Smalley - who had been the host of Firstline and The Nation - shocked many when she announced she was leaving those presenting roles for a 5am one at Newstalk ZB.
In a candid Herald interview, she told of growing frustration because there was "nowhere for me to go".
"I didn't feel that there was any desire to invest in women in senior primetime roles and I knew I couldn't keep doing those hours. So I was at a real crossroads. I was frustrated.
"I didn't feel either programme had the support of senior management, the top levels of management of MediaWorks, so there was only so far I could take both programmes."
She was realistic about the amount of resources and marketing that could be pumped into non-primetime shows.
"But that didn't help the programmes I was on."
Smalley said she loved her time at TV3 but was enjoying gentler surroundings than the sometimes cut-throat world of TV journalism.
"The reality with TV is it can sometimes be like working in a crack den because there's so much paranoia swirling around the corridors and there's a lot of patch protection. And that's quite exhausting."
She attributed that to new shows and uncertainty in the world of current affairs.
"And that's the environment you're going into every day. It can be quite lonely, I think, working in television."
She described herself as "purist journo" who was in the business because she loved knowing things - not the recognition - which in her opinion isn't always the case in television.
"There's a lot of people coming into media now, particularly TV ... and the reality is a lot coming into TV now really should apply for X-Factor because they want the celebrity and the fame that goes with it," Smalley said.
"I really do love what I do, I don't do it because it triggers some element of recognition. I just love it. ... I love knowing everything I can about something. I found it fascinating being so involved with what's going on and it's fun - and work's got to be fun."
At Firstline she was sole anchor which is a format she thinks works best for television news rather than the traditional, in New Zealand at least, male/female newsreading duo.
"Now, I despair at the Ken and Barbie style news presenter. I don't think you need a male and female fronting your news, you just have your journalist or whoever the best person to front that is."
News and current affairs director Mark Jennings said TV3 had a strong desire to invest in all the people who had roles, both men and women.
"Women have key roles on-air and many of our top producers and managers are women. Two of the most important stories of 2013 were the Teina Pora and David Bain investigations, led by Paula Penfold and Melanie Reid."
He disagreed with Smalley's views about uncertainty leading to patch protection.
"If there is any it comes from the highly competitive nature of our journalists ... They all want to produce the best possible programmes and do the biggest stories.
"We are known for the fact that all our presenters are journalists ... Yes there are egos but I don't think any of them are in it for the profile, many of them really dislike the fact that the print media see them as celebrities ... It is simply too tough a job for that."
- by Andrew Koubaridis of the NZ Herald
