet. Image: Tina Tiller

August

  • A protracted standoff between tech giants and the Canadian government sees news disappear from social media there.
  • The screen production sector gets its wish, with a major expansion to its rebates scheme.
  • Sports radio network SENZ has its losses blow out to $5.5m – explaining why the station will ultimately be sold to the TAB (another example of media being cut out of the customer equation).
  • Media Insider scoops a union email discussing the loss of 28 more jobs at Stuff, with BusinessDesk reporting that the losses are concentrated in high profile investigative and data journalism roles.
  • A rare bright spot: adroit work from new CEO Sophie Moloney sees Sky TV able to post a reasonably healthy $51m profit.
  • Another bright spot: startup Caffeine Daily kicks off, recruiting senior business journalist Fiona Rotherham to cover the tech sector with a positive view.
  • Mediaworks decides to appoint acting CEO Wendy Palmer as its permanent leader.

September

  • NZ on Air’s mammoth “Where are the Audiences?” survey reveals that digital has overtaken linear for the first time, and older audiences are now increasingly getting stuck into streaming too. This directly impacts ad spending, down across the board in 2023.
  • The NZ Herald completes a restructure which leads to the loss of multiple senior editorial roles.
  • Both National and Act announce plans to slash government advertising – extinguishing a rare bright spot for some local media companies.
  • NZME debuts yet another new subscription product, announcing ZB+, led by influential Substacker Philip Crump.
  • The Department of Internal Affairs reprimands broadcasters TVNZ, Three, Mediaworks and NZME for airing ads for online gambling outfit Jackpot City. This results in a seven figure loss of annual income to some of these companies. Meanwhile Jackpot City ads continue to be all over social media to this day.
Image: Archi Banal

October

  • Almost lost in the leadup to the election: perpetually debt-laden radio and outdoor advertising giant Mediaworks announces a $9.7m loss and an enormous $100m+ impairment.
  • A week later an auditor report expressesmaterial uncertainty” over Mediaworks’ ability to continue as a going concern as it renegotiates banking covenants. Mediaworks’ board issues a statement saying it has “every confidence” in the business.
  • Student radio icon 95bFM sells its record collection as it tries to survive the advertising crunch and deal with an audience transition to digital.
  • Otago Daily Times publisher Allied Press has its staff go on strike after being unable to reach a pay deal with their union.
  • Screen industry body SPADA formally calls for a levy on big tech streamers to help offset loss of income to local broadcast media.
  • Yet another overseas streaming service launches in NZ, this time reality TV-centric platform Hayu.

November

  • RNZ has been spending some of its big budget boost on hiring some of Stuff’s most prominent journalists.
  • Newsroom’s Tim Murphy reveals that Stuff’s multi-award winning video team, Stuff Circuit, was absent from a recent NZ on Air funding round and hasn’t released any new investigation in 2023.
  • NZME announces a 15% decline in profit.
  • Kim Hill finishes one of the great careers in radio – Toby Manhire sends her off with an appropriately magnificent profile.
  • TVNZ completes a subdued upfronts to announce next year’s new shows – still better than Three, which abandons the crucial set-piece pitch to advertisers entirely.
  • Consumer magazine flags job losses as the decades-old not-for-profit attempts a digital transition.
  • The Spinoff’s Madeleine Chapman scoops that Stuff is downsizing its Pou Tiaki team three years after its lauded apology to Māori.
  • NZ on Air board member Andrew Shaw is forced to resign after breaking public service neutrality rules in critiquing new deputy PM Winston Peters on LinkedIn. LinkedIn!
  • Wētā Digital announces 256 layoffs two years after being acquired by gaming developer Unity. 
Winston Peters, New Zealand Twitter user (Photo: Getty)

December

  • Three’s The Project plays out its final show in front of a live audience, a beloved and high-functioning product which just cost too much to make. 
  • Nine further redundancies occur at TVNZ, with senior staff including high-profile head of sport Melodie Robinson leaving the business.
  • Three’s new 7pm show is announced, a cheaper proposition built around polarising host Ryan Bridge. His AM Show slot will be taken by Lloyd Burr.
  • BusinessDesk reports that RNZ is using some of its cash injection to avert strike action from its unionised staff.
  • Stuff reports that Allied Press announces the closure by Christmas of its long-running Dunedin TV stalwart Channel 39.
  • The NZ Film Commission predicts diminished revenue in coming years as it seeks to markedly scale back its role.
  • TVNZ promotes its head of commercial Jodi O’Donnell to the role of CEO. She’s the first woman to lead the organisation.

January 2024

  • TVNZ political editor Jessica Mutch-McKay announces she’s leaving the network to join ANZ. A replacement is not announced.

