Media Insider: Tears, anger at TVNZ – inside the cutbacks and whose jobs are at stake
Most of TVNZ’s 600-strong workforce had been summonsed to meetings to hear their fate. They were each presented with a range of proposals – from the relatively minor (for example, a reporting line change) to the life-changing (proposed disestablishment).
Hosts. Journalists. Salespeople. Mid-tier leaders. Camera operators.
There were tears. Staff were already dusting off CVs, said one source. Later, some staff crossed the road, from TVNZ’s Auckland headquarters to the Empire pub. Beers replaced tears.
In total, TVNZ plans to cut some 50 of its 600 fulltime-equivalent (FTE) roles by the end of the year, in its quest to help find $30 million.
To achieve a reduction of 50 roles, the broadcaster plans to firstly disestablish 90.5 roles and then create 41 new jobs that people can apply for.
Some of the people caught up in the proposals are among the best-known names at the network; others are workers who have been there for years – not necessarily well-known but who nonetheless face the devastation of losing their jobs just weeks before Christmas.
With the collapse of Fourth Estate Journalism confronting NZ at the same time social media Tech Bros strangle off advertising revenue while circumventing democracy with hate algorithms, we need a clear eyes assessment of TVNZs crucial role as the public broadcaster in our democracy.
Dump Seven Sharp.
Dump the whole thing.
Seven Sharp is a sad indictment of making citizens into consumers and its dumbing down of the once crucial 7pm current affairs pulpit reflects all that is wrong with the media eco system.
Dump 7 Sharp and replace it with the most important public broadcasting journalist we have, John Campbell.
Cut costs by making it a studio based live interview show with a few side journalists and camera teams to do background pieces on the topics selected.
Make it talking head TV where John is given the scope to do the Fourth Estate Journalism our Democracy desperately needs.
Save money by making it studio based talking head TV while empowering TVNZs obligations to real Fourth Estate Journalism, not whatever Sunday had become.
Now is the time for something dynamic and cheaper than infotainment current affairs.
It would generate ratings, lower costs and give TVNZ the mana of being a public broadcaster worth tuning in for.
NZ Democracy needs John Campbell holding the powerful to account at 7pm weeknights, it doesn’t need Hilary giggling at a face that Jeremy pulls.
To date the TVNZ Board have shown a level of cowardice in not standing up for the fourth estate obligations TVNZ has, cutting Seven Sharp and bringing back a studio based John Campbell would bring back mana to our public broadcaster.
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You may as well wish for the resurrection of Paul Holmes.
Why bother?
Those people still watching TVNZ News won’t be moving out of their recliner armchairs until after the duty nurse gives the evening medications.
True!
TVNZ is a dead man walking, just like the Herald.
RNZ needs either closure or restaffing with people who represent a wider section of society.
Bring back Campbell ? What a good idea, but no-one watches television apart from the insiders hoping to one-up each other, and the elderly sat in dayrooms to keep them occupied until bed time.
Does Hilary still giggle? Hilary giggled in the streets of London reporting on a royal wedding, got the mood wrong, and wore a cardigan, and I have never watched her since.
Who cares about mana of TVNZ ? They certainly don’t.
And is there honey still for tea ?
Balham! Gateway to the South! – lproven – LiveJournal
https://lproven.livejournal.com › … 25 Apr 2008 — English humour, just borrowed, as they need it as much as we do.
Such is the enthusiasm of Balham’s music lovers that they are subscribing to a fund to send Eugene to Italy. Or Vienna. Or anywhere…
Who can we raise money to send away where they could try for another sinecure? We will stay here with the cure.
Seven Sharp is the pits–codger territory–Jeremy Wells looking increasingly sleazy and there for the pay only. TVNZ news cuts straight into Seven’, thereby herding viewers in, few surely would seek it out by choice!
Campbell is a national treasure, not liked by the ruling class at all. I still recall the time he was covering the huge Queen St. Auckland TPPA march in 2016. He was on foot with a mic and camera guy, and as he neared the bottom of the Main Street to see the Ngati Whatua leaders of the march, hundreds of people spontaneously applauded him–how many other NZ journalists would ever get that reaction?
Martyn – Why should the NZ taxpayers fund over $200 million per year to TVNZ? They, TVNZ, suck. The Daily Blog is far better….fund this instead
I agree. I would prefer my tax to help the homeless. I read and listen to leftist news on RNZ. I wouldn’t waste a minute on One News whether on the app or delayed.
