Shake-up an attempt to reverse broadcaster's drift into irrelevance but changes stray into fixing what isn't broken
Fingers crossed that Radio New Zealand chief executive Paul Thompson has corrected Morning Report's drift into irrelevance.
Changes at Morning Reportwere confirmed this week and more revamps are ahead for other shows, as well as further steps to improve Radio New Zealand's approach to the news.
One source described the new approach as "journalism rather than reporting stories".
It would result in the public broadcaster being less "reactive", says another insider, adding that problems in RNZ's news coverage resulted from a combination of factors.
National Party media strategists had ignored RNZ because they wrongly believed its listeners did not vote National.
Radio NZ had responded with a too narrow focus on Nationals' critics, the insider says.
In my view, an important challenge will be to draw Cabinet ministers back to Morning Report, so it does not become overly focused on Opposition arguments. That should be easier in an election year.
Simon Mercep will step down form Radio New Zealand's Morning Report. Picture by David White.
The latest personnel changes were revealed by nzherald.co.nz this week and confirmed to staff soon after. Morning Report co-host Simon Mercep will move in favour of Wellington-based Susie Ferguson. She will work as a double act with Guyon Espiner when he replaces Geoff Robinson in April. Mercep will move to an afternoon show vacated by Jim Mora.
I understand Irish broadcaster Noelle McCarthy, Jim Mora's back-up, resigned recently after she was not considered for Mora's job, nor the Sunday morning show given to Wallace Chapman. Once a favourite at RNZ, her star waned under new management.
Mora will work alongside Mary Wilson on a revamped Checkpoint, in what could be the most dangerous example of RNZ fixing the unbroken.
Liberal bias?
More changes are to come. After a long period of paralysis under former CEO Peter Cavanagh, Thompson has made a lot of headway in a short time in an entrenched bureaucracy.
Thompson has a background in journalism, but not radio. He has taken a hands-on role in implementing change, though the RNZ board, led by Richard Griffin, has strongly backed change.
Thompson says the changes on Morning Report will not be radical and will focus on the importance of the interviews, with Espiner playing an important role in that regard.