February

  • Warner Bros Discovery announces plans to close down its news operation, Newshub, from the end of June. The proposal includes the closure of all Newshub’s multiplatform news operations and output, and new local programming would only be in collaboration with local funding bodies and other partners.

In summary: that’s a lot of news, right? And not much of it is good. Our media absolutely has bright spots – BusinessDesk has had an incredible year developing its product; After the Party shapes as a potential international hit in 2024; NZ director Gerard Johnstone’s M3GAN grossed almost US$100m. But they’re all aberrations – the drift of the industry, and of audiences, is clear.

Some might say this doesn’t matter – that it is simply nature taking its course. But the gravity of a small handful of tech platforms has a large number of very challenging aspects for New Zealand as a society. This is most obvious in journalism. A factual inaccuracy told on a New Zealand news platform could be catastrophic for its parent company, but completely inconsequential for a social platform. But it challenges our very fundamentals as a country too.

International platforms overwhelmingly serve content from anywhere, with no law saying they must promote our culture or identity. That’s why Netflix has just seven New Zealand productions out of its library of thousands. Why international conspiracy theories are now regularly discussed in our domestic politics. And much more besides. As of today, there is no good reason to think this will change. Which means our chance to find out what our country looks like without any substantial domestic media is a year closer. Buckle up.

‘Media is under threat. Help save The Spinoff with an ongoing commitment to support our work.’
Duncan Greive
— Founder
Keep going!
Image: Tina Tiller
Image: Tina Tiller

MediaFebruary 26, 2024

Above the Fold: Inside the mystery of Stuff Circuit’s controversial final project

Image: Tina Tiller
Image: Tina Tiller

One of the last great investigative teams in NZ journalism is no more. In the second instalment of his new media column Above the Fold, Duncan Greive examines the end of Stuff Circuit, and the multi-year investigation which will be its last work – if it ever makes it out at all.

The Long Game is in some ways Stuff Circuit’s magnum opus, and befitting its name, it has been years in the making. It’s a deep exploration of the influence of China and its ruling communist party on New Zealand, weaving original reporting with the work of other newsrooms to build a fresh narrative. Members of Stuff’s investigative unit believe the work functions as a kind of love letter to journalism – it features “the newsroom as a character”, one said, pulling back the curtain on the hard graft of reporting in an epic movie-length documentary. 

In many ways, it represents the apex of a particular era of news giant Stuff under Sinead Boucher’s leadership and later ownership: a commitment to hard, public interest journalism first, with all other considerations queuing behind. Stuff Circuit was for years the company’s premium investigative brand: led by TV current affairs icon Paula Penfold, it put out event projects which emerged relatively infrequently, but often created major waves when they did.

The Long Game was its most ambitious undertaking yet, taking on the biggest geopolitical story of the century to date. The cinéma vérité technique chosen is rare within journalism, and cynics might view it as self-involved – but Stuff Circuit believes it’s right for The Long Game, and offers a compelling window into the working and decision drivers of an operating newsroom. 

The Stuff Circuit team: Paula Penfold, Phil Johnson, Louisa Cleave and Toby Longbottom.

However, the documentary, which The Spinoff has not seen and which has had minimal distribution within Stuff, remains caught up in a protracted stalemate, almost three years after it was first commissioned. 

Discussions with multiple former members of the Stuff Circuit team have suggested various possible reasons for delay. These include the fact that Stuff’s former head of news Mark Stevens plays a major on-screen role in the film, despite him now working at rival RNZ. There was also suggestion of an over-cautious legal approach due to the controversial subject matter – or even the presence of a subject within the film with links to Stuff. 

These allegations are rejected by multiple senior Stuff figures in the strongest possible terms. Stuff Digital managing director Nadia Tolich says it is purely routine legal and editorial processes which have kept it from publication. “Sometimes it can take a long time, and deep work, to get a story to a publishable standard – one that meets our code of conduct and ethics, our legal responsibilities and other editorial standards,” Tolich wrote in a statement. (This story is based on interviews with multiple current and former Stuff staff at both senior editor level and Stuff Circuit, most of whom spoke under condition of anonymity. Stevens himself declined to comment).

This is not just an ordinary editorial dispute. Laying atop is the fact that three of the four core members of the Stuff Circuit team no longer work at the organisation, after a restructure late last year disestablished the roles of all its members except Paula Penfold, the revered investigative journalist who led the team since its inception in 2016. The Stuff Circuit brand is now out of commission, and unlikely to be used beyond this final work, if and when it emerges. 

While a senior Stuff staffer says that the fate of the project and the restructure of the Stuff Circuit staff is “correlation not causation”, that feeling is not shared by some from Stuff Circuit. One former member of Stuff Circuit I spoke with believes that the delays in publication were beyond the team’s control, but used against it to suggest a lack of productivity. They viewed this as the basis on which the redundancies were made. For its part, Stuff says its work was simply not as compatible with the new direction of the organisation, and that the cost of The Long Game – more than $1m, a Stuff source said, even after NZ on Air funding – was far too high. Stuff Circuit staff strongly dispute that cost estimate, saying it fails to acknowledge other projects delivered within the same timeframe.

