For years news media bosses warned the creaking business model backing journalism would fail at a major local outlet. It finally happened this week when Newshub's owners proposed scrapping it. Then TVNZ posted losses prompting warnings of more cuts to come there. Can TV broadcasters pull a crowd without news? And what might the so-far ambivalent government do? Newshub staff leaving a meeting on Wednesday after the announcement was made.For years news media bosses warned the creaking business model backing journalism would fail at a major local outlet. It finally happened this week when Newshub's owners proposed scrapping it. Then TVNZ posted losses prompting warnings of more cuts to come there. Can TV broadcasters pull a crowd without news? And what might the so-far ambivalent government do? After Warner Bros Discovery top brass broke the bad news to staff on Wednesday, Newshub at 6 that night became a news event in itself. In her report political reporter Amelia Wade reminded viewers more than 30 years of TV news and current affairs - spanning the entire period of commercial TV here - could come to an end in June. Before TV3 launched in 1989, state-owned TVNZ had been the only game in town. But for most of its recent history, TV3's parent company MediaWorks was owned by private equity funds and it was hamstrung with debts. There were periodic financial emergencies too which seemed to signal the end. In 2015 the boss Mark Weldon axed the current affairs shows Campbell Live and 3D and replaced them with ones that didn't pull in more viewers or pull up many trees with their reporting."Reports of our death at 6pm have been greatly exaggerated", host Hilary Barry responded to reports 3 News might be for the chop the following year. But Weldon persuaded the owners to stump up a significant sum to launch Newshub instead. When the huge global company Discovery bought MediaWorks loss-making TV channels in December 2020, many in the media were pleased a major media outfit was now in charge. Using the Official Information Act, Newsroom later reported the Overseas Investment Office fast tracked Discovery's application and sought no guarantees of a commitment to local news. The 2021 mega-merger in the US that turned it into 'Warner Bros Discovery' excited The Spinoff founder Duncan Grieve. "Tova O'Brien breaking stories on CNN NZ at 6pm, before an evening of local reality TV souped up by global budgets and distribution - with major sports and drama rights for good measure," was one scenario. "It could also swing the other way, with the New Zealand linear asset seen as too small and obscure," he warned…Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Warner Bros. Discovery's decision to shut down Newshub was met with mourning within the media - and also concern about what could replace it in the media ecosystemWarner Bros. Discovery's decision to shut down Newshub was met with mourning within the media - and also concern about what could replace it in the media ecosystem.Melissa Chan-Green opened the AM Show on Thursday by extinguishing the hopes of her viewers."You've likely seen the news by now that our company is proposing to shut down Newshub from June. Some people have been asking 'does that affect AM too? We're all part of the same family," she said. "So yes that does affect AM too."Her co-host Lloyd Burr added his own eulogy, though he spiced it up with a small, and quite visceral note of hope."When the chips are down we get through it," he said. "John Campbell once said we're tighter than a fish's bum."It later emerged that senior Newshub staff would be trying to save the service, presumably on a fish-bum budget.The revelation that AM would be part of the Newshub shutdown wouldn't have been news to anyone who had been listening to Heather du Plessis-Allan on Newstalk ZB the previous day. She got that fact confirmed from the horse's mouth, by Warner Bros. Discovery's Asia-Pacific president James Gibbons, and his revelation left her with one burning question on her mind. "What are you going to do with all the equipment?" she asked.Other potential lines of inquiry include what are you going to do about all these people who are about to lose their jobs?And what are we all going to do about the loss of media diversity and competition?Journalists, including Newshub's Amelia Wade, did put those sorts of questions to the broadcasting minister, Melissa Lee, who said don't worry about it, audiences have still got Sky."There's Sky as well. There's a whole lot of other medias about," she said.Just one problem with all this though: Sky's news broadcast is supplied by Newshub, which doesn't make it a great alternative to content produced by Newshub.ACT's David Seymour, a shareholding minister in TVNZ in this coalition, posited one idea for fixing the paucity of competition in broadcast news - weakening TVNZ's market position by demanding it return a larger dividend to the government."It may well mean they have to make a return on equity just like every other business in New Zealand is required to do," he said. Sadly, TVNZ's dominance in free-to-air TV is far from Newshub's only problem…Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Mediawatch: TVNZ's latest losses signal likely cuts to come. But it's the slump in income for the broadcaster that dominates free-to-air TV which will worry the entire media industry. Mediawatch: TVNZ's latest losses signal likely cuts to come. But it's the slump in income for the broadcaster that dominates free-to-air TV which will worry the entire media industry. Jo Moore - a spin doctor for Tony Blair's UK government - earned lasting notoriety in 2001 when she emailed colleagues soon after the 9/11 attacks telling them it would be "a good day to bury bad news". But sometimes bad news