Mediawatch

Reporters' report on crime coverage urges new thinking - and highlights electoral 'crime crackdown' pattern; RNZ's Richard Sutherland calling it quits after 30 years; free sports streaming options on the up.Mediawatch looks at a report by two senior journalists on how to report on crime and punishment without amplifying the public fear of it and we hear from RNZ's outgoing head of news about his 30 years in the business- and why he's not the only senior news leader leaving the media lately. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

RNZ's head of news Richard Sutherland's called it a day after more than 30 years in the news. He's worked at almost every major news broadcaster in the country and led the outfit representing their mutual interests, the Media Freedom Committee. But he's not the only news leader to leave the business lately amid warnings about the increasing intensity of it.RNZ's head of news Richard Sutherland's called it a day after more than 30 years in the news. He's worked at almost every major news broadcaster in the country and led the outfit representing their mutual interests, the Media Freedom Committee. But he's not the only news leader to leave the business lately amid warnings about the increasing intensity of it."Have years of low pay, low esteem, and lay-offs taken such a toll on journalists that they have become incapable of viewing the world as anything but a grim, dark place?" former New Zealand Herald editor Gavin Ellis asked recently"Our news outlets are pervaded by negativity," he wrote, citing the cost-of-living crisis, crime, inequality and a pandemic that has "left a residue of anxiety."The following week - under the headline 'There must be more to life than this' - he hinted at the toll on senior news leaders, some of whom had decided to quit lately. At the Herald, long-serving chief editor Shayne Currie stepped aside to write about the media instead as an editor-at-large. Miriyana Alexander, head of premium content at Herald publisher NZME resigned last month to take a break. TVNZ producer Sam Robertson, in charge of Breakfast for years, resigned recently - and the CEO Simon Power also resigned at the end of June. Also in June, the former head of news at MediaWorks Dallas Gurney left the business entirely. Along with his partner, he bought the shop in the Northland beach town of Whananāki for a complete change of scene. MediaWorks and TVNZ are also looking for new chief executives. Why is this happening now? While senior execs are much better paid than those who work hard for a lot less in their newsrooms, commercial media have endured static or falling revenue for more than a decade, Ellis wrote. "Newsrooms have been depleted by recurring rounds of cost cuts to sustain the journalism that was the reason they got into it in the first place," he added. Today's digital platforms are always pushing for ever bigger audiences, and news deadlines have effectively collapsed. "Emails mount up during the so-called working day," said Gavin Ellis, which means working into the night. …Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

In this week's edition of Midweek Mediawatch, Hayden Donnell talks to Mark Leishman about one news broadcast foregrounding climate while another hones in on cellphones and Chris Luxon misspelling 'cat', before delving into a leaked letter hinting at unrest at Stuff - and how the media hounded a mayor's dog out of her office. In this week's edition of Midweek Mediawatch, Hayden Donnell talks to Mark Leishman about one news broadcast foregrounding climate while another hones in on cellphones and Chris Luxon misspelling 'cat', before delving into a leaked letter hinting at unrest at Stuff - and how the media hounded a mayor's dog out of her office.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

The UN says we've reached "the era of global boiling". Given that, you'd think climate might have got more of a mention from the media as the National Party released its road-heavy $24 billion transport package.The UN says we've reached "the era of global boiling". Given that, you'd think climate might have got more of a mention from the media as the National Party released its road-heavy $24 billion transport package.Last week, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued a grave warning."The era of global warming has ended. The era of global boiling has begun." That sounds like a relatively serious issue. So it was slightly surprising that the subject didn't seem to be on our reporters' minds as the National Party announced its policy on one of the country's biggest and fastest-growing sources of carbon emissions: transport.There were no questions on climate put to the party's top brass as they unveiled their $24 billion transport package in Hamilton on Monday.Only one question on the topic was put to prime minister Chris Hipkins in his weekly media standup later that afternoon.That's particularly perplexing given National's policy is heavy on roads, lighter on public transport, and virtually weightless on walking and cycling.Thankfully news organisations did start to address that potential drawback as the week wore on.On RNZ's Morning Report, Guyon Espiner asked National's transport spokesperson Simeon Brown how the party's plan addresses the "elephant in the room" - climate change."What we're doing here is we're saying we've got to focus on making sure we have high-quality safe modern roading connections around our country. "What ultimately drives on those roads is going to change dramatically over the coming decades. We're going to have hydrogen trucks. We're going to have electric trucks in much greater numbers."Brown later got some backup from Dom Kalasih of Transport New Zealand, which lobbies on behalf of road haulage companies."Better movement of freight - which is what these better roads will do - is good for climate," he said.Question asked and answered, or so it seemed.Other reporters cast a more sceptical eye on those claims.Over at Newsroom, senior political reporter Marc Daalder projected that the highway-heavy transport package would generate an additional 327,000 tonnes of carbon emissions.That figure was based on projections outlining the induced demand from the new roads…Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