It’s an ignominious end to a powerhouse of journalism, one which was for much of its existence considered the crown jewel of Stuff’s editorial operation. Thus it also exists as a microcosm of the desperate choices being made as news organisations scramble to figure out a way to sustainably operate, anxiously awaiting the fate of the digital bargaining bill currently before parliament.

It’s also a story which is by no means over.

A bright beginning

The origins of Stuff Circuit are emblematic of a particular journalistic era, one which feels both close enough to touch and increasingly distant. The brand was built around three individuals – Penfold, director Toby Longbottom and producer Eugene Bingham, all of whom had made their investigative reputations working in TV current affairs. The trio had been a part of a show named 3D, a local version of 60 Minutes or Panorama – the kind of agenda-setting current affairs shows which were for decades a staple of TV schedules. 

TV3’s then-boss, brash ex-Olympian Mark Weldon, came in and set about sweeping away much of the station’s longer form news programming, most famously Campbell Live, but also 3D. There was consternation within journalism, in part because Penfold and her team were rightly lionised for their crusading coverage that, among other scoops, included the work which helped overturn the wrongful conviction of Teina Pora.

Stuff Circuit created a series of ambitious productions, including The Valley, which took them to Kabul, and Emma, shot partly in Putin’s Russia.

It was a bitter and public end, but they did not have long to dwell on their fate, as a major digital news brand saw opportunity where TV3 was retreating. Within weeks the trio were recruited by then-Stuff executive editor Boucher to create a new brand, Stuff Circuit. The task? To produce major investigative work for the platform. “Paula, Toby and Eugene are an exceptionally talented team who have created some of the most compelling journalism in New Zealand,” said Boucher at the time. “Their flair for hard-hitting investigative journalism and innovative storytelling will be a real asset to our audiences and I am thrilled they have chosen to join forces with us.”

Over the coming years, Stuff Circuit created a series of increasingly ambitious productions including The Valley, which took them to Kabul, and Emma, shot partly in Putin’s Russia. These created headlines and won awards, but were always somewhat incongruous within Stuff. The vast bulk of Stuff’s work remained text-driven journalism for its print newspapers, which also ran on its digital platforms, while its premium investigative unit worked predominantly in video. For a few years, while print remained profitable enough to subsidise digital news, that tension could be overlooked – but not forever.

In 2019, Bingham left Stuff Circuit to work on a range of other projects for Stuff, leaving an opening for a producer. Louisa Cleave had spent over a decade at TVNZ working on various current affairs shows, the bulk of them on its flagship Sunday programme. It was nourishing work on a beloved show, at an institution with the relative job security provided by state ownership. Stuff, by contrast, was then-owned by Australia’s Nine group, and starved of resource and attention. There were persistent rumours it might be sold or worse. Yet such was the power of Stuff Circuit that she joined the team in early 2020.

Before she even started, the pandemic hit and advertising vanished. Yet the following month, Boucher rescued Stuff, buying it for $1 and setting about re-focusing the company with a rare sense of mission. That year saw an internationally lauded withdrawal from Facebook, and the historic examination of its coverage of te ao Māori, Tā Mātou Pono

For a while, it looked like the best place to work in the business. A few years ago there was a lunch arranged by then-Pou Tiaki editor Carmen Parahi, featuring some of the galaxy of star women journalists assembled under Boucher’s watch. Around the table were social issues reporter Kirsty Johnston, climate specialist Eloise Gibson, #MeTooNZ champion Ali Mau, along with Penfold and Cleave. It was an illustration of the extraordinary collection of talent Boucher had assembled, and the breadth of Stuff’s brand, which could contain both mass market entertainment and some of the most credentialed reporters in the country.

Today, Penfold is the only member of the group who remains an ongoing Stuff staffer. Parahi recently announced her resignation as Pou Tiaki Matua, following departure of Johnston, Gibson, Mau and Cleave, all within the past 12 months.

Short Circuit

In between times, Stuff Circuit had some major successes, most notably Fire and Fury, a documentary covering the 2022 occupation of parliament and the key identities behind it. Stuff Circuit sources say it drove over a million views, a number which would place it among the highest rating TV programmes most years. The group also won a major international award for Disordered, a deep look into foetal alcohol syndrome, which was celebrated by Stuff. Yet senior Stuff sources suggest that such successes led to a creeping loss of focus for the Circuit team, saying that potential for awards began to be prized above audience or organisational need by the team.