following other bad news actually amplifies it. TVNZ's annual results revealing its latest losses are not as drastic as the ones that prompted global media giant Warner Bros. Discovery this week to propose the complete closure of Newshub to cut their losses. But they point to the same crisis affecting all commercial media - declines in advertising revenue across the board - and TVNZ cannot absorb losses like this without cutting the services its viewers and online audiences expect. The state-owned broadcaster had previously forecast a $15.6 million loss for this financial year, citing commercial clients' reduced spending on advertising. In September last year TVNZ responded with planned cuts to content production, programmes and operational spending. "There have been some really tough calls to make here, but we need to live within our means," acting chief executive Brent McAnulty told staff at the time. Future high-cost projects were all "under review" and pay rises for executives and top-earning staff were scrapped. Those cuts will not be reflected in results until the following financial year, but today TVNZ reported a net loss of $16.8 million for just the last six months of 2023. Twelve months earlier, TVNZ made a profit of $4.8m and revenue of $180.3 million in the same period. But the stand-out stat in TVNZ's interim financial results is total revenue falling 13.5 percent. That is the sort of year-on-year decline that newspaper publishers have endured in the internet era and which have undercut their business models and prompted compounding rounds of cutbacks and job losses. Given the fact TVNZ continued to dominate the free-to-air TV market in 2023 - and it attracted a much larger audience than its stricken main TV rival Warner Bros Discovery - that is a worry for the entire media industry.TVNZ chief executive Jodi O'Donnell said today that TVNZ will have to cut costs further "to navigate through this uncertainty"…Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Colin Peacock talked to Emile Donovan about the sudden and startling news of Newshub's impending demise in a 'proposal' from the global owner. Also: is it wrong for journalists to use 'big tech' tools to scrub the sound of real people from reports - or bum notes at the Superbowl?Midweek Mediawatch - Mediawatch's weekly catch-up with Nights. Colin Peacock talked to Emile Donovan about the sudden and startling news of Newshub's impending demise in a 'proposal' from the global owner. Also: is it wrong for journalists to use 'big tech' tools to scrub the sound of real people from reports - or bum notes at the Superbowl? Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

The PM's State of the Nation speech got the media's attention when he said welfare needs reform. He didn't mention record-level immigration but that's also been deemed unsustainable and set for a reset too. What did the media tell about these problems - and what's at stake?The prime minister's State of the Nation speech got the media's attention when he said welfare needs reform. He didn't mention record-level immigration but that's also been deemed unsustainable and set for a reset too. What did the media tell about these problems - and what's at stake?In his State of the Nation speech last Sunday the prime minister described Kiwis today as resourceful, reasonable and resilient - but the country as fractured, fragile and lacking lost mojo. But the pundits mostly agreed the new prime minister found his mojo. "Yesterday's speech was good. Better still was the presentation: Luxon sounded like a normal person," Stuff's Andrea Vance said in The Post on Monday. That made the paper's front page under the headline 'Who de-programmed Luxon?'The same day, BusinessDesk's Pattrick Smellie was also wondering. "Christopher Luxon has looked for a while like a man in need of a decent speechwriter. His State of the Nation speech suggests either that one has been found - or Luxon is starting to find his voice as prime minister. Or possibly both"Smellie also reckoned Luxon came across as a "bit of a scold" when repeatedly highlighting our "fragility" and the need for "tough love"." was him giving the country a bit of a boot up the backside. And let's be honest, we all need that from time to time," TVNZ's Maiki Sherman told 1 News viewers last Monday. But not everyone was feeling Luxon's boot. Zeroing in on welfare 'blowout' "We got a lot of talk about beneficiaries. And they were told that the free ride was over. And then in the end, there was an admission to reporters that the government has yet to explain how it would address and finance the solution to our woes," Newstalk ZB Afternoon host Andrew Dickens told listeners."Choosing to make it the centrepiece of the post-Cabinet press conference was more about pure political theatre. But the fact it was largely theatre does not mean it is not good politics," said New Zealand Herald political editor Claire Trevett the same day. …Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Last week the great and good of New Zealand's news media urged MPs to back a law change to make Google and Facebook pay them for their news. They say the income could be critical to the survival of journalism here. But the lobby group campaigning for better public media says there's a better way to 'send a lifeboat'. Last week, the great and good of New Zealand's news media urged MPs to back a law change to make Google and Facebook pay them for their news. They say the income could be critical to the survival of journalism here. But the lobby group campaigning for better public media says there's a better way to 'send a lifeboat'. Last week, the nation's news media publishers pitched up in Parliament to make a pitch to MPs to pass the legislation left behind by the Labour