A review of RNZ's online news has called for greater oversight and enforcement of standards after a crisis sparked by a single staffer making 'inappropriate' edits to international news online. Mediawatch asks RNZ's chief executive if this was the result of a digital shift done on the cheap - and how he'll put right what he himself called 'pro-Kremlin garbage.A review of RNZ's online news has called for greater oversight and enforcement of standards after a crisis sparked by a single staffer making 'inappropriate' edits to international news online.Mediawatch asks RNZ's chief executive if this was the result of a digital shift done on the cheap - and how he'll put right what he himself called 'pro-Kremlin garbage.'"An RNZ digital journalist has been stood down after it emerged they'd been editing news stories on the broadcaster's website to give them a pro-Russian slant," host Jeremy Corbett told 7 Days viewers back in June when the story first hit the headlines. "You'd never get infiltration like that on 7 Days. Our security is too strong. Strong like a bear. Strong like the glorious Russian state and its leader Putin," he said. It's never good for a serious news outlet when comedians are taking aim. It was just a joke of course, but at the time some wondered whether Kremlin campaigns could have been behind the unapproved editing of RNZ's online world news. Pro-Russian perspectives and some loaded language inserted into news agency stories relating to the war in Ukraine were first spotted overseas. RNZ chief executive Paul Thompson called it 'pro-Kremlin garbage' and some politicians asked if RNZ might be carrying foreign propaganda.RNZ tightened editorial checks and stood down one online journalist, who later resigned. He told Checkpoint that he had edited news reports "in that way for years" and no one had ever queried it or told him to stop. An RNZ audit of stories he edited eventually discovered 49 - mostly supplied by Reuters - which RNZ deemed to be inappropriately edited. External experts were then appointed to look at the problem and how RNZ should respond. Former RNZ political editor Brent Edwards, currently political editor at NBR, drew on his experience as RNZ's newsgathering chief to pinpoint a key problem. "I technically had no responsibility whatsoever for what went on the web. I always thought that that news should have run 'Digital,'" Edwards said. …Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Political road rage - budget holes & emissions omissions; what went wrong with RNZ's online news - and putting it right,Mediawatch looks at how the media reacted to political parties promising new roads - and talks to RNZ's chief executive about what went wrong with its international news online, according to the independent inquiry into what he called 'pro-Kremlin garbage.' Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

In this week's Midweek Mediawatch, Colin Peacock talks to Mark Leishman about what a review of the 'inappropriate editing' of online news at RNZ has revealed. Also - the FIFA Women's World Cup captivating the media - even though the Football Ferns got knocked out and Palmerston North was dissed by Spain. In this week's Midweek Mediawatch, Colin Peacock talks to Mark Leishman about what a review of the 'inappropriate editing' of online news at RNZ has revealed. Also - the FIFA Women's World Cup captivating the media - even though the Football Ferns got knocked out and Palmerston North was dissed by Spain. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