Stuff Circuit sources reject that characterisation, and point to work they did upskilling reporters by seconding them to projects, or mentoring more junior staff struggling with complex assignments. These are routine day-to-day tensions within most large organisations, and the Circuit team remained dedicated to The Long Game, commissioned in 2021, which attempted to create a single narrative out of a number of complex news stories involving Chinese money and influence. This included following the realtime reporting of Catrin Owen, along with footage of production meetings with Stevens as commissioner.

Stuff Circuit won a global award for Disordered, a deep look into foetal alcohol syndrome.

By the middle of 2023, the Stuff Circuit team filed what they believed was a near-finished product. At 90 minutes, it was by far the longest duration they had ever made – but allowable under the terms of their public funding agreement with NZ on Air. Stuff Circuit sources say it was essentially signed off with only minor notes by Stevens. They were excited to see it released prior to October’s election, believing the questions it raised should have been in the public domain during the campaign. 

Yet senior Stuff editorial sources I spoke to said there were significant issues with The Long Game that meant it had almost no chance of emerging prior to the election. Some of these were associated with legal challenges, they acknowledge, which were partially solved by re-cutting it to be episodic rather than feature length. But Stuff sources say the delay was as much about editorial matters, such as right of reply for key characters, and even its fundamental quality as a product. They made reference to recordings of production meetings conducted on Zoom which Circuit believed showed the inner workings of a news organisation, but other Stuff sources thought were just dull.

‘Media is under threat. Help save The Spinoff with an ongoing commitment to support our work.’
Duncan Greive
— Founder

The election came and went – then a NZ on Air funding round became public, pushing all of this into the public domain. Stuff Circuit has attracted millions of dollars in NZ on Air funding since its inception. Investigative journalism, particularly shot for video, is very costly work, and sources say that the funding did not come close to covering Stuff Circuit’s salary costs through the years. Because public funding for journalism is rare, news organisations typically scrutinise NZ on Air’s decisions each year, both due to professional jealousy and for clues about what the opposition is up to. Newsroom’s Tim Murphy was first to note that Stuff Circuit was absent from the most recent set of results. 

It was not just of prurient interest – there were major financial stakes too. NZ on Air typically will not release funding for a new season of a show until the previous one has been delivered. Because The Long Game was attached to the 2022 funding round, it meant that Stuff Circuit’s 2023 allocation – around $370,000 – had not even been drawn down. Murphy’s reporting was followed by Stuff arch rival NZ Herald media columnist Shayne Currie, who raised questions around Circuit’s productivity. He wrote about “an argument that some journalists need to be more attuned to their output.” 

The game, called off

This was also a question being asked within senior levels at Stuff, and ultimately, Stuff Circuit believe, formed the basis for the unit’s breakup. Within the team this was seen as grossly unjust – they viewed their output as being unfairly judged by the scale and gestation of The Long Game, rather than the full sweep of their work. They also put forward an offer to change their approach during the restructure process, making content at greater volume and even with room for a sponsor. 

Stuff management were unmoved. Under new CEO Laura Maxwell, the company had spent the year reorganising into three divisions representing commercial, the newspaper and paywall business, and Stuff Digital, encompassing its free-to-access content. As part of this process, leadership adopted a “day zero” approach, asking which parts of the business they would build if starting from scratch. They say that Stuff Circuit did not naturally fit in any of those categories, joining the powerhouse National Correspondents team as legacies of an ambitious era, now ended.

Today Stuff’s video offering looks a lot like TikTok’s. Short-form vertical video featuring reporters explaining the news, trends or commercial partnerships. Stuff itself aims to be “live and lively”, with shorter stories and rolling coverage of breaking and ongoing news beats. Harder and longer form journalism is more likely to be paywalled on its Press, Post and Waikato Times sites. Its management said this is driven by audience demand, and by the financial realities of a much more digital news business. One former Stuff staffer expressed dismay at the evolution, and was aghast at the prominence of the weather blog, saying sadly that “it’s not the place I went to”. 

Still, it’s hard to know what else Stuff could do. The sad reality is that investigative journalism is inherently very costly. Even with a paywall, its public interest value almost always outstrips the financial return which can be attributed to it through most metrics. Without a paywall, it becomes near impossible. While Stuff retains some superb investigative talent, including Steve Kilgallon and Tony Wall, its ranks are notably thinner. With NZ on Air still mostly committed to funding video journalism, and the fate of the digital news bill far from certain, it seems that the brief golden age of investigations in the ‘10s is fading fast.

There are strong and hurt feelings all around. Yet there is hope for a form of resolution. The Long Game was seen as drifting, likely never to surface, until a meeting between Penfold and Boucher earlier this year. It prompted a fresh look at the project, which is now working its way toward a fairly imminent release, sources say. Given the scope and style of the project, its emergence will allow it to serve as a requiem – not just for Stuff Circuit, but a journalistic era too. 

But wait there's more!