TVNZ has confirmed four of its flagship shows face the axe in a major restructuring to save costs, and Sunday staff say they are “devastated” to learn their roles are being disestablished and “deeply concerned” at the sustained degradation of the fourth estate.
“It’s been a difficult day for TVNZers with some incredibly tough conversations for many around the business, including the newsroom,” chief executive Jodi O’Donnell said.
Anxious staff were called into meetings throughout the morning to learn their fate before being summoned to an all-staff meeting at 1pm.
In a statement, O’Donnell said TVNZ had taken employees through proposed structural changes today which could result in a net reduction of up to 68 roles across all business areas (9 percent of full time employee positions).
She confirmed four of the state broadcaster’s flagship shows were likely to be cut.
“Midday, Tonight, Fair Go and Sunday are programmes with a long and celebrated legacy at Te Reo Tātaki. The proposals we have presented in no way relate to the immense contribution of the teams that work on these shows and the significant journalistic value they’ve provided over many years.
“Unfortunately, we need to reduce our costs to ensure the business remains sustainable. These aren’t decisions we make lightly, and significant analysis has gone into the proposals.
Sunday staff issued a statement saying the show’s final broadcast date would be in early May.
“Against a backdrop of sector-wide cuts, journalism is in crisis.
“This is not just about job losses, which are difficult, but about what we believe is the sustained degradation of the fourth estate in NZ. A healthy democracy relies on the ability of experienced journalists to decipher, in-depth, the state of our country, out identity, and to hold power to account.
“We are deeply concerned about what these cuts mean, especially in a time when we are facing so many unprecedented local and global challenges.”
The statement said the award-winning show had been setting the news agenda for over 22 years and its loss would be profound.
“We are a current affairs programme, the last of its kind. While there has been much discussion about the costs of long-form storytelling and how sustainable the craft is, Sunday retains a massive audience as one of the top 5 TV programmes in the country.”
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said it was a “pretty tough time” being a TVNZ employee today.
He noted how media organisations here and around the world were struggling amid consumers finding news and content in different ways, with revenue models “breaking down”.
He said he’d met many other organisations who had to restructure due to tough economic conditions over the past two years, saying that was why he was determined to lower inflation.
Luxon said he was not interested in owning more media assets, saying it wasn’t good for democracy. He committed to supporting state media as the Government currently did.
”It’s unlikely we’re going to have any further ownership of media assets.”
He wouldn’t comment on whether TVNZ should go commercial-free. Luxon said they were conversations to have “a long way down the road”.
Asked if the cuts were damaging to democracy, Luxon spoke of how the news was tough to take for staff and their families. He didn’t address whether it was damaging for democracy. He noted again how similar impacts were being felt across sectors.
Luxon said he hadn’t spoken to minister David Seymour about his recent comments about TVNZ, which included specific criticism of one of its journalists while Seymour held a shareholding interest in TVNZ.
He said his thoughts were with staff from TVNZ and Newshub at this time.
Meanwhile, Fair Go staff are in the biggest battle of the show’s 47-year life - TVNZ says it will be cutting it but workers have vowed to try to keep it rolling.
“The Fair Go team were devastated to learn today of the plan to axe the show,” staff said in a social message, accompanied by a photo of host Pippa Wetzell and the reporting team.
“For 47 years we’ve been battling for New Zealanders, and we are not ready for that to end. Our next challenge is working out how to keep going for you.”
Former prime minister Helen Clark said the cuts were “disgraceful”.
A TVNZ spokeswoman said Clark was entitled to her opinion. “TVNZ’s cost base is higher than our revenue... We’ve exhausted all opportunities to reduce costs without impacting what we deliver for viewers.
"We have already reduced TVNZ’s Executive team by a third and general management by a similar proportion. We’ve reduced our entertainment content and marketing budgets and removed discretionary spend.”
TVNZ workers have been summoned to an all-staff meeting at 1pm today to hear the entire news and current affairs plan.
Before that, meetings are under way with individual staff who are affected. These meetings started with the Sunday team at 9am.
Staff at the state broadcaster were in tears as meetings started this morning, sources said.
One senior TVNZ journalist told the Herald that newsroom staff were eyeing the salary of chief executive Jodi O’Donnell: “That’s 10 executive producer salaries right there.”
O’Donnell has only just started in the role and her salary has not been released publicly; previous CEO Simon Power earned $1m in the year he was at the helm.
Fair Go is one of New Zealand TV’s longest-running series - the consumer series began in 1977, devised and hosted by Brian Edwards. Over 47 years, its line-up of hosts is a who’s who of famous broadcasters including Edwards, Philip Alpers, Kerre Woodham, Carol Hirschfeld, Gordon Harcourt, and longest serving host, Kevin Milne.
