More media upheaval: Is TVNZ right to axe its online news offering?
As Google ramps up its threats, the broadcaster has been told it needs to be financially sustainable.
Mōrena, and welcome to The Bulletin for Tuesday, October 8.
In today’s edition: Christopher Luxon visits Dunedin for the first time since the election, the debilitating impacts of Long Covid exposed, and Why the government will be hoping Kamala Harris wins the US election. But first, more media cuts are on the horizon.
TVNZ proposes axing news website
It feels like deja vu: news arrived yesterday afternoon that more jobs are on the line at the state broadcaster, TVNZ, as part of a $30m cost saving exercise. As the Herald’s Katie Harris reported, the proposed cuts would see the 1News website closed, with resources directed into creating news content for TVNZ’s on demand service, TVNZ+. It’s also been proposed that the network’s youth-focussed site Re:News will focus solely on video content. It’s just a proposal so far (though we know how proposals like this tend to resolve). Earlier in the year, TVNZ confirmed the end of its long-running current affairs shows Sunday and Fair Go as part of a restructure, effectively ending long-form news on free to air television (the NZ On Air-funded interview programme Q+A still survives).
The government has reiterated that TVNZ needs to be financially sustainable, reported Stuff’s Ryan Anderson, with media minister Paul Goldsmith saying the current challenges facing the broadcaster reflect those threatening the wider industry. “We’ve been clear that we expect TVNZ to be financially sustainable, and to be innovative and responsive to changing customer demands,” he said.
In yet another case of the news reporting on itself, 1News reported last night that it had requested an interview with TVNZ chief executive Jodi O'Donnell regarding the proposed changes but was told that would not happen until final decisions are made.
Is it the right move?
Writing for The Spinoff, Duncan Greive delicately argued why choosing to shutter its online operation might be a good move by TVNZ.
1news.co.nz’s core output is text-based news. There are two huge incumbents in that space in Stuff and the NZ Herald, with RNZ seemingly having taken over third place. There is no prospect of TVNZ running any of them down without massive investment – and the whole point of this exercise is to find a huge $30m in savings or new revenue.
But perhaps the strongest argument in favour of the move, argued Greive, is that TVNZ now has the opportunity to “dominate video news more profoundly than at any point since the arrival of TV3 more than 30 years ago”.
Writing for Newsroom recently, Mark Jennings and Tim Murphy looked at the recent surge for RNZ’s website since Newshub’s closure in June. It’s practically doubled between July last year and this August, up to 1.56m monthly visitors and just a few hundred thousand behind the Stuff and Herald behemoths. As the pair explain, part of this sudden surge can be put down to RNZ’s decision to expand its digital offering beyond traditional news. Should 1News.co.nz ultimately close, it will be interesting to see whether the million or so monthly views that site attracted shift over to TVNZ’s video output or are picked up by other digital news providers.
Meanwhile, at Stuff
TVNZ isn’t alone in making cuts, as reported last week by the Herald’s Shayne Currie in his Media Insider column (paywalled). Stuff has brought its video and audio teams under one umbrella, reported Currie, resulting in a reduction in the number of audio roles. It recently canned its daily morning news podcast, Newsable, and reshaped it to focus on breaking news and developing stories. Meanwhile, it launched a new video brand in the Patrick Gower hosted “The F#$%ing News” – a brand targeted at covering “good” news stories.
On Mediawatch over the weekend, Hayden Donnell questioned whether there would be an audience for positivity in the news, noting previous failed attempts to showcase the good and the great of Aotearoa.
Speaking on The Fold this morning, former NZ Warner Bros head Glen Kyne said he wasn’t surprised that Stuff was going all in on video, especially given they were now the producers of the ThreeNews TV bulletin. “I think a lot of the opportunity they have now is to move into that video first storytelling in short form,” Kyne said. “The ability to use the talent to go deeper on a story, build out a story on video, give video that might not be available on ThreeNews.”
Google ramps up its threat
In the background of all of this, there’s more possible upheaval on the horizon for our news media. Late on Friday, Google sent shockwaves through the industry when it threatened to hide news stories from its search results if the government pushes ahead with plans to pass the Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill (albeit an adjusted version of the Labour drafted law). That’s the bill, explained Duncan Greive in May, that would force tech companies to pay for sharing local content and was revived by the coalition (without the support of Act) after once looking like it had been killed off.
Glen Kyne, this time speaking with Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking, said the threat should be taken seriously as local news would struggle without the support of Google. In the Herald yesterday (paywalled), Shayne Currie revealed details of the cabinet paper drafted by the government that detailed what it saw as the benefits of the Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill. That included the ability for media companies to negotiate deals totalling up to $50 million a year. “Media companies themselves have stated they do not want handouts from government and have asked for a legislative backstop to support commercial outcomes,” said Goldsmith’s paper.
