Media company Newshub is to close its newsroom in New Zealand on June 30, Warner Bros. Discovery has announced, citing a dive in advertising revenue and “combination of negative events”.
The news was broken to staff this morning in an emergency meeting. All the jobs of presenters, journalists and production staff are likely to go, despite a two-week consultation process, to be confirmed by April. It would affect 75 percent of the estimated 400 jobs at Three, so around 300 people could be out of work.
The decision would mean the end of Newshub at 6pm, the AM Show, late news, Paddy Gower has Issues and the proposed new 7pm current affairs show hosted by Ryan Bridge. It is unclear if Newshub Nation, the Sunday current affairs show funded by NZ on Air, could continue in some form.
The decision, if confirmed, could also impact Sky TV as Newshub has the contract to provide the Sky Open (formerly Prime) channel’s 5.30 pm bulletin daily.
Newshub is owned by global entertainment giant Warner Bros. Discovery which also owns eden, Rush, HGTV and Bravo.
Warner Bros Discovery sent out a press release this morning announcing the company would be closing “all Newshub’s multiplatform news operations and output”.
James Gibbons, President, Asia Pacific, Warner Bros. Discovery said it was not a proposal the business arrived at easily.
“We are acutely aware of our position in the local media landscape and what this means for our people, and for the country as a whole.
“There was no single trigger that caused this, rather it was a combination of negative events in New Zealand and globally. The impacts of the economic downturn have been severe, and the bounce back has not materialised as expected.”
He noted that advertising revenue in New Zealand had disappeared far more quickly than the company could manage.
“Everyone can see that the media sector, here in New Zealand, and around the world is facing some very tough circumstances. While Warner Bros. Discovery is a large global media company, each business is managed on its ability to sustain itself within the market it operates in. Subsidising losses for ongoing years indefinitely is not sustainable.”
In 2020 it took over the channel’s assets which had been then part of MediaWorks.
In October 2023, Warner Bros Discovery announced it was axing The Project, its 7pm news and current affairs show.
The new show that was expected to replace The Project, hosted by former AM Show present Ryan Bridge, had yet to begin.
In a statement on Newshub, Sarah Bristow, senior director of news at Warner Bros. Discovery ANZ, which owns Newshub, said the live show would be a vital news offering tackling the day’s biggest stories and advancing the news agenda.
But Bristow herself resigned, leaving just weeks ago and not being replaced by a permanent news chief. Former RNZ head of news Richard Sutherland was appointed on a fixed term for several months. WBD also did not replace its head of corporate affairs late last year, with today’s announcement details being handled by contractor David Cormack.
TVNZ told its shareholder, the Government, last year that it was undertaking up to five years of cost-cutting in its business and has restructured various roles and layers of management from its business.
When most major NZ media outlets submitted to a parliamentary select committee a fortnight ago on a bill to force global digital giants to have to negotiate with local media firms for use of content, Newshub was represented by a fill-in lawyer for a perfunctory presentation. Local WBD chief Glen Kyne had been called into another meeting.
Today, Kyne sent out an email externally after the announcement saying:
“The topline is that we are proposing that we shut down our newsroom, and would no longer commission content where WBD ANZ funds the full cost. However, under the proposal, WBD ANZ would work with both government funders and other partners to co-fund locally produced content for our platforms.
“Whatever the outcome of the consultation period, we would remain a major platform in NZ. We are proposing to still create content and would continue to invest in high profile and popular shows like MAFS Australia and the Block Australia. “
The political response to today’s news varied.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon signalled little chance of government assistance to preserve the Newshub newsroom. He also raised the falling trust ratings media brands have encountered in recent years.
“There is a trust challenge with the New Zealand public, from media outlets. That’s a collective decision that they need to make, to ask questions about why aren’t they connecting? Why aren’t they actually able to build sustainable business models?”
Asked if there was any intervention from taxpayers he could foresee in this case or media broadly, he said: “I think it’s highly unlikely, you know, because essentially, what I’ve said before is that there have been massive change in consumer habits and how media has been consumed and how news has been undertaken.