Ennius – 100% in agreement.
If they drop 7 Sharp and bring back John Campbell to do some real current affairs I would certainly watch instead of turning the TV off.
Only problem is I don’t think John Key likes Campbell that much. And if that’s the man who advertises sausages, he’s very brave when the decent sausage is a distant memory and beyond the purses of the prols if it did.
I would dump that condascending prick Dallow and have Mellisa and the Blond lady taking turns .John should be where seven sharp is and focus on the big issues separate from the main bulletin.
The Northland reporter ,Helen Castles should be reinstated as she has been dropped because Winston thinks she is too out spoken for a wahine and should shut up .
The news editor needs to grow some balls and take the government on about the constant bull shit they are feeding NZ daily .Maybe that could become Campbells sole mission keeping the government honest fact checking every lie they put out daily .Fuck he will need a team of 20 to help him on that alone .
What about interning some volunteer fact-checkers here? (Follow the story of the disgraceful effort to get someone doing basic cleaning work as a ‘volunteer’ – written up on RNZ.) Is that leftist news Ennius?
Couldn’t agree more. Such rubbish, I do watch TVNZ news until we hit the inevitable sports part. TVNZ has more and more junk on it everyday. That programme is a ‘women’s weekly’ bullshit show. I don’t understand why people lower themselves to watch the junk.
I gave up watching TV1 news in 1974 because I realised way back then
that it was pure right wing propaganda.
99% of “News” reporting today still remains based on sucking up to
Right wing propaganda.
It is what it is
Or you could have both, with same staff infrastructure to cut costs, with Campbell and Tame following 7Sharp to do the more indepth interviews on issues too heavy for light entertainment 7Sharp.
With no late news, a concentration of current affairs straight after the news hour could attract viewers back to, the go to time slot. Or just merrily carry on, and have our TV increasingly filled by US reality re runs.
Yes we have a diet of american rubbish and we can see why we have so many angry ill mannered people in the world as that is what they model them selves on .
I’m not ill mannered, and my favorite telly is the American reality re run “Swamp People”.
I just can’t get enough of: dag nabbit a dog gurn gator has got my dam arm…get ma darn scatter gun and put a hole in that god damn gators god damn head, god dammit….I came out here to catch god darn gators and to get god dam paid for being on god durn telly….but a god dam gator has got the god durn wrong idea, and has gone and caught me, by my god damned arm, god dammit!
Sounds like Gary Larson – The Far Side nearly.
https://screenrant.com/far-side-dangling-cat-misunderstood-cartoon-gary-larson/
What is this “7Sharp” and “TVNZ” that you speak of?
Watched 7 Sharp by accident and felt my senses had been insulted.
John Campbell I cannot take to he’s so melodramatic.
Melodramatic and sanctimonious and so self-important: Look at me! I’m so clever!
But Campbell is clever, Tom. Melodramatic? Really ? Compared to any Italian or Greek or even Yorkshireman, he’s as repressed as I.
Not sure there was any problem with demise of Sunday. I’d like to see statistics on what proportion of their stuff was NZ based. I suspect only around 20%. Most screen time was just rehash of imported material.
TVNZ is irrelevant. Can we spend the money on the poor?
If people want thought provoking content, the unreliably leftist RNZ is at least intelligent.
You gotta ask, What is the demographic that watches 7 Sharp? The same that reads the Womans Weekly? Has much the same content. Still, there’s most likely quite a few who like that kind of marshmallow current affairs fronted by the gals and guys from next door.
Rarely watch The News on TV now. It’s on people’s phones. It’s years since the 7pm slot was used for current affairs. 7 Not Sharp’s light magazine viewing is to compete with Shorties.
John Cambell ought to be invited to do the three hour conversations with the nation’s movers and shakers under the TDB umbrella.
Even when I was a kid before I was politically aware I found Campbell Live way more interesting than the 6 O’Clock News whenever my parents played it
Raijiin. You must have been a smart kid, unlike the dimwits here who find Campbell too intelligent for them to cope with.
You know, this think piece is just like wishing on a star. Go ahead but it will likely be as….wishful.
Why bother? The news carnage actually began with the ousting of Campbell Live. They are hardly gonna put that back in place. But, dream on.
When it’s more about the presenters than it is about the news then it’s all over.
Opinion pieces that are open about being opinion pieces are a different story.