government that would effectively compel big tech companies who carry their news online to pay them for it. After the Economic Development, Science and Innovation select committee heard them out, Media and Communications Minister Melissa Lee told reporters she doesn't support the Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill "in its current form" but would wait to see what the Committee recommends.So did the prime minister on Newstalk ZB last Monday. "I just think media companies can do their own individual deals with those tech platforms - as your umbrella organisation NZME and others have as well," he told Mike Hosking. Google has done several individual deals since 2021 to carry local publishers' news in its own service Google News Showcase. But the Ashburton Guardian's Daryl Holden told the committee it was "a pittance"."We accepted the deal from a position of no strength. I'm almost embarrassed to say how much we get because it would not be enough to hire one graduate journalist," he told the Economic Development, Science and Innovation committee. He was far from the only one to tell the Committee last week the imbalance of power in the market is such that they can't get the tech titans to negotiate a genuine value for their news. That's the reason that the News Publishers Association went to the Commerce Commission for permission to negotiate collectively - and the former government put the Bill forward in the first place. The prime minister was also right about the Herald's owner NZME doing a deal with Facebook owner Meta, which has been much more reluctant to negotiate with local media. But NZME chief executive Michael Boggs told MPs last week it won't last long. "Meta has not renewed after a year because I think they think this (Bill) isn't going to happen," he said. …Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

As the biggest pop star on the planet packed out huge Australian arenas this week, the media here milked Kiwi Swifties' anger over missing out. It also aired confusing blame-game claims about why Swift gave New Zealand a swerve in the first place - and where the big gigs might be held in future. As the biggest pop star on the planet packed out huge Australian arenas this week, the media here milked Kiwi Swifties' anger over missing out. It also aired confusing blame-game claims about why Swift gave New Zealand a swerve in the first place - and where the big gigs might be held in future. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Government 'resets' immigration and welfare; making Google and Facebook pay for journalism; media hype around Kiwi Swifties' stadium FOMO; challenges in news media sector; controversy over Taylor Swift concert in New Zealand venues

Hayden Donnell talks to Emile Donovan about the death of Efeso Collins, big conclusions drawn from conflicting polls - and the problems with an old media adage.In this week's edition of Midweek Mediawatch, Hayden Donnell talks to Emile Donovan about the death of Efeso Collins, big conclusions drawn from conflicting polls, and the problems with an old media adage.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Media bosses warned MPs this week journalism is in jeopardy here if they don't back a Bill making offshore tech giants pay for news carried on Facebook and Google. It's based on laws already in place in Australia and Canada. Mediawatch asks the ex-editor leading the publishers' pitch how it might work.Media bosses warned MPs this week journalism is in jeopardy here if they don't back a Bill making offshore tech giants pay for news carried on Facebook and Google. It's based on laws already in place in Australia and Canada. Mediawatch asks the ex-editor leading the publishers' pitch how it might work.It's not uncommon to find anguished articles in the media about the perilous state of the news media business these days - both here and overseas. The New Yorker published a grim essay last weekend under the headline Is the Media Prepared for an Extinction-Level Event?Author Claire Malone said the expert predicting 'extinction' had cited the prospect of Google rolling out A.I.-integrated search tools. If Google's A.I. interface answers routine search queries itself rather than referring users to the online sources of news and information it could be devastating for media websites, he said. "We are witnessing nothing less than the end of the mass-media era," media analyst Brian Morrissey said."Clinging to scraps of hope" was how New Yorker writer Claire Moloney summed up the prospects for news media companies. The owner of the biggest publisher of news in New Zealand echoed that in Parliament on Thursday before a committee considering the Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill.Stuff owner Sinead Boucher said the advent of generative AI looked "increasingly like an extinction-level event" for news publications. Journalism here "is in a fight for its life" and "clinging on by its fingertips . . . against some of history's biggest companies," she said.The FNDB Bill is a tool to pressure Google and Facebook owner Meta to pay NZ news media companies for the local news and content they carry on their lucrative online platforms. Their success in the past twenty years has come at the cost of local media. They have lost the lion's share of their ad revenue to Google and Facebook while at the same time becoming more dependent on them to reach an audience online. Australia's government reacted with legislation to force the tech titans to do deals with news publishers if they didn't hammer out their own deals by themselves. The process was fraught, but a bargaining code is now putting millions of dollars back into Australian news publishers. …Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details