Media Insider: Almost 40 jobs set to be cut from NZ Herald newsroom as NZME proposes major shake-up

NZME owns the NZ Herald, BusinessDesk and Newstalk ZB as well as a suite of regional newspapers and entertainment radio stations.

Almost 40 roles are set to be cut from the NZ Herald, BusinessDesk and Newstalk ZB news operation in a proposal outlined to staff today – the latest in a series of media industry job losses.

The proposed job cuts – a net loss of about 14 reporting and other content generation roles and 24 roles in editorial production – are part of a major reorganisation of the Herald newsroom, the biggest in a decade.

Herald owner NZME – which employs about 300 editorial staff – says it needs to improve the profitability of its publishing division, while also reorganising its newsroom to ensure it reflects continually changing audience demands.

The proposals include more investment in video news, and a stronger focus on ensuring the newsroom is focused on journalism and other content that resonates with audiences, including subscribers, NZME editor-in-chief Murray Kirkness told staff this morning.

That also means publishing fewer stories, cutting those that don’t engage with audiences, Kirkness said.

NZME editor in chief Murray Kirkness. Photo / Michael Craig

Journalists were taken into team meetings following the all-staff meeting to hear how the proposals impacted them directly. It is understood a number have also been invited to 1-1 individual meetings.

The company has said it will consider voluntary redundancies.

NZ Herald – the proposals

The proposed changes at NZME impact most of the NZ Herald news operation, across general reporters, sport, business, lifestyle and entertainment and production.

Production journalists – roles that include copy and layout sub-editors and graphic artists – appear to be particularly impacted by the proposals. Staff heard today new technology, including automation tools and operational processes would help streamline production.

The proposals include the formation of 14 “desks”, each with specific coverage or operational responsibilities – for example, live news, national, sport, business, politics and lifestyle. Desks would also be established for Auckland, Wellington and South Island-specific content.

The desks would each be headed by an editor, and have specific targets, such as new subscriptions, page views and video views. Each of the desks would be responsible for providing publish-ready material, reducing the reliance on production journalists.

NZME’s Open Justice reporters – a scheme funded by NZ on Air – and regional publications are not in scope for the restructure, although the Open Justice team would form one of the new desks.

Two vacancies in ZB news would not