“And yet at the same time, you’ve also seen a loss of traditional advertising revenue in the sector as well.” And so that requires massive innovation for businesses, media businesses, to reinvent themselves, to innovate, to actually find different ways to be able to get their business models in place, so it’s unlikely.”
Finance Minister Nicola Willis acknowledged Newshub staff, but said she believed the media sector would remain competitive.
“There are lots of different sources of news, there are still lots of incredible journalists working across multiple platforms, getting their news to New Zealanders in increasingly diverse forms, and very different from you know, when I was growing up, people now consume the news on their phone, over social media and a range of different ways and we want that to continue.”
Broadcasting Minister Melissa Lee said she felt for the staff at Newshub, but it was not up to the Government to intervene.
“I’m shocked like everybody else, and we need to process the information.”
Lee was given a heads up about the plans on Tuesday night, but stressed that Warner Bros Discovery did not ask the Government for assistance.She also said the Digital News Bargaining Bill would not have made any difference to the decision, according to Newshub boss Glen Kyne.
“It is a business that has actually decided that the business model that they have wasn’t working and they made a business decision. I don’t think it is something that I should be telling them how to do or what to do or how I can intervene.”
Lee went on to say that media businesses in New Zealand and globally have been grappling with these issues for a long time.
“Some have been faster in the transition, some have not. And I think it is something that the media companies need to actually think about how they actually transition and actually be better.”
Lee said she wasn’t concerned about the plurality of media in New Zealand, and she did not have a number in mind that would constitute a crisis.
“In terms of the number of news agencies that we have in New Zealand, we do actually have quite a lot.”
She said it was no longer about the number of television or radio or print companies, she viewed media as a single group working in the multimodal space.
Act leader David Seymour used the announcement to speculate on changing the expectation the Government would put on TVNZ to improve the television market.
He said it was a sad day for New Zealand’s democracy.
“Which requires a competitive media market so that people can get a wide range of views about what’s happening in their country. So I suspect that this will be another episode of what has happened with three news and its various forms over the last 35 years, that perhaps another operator will step forward to use that equipment which is still there and those people which are very valuable.
He said government support for the company was not on the cards.
“I don’t think it’s the role of a government to own TV stations that already owns one. I think there’s a question mark, around whether the government’s ownership of one TV channel and the poor returns it’s demanded as a shareholder has actually contributed to an uncompetitive market.
“And as I have some responsibility, I’ve actually requested some advice about that very issue this morning.”
“It may well mean they have to make a return on equity, just like every other business in New Zealand is required to do so. We haven’t decided what the course of action is but for a long time people have raised the simple question: how is it possible that New Zealand has very very cheap television advertising and a major player owned by government that doesn’t return a dividend as other companies are expected to do.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins thought it was a sad day for the democratic process. “I think democracy relies on an informed citizenry, being informed relies on debate, and that relies on a diversity of sources of information. And having, you know, two TV networks actually is relatively modest by international standards. Two TV news networks is relatively modest by international standards. And I think going down to one isn’t going to be good for the overall health and vitality of our democratic system.”
Labour Party broadcasting and media spokesperson Willie Jackson said there were a range of tools the Government could use to help support the industry.
He referenced the Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill and the removal of Kordia fees as things that could help media, if progressed by the current Government.
In the case of Newshub, he stressed it was up to the business to come to the Government to work in tandem, rather than a case of a Government offering a cash handout.
“It’s not easy to support these commercial – all of a sudden come up with the money – for these commercial entities, but it is easy to work with them,” he said.
“Our industry’s been ravaged. I’m a former broadcaster, I’ve been there at the coalface, I’ve seen it, I’ve heard it. Over the last 10 or so years half of our broadcasters have lost their jobs.”
*The announcement comes 11 months after the separate MediaWorks radio business closed its Today FM news and talk station after just a year on air, leading to immediate redundancies for on-air and show staff and most of its newsroom.