The media could scarcely ignore the startling story of a minister of justice under arrest, but the circumstances of that and her sudden resignation raised many other issues. Many in the media seized on one - the possible impact it could have on an election still almost three months away.The media could scarcely ignore the startling story of a Minister of Justice under arrest, but the circumstances of that and her sudden resignation raised many other issues. The media seized on one in particular - the possible impact on an election that's still almost three months away."It's all quiet on this front at the moment, but this is going to be a crazy week in politics. It's an extraordinary development," RNZ's political reporter Anneke Smith outside Parliament told Morning Report last Monday. She wasn't wrong - and the frenzy was already under way in the media. In a breakdown of how things unfolded that night, the capital's daily The Post said that word of Kiri Allan's crash and arrest spread after it happened at 9pm on Sunday. The Post said reporters "flocked to an otherwise quiet Wellington central police station" and saw someone who looked like Allan arrive about 10.45pm. "It was difficult, however, to 100 percent confirm that was the minister in the back of the police car," said The Post (leaving open the possibility that confirmation might not require certainty).Probably that was just the result of reporting in haste - and the lack of response from the prime minister's office would have been frustrating. The Post said it contacted the PM's office soon after the reports of the crash and asked for comment about 11pm. But it was not until shortly before 7am on Monday that RNZ's Morning Report told listeners the justice minister was taken into police custody. After 7am, a statement from the PM's office was rushed to air on TVNZ's Breakfast by a reporter reading it directly from her phone - and on Newstalk ZB, Mike Hosking broke the news to his listeners as "news from our 'who would want to be Chris Hipkins' file". He said the prime minister's office repeatedly refused to answer questions "and this does raise the question as to whether Allan should ever have been back at the office last week". That was a question raised by many in the media later on - though not in the same breath as actually breaking the news, as Mike Hosking did.Confirmation of her resignation as a minister in statements from the PM and Allan herself followed soon after - as well as some condemnation. …Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

A board member at RNZ appointed less than a month ago quit this week after making public comments on Kiri Allan's downfall and criticising media coverage of it. RNZ had asked Jason Ake to stop and the government said he breached official obligations of neutrality, but he was unrepentant.A board member at RNZ appointed less than a month ago quit this week after making public comments on Kiri Allan's downfall and criticising media coverage of it. RNZ had asked Jason Ake to stop and the government said he breached official obligations of neutrality, but he was unrepentant.Jason Ake (Ngāti Ranginui) was one of the appointments last month to the boards of RNZ and TVNZ that represented "an exciting new era for our public broadcasters as they continue to tackle the challenges of ... serving all people of Aotearoa now and into the future," according to Broadcasting Minister Willie Jackson."Looking forward to the mahi ahead," Ake told his LinkedIn followers at the time. "Hoping to bring an indigenous perspective to the strategic direction at the public broadcasting institution," he added, honouring the advocacy of pioneers Whai Ngata, Derek Fox and Henare Te Ua "for a much more visible Māori perspective in RNZ's strategic direction".But even before he could be inducted into RNZ or attend a single board meeting, Ake resigned this week in the wake of controversy over social media comments he made about the downfall of Cabinet minister Kiri Allan. "When there's blood in the water the sharks circle, and they're more than happy to digest every last morsel and watch the bones sink to the depth. It's a bloodsport," he said in a Facebook post. He also referenced former National Party leader Todd Muller, who recovered from a mental breakdown to resume his work as an MP. Jackson told reporters in Parliament on Tuesday Ake has "often been quite vocal about issues and he's gonna have to stop".RNZ chair Dr Jim Mather had already been in touch to remind Jason Ake of his responsibilities under the Public Service Commission's code of conduct for Crown entity board members. "When acting in our private capacity, we avoid any political activity that could jeopardise our ability to perform our role, or which could erode the public's trust in the entity," the Code says. Ake's initial Facebook comment was not explicitly or aggressively politically partisan. Most of the comments could be construed as a reflection on the media as much as on politics or politicians. …Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Minister's downfall triggers election speculation - and another resignation at RNZ. Mediawatch looks at how the media reacted to the downfall of cabinet minister Kiri Allan in starting circumstances last weekend and how the media zeroed in on the impact on the upcoming election.Also - how Kiri Allan's resignation sparked another one at RNZ. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details