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Luxon greets protesters in first Dunedin visit since election
Christopher Luxon arrived in Dunedin yesterday for his first visit to the city as prime minister, reported Matthew Littlewood for the Otago Daily Times. In the city to meet with those involved in the recent flood response, it also fell just days after widespread protests across the city against the government’s decision to scale back the new hospital development. At almost every stop of Luxon’s city tour, reported Littlewood, Luxon as greeted by protesters. Addressing one outside Dunedin Airport, Luxon said: "We're going to build a hospital for you for $1.9 billion, you're going to get a great hospital, it's going to be one of the most expensive in the southern hemisphere".
That’s the original budgeted cost for the project, though the government recently claimed it had blown out to about $3bn – reportedly in part because of the cost for a carpark along with a pathology lab. Luxon told protesters yesterday he “fully agreed” those things shouldn’t be included in the cost of the development. “We're going to make sure we look at the options and we're going to do it fast, and we'll get you a great hospital.” Health minister Shane Reti is scheduled to visit other regional hospitals this week.
Meanwhile, in an interesting read on BusinessDesk, Dileepa Fonseka (paywalled) looks at how the government intends to make it easier for the public healthcare system to outsource some work to private providers.
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The debilitating impacts of Long Covid
We’ve talked a bit about Covid-19 in recent weeks, with the decision to end free Rat testing at the start of October. This morning, in the first of a three part series for Newsroom Pro members (paywalled), Marc Daalder has delved deep into the issue of Long Covid. Today’s story looks at the findings of the country’s largest Long Covid research project, a registry that had more than 1,300 people enrol.
One key finding was that Long Covid patients, when asked to complete a quality of life test, recorded scores lower than the numbers report by a cohort of multiple sclerosis patients in a separate study. “My life turned into lying on the couch in the living room with my commode chair next to me, so that I could slide off, do my business in a bucket, slide back on the couch and lie there for the day,” said one patient of how bad Long Covid could be.
Join us for a one-night only live event
We’re huge fans of local television here at The Spinoff, and for one night only we want to celebrate some of our all-time faves. Join Alex Casey, Kura Forrester, Rhiannon McCall, Stewart Sowman-Lund and Lyric Waiwiri-Smith at Q Theatre on October 31 as we unearth some beloved TV gems and argue for their place in our history.
Click and Collect
Why the government will be hoping Kamala Harris wins the US election.
Proposal to nearly double Auckland Prison’s capacity uncovered in fast-track project list.
Sticking with the fast track: the government won’t say how ministerial conflicts of interest were managed.
The business community has no time for David Seymour’s culture wars, writes Duncan Greive for The Spinoff.
There is zero obligation for the Defence Force to release its Court of Inquiry findings into the HMNZS Manawanui disaster.
The Auckland election where they pay you then ask for your vote: For NZ Herald Premier readers, Simon Wilson looks at the Entrust election and the power of a dividend. (paywalled)
Health NZ accused of cherry-picking psychiatry numbers in mental health plan.
Madeleine Chapman presents a dismal history of New Zealand being a terrible neighbour to Sāmoa. Henry Cooke wonders if anyone but Chris Luxon could lose the capital gains tax fight for National. Lyric Waiwiri-Smith asks why New Zealand crowds at shows are so unruly. Emilie Rākete explains the problem with double bunking in prisons. Hayden Donnell explains once more, very slowly, that traffic is made from cars. Lyric Waiwiri-Smith meets the legend behind iconic primary school hit 'fish and chips'. Finally, here are all the new movies and TV on streaming services this week.
That’s it for this morning, thanks for reading. I’ll catch you back tomorrow.
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Why, oh why the feck, is Paddy Gower being promoted into yet another news slot. Can't stand the man. A complete twat who can't help but insert himself into EVERY fecking story!!! Is he a Mason? How else has he survived for so long?
Maybe TVNZ should "cut it's coat to suit it's cloth" - stop paying megabucks for headline presenters and bring itself down to what most of it's viewers (customers) are. And instead of basing itself in the largest and most expensive megacity in NZ, broadcast from somewhere where it isn't so costly to run. No doubt Avalon, Lower Hutt isn't an option any longer - but Auckland isn't either. And instead of spending so much on functioning in the megacity funnel money into making good New Zealand programmes - Sunday, Fair Go - rather than commerce-sponsored drivel that passes for local programmes now. And does being a headline news presenter for an hour each night justify a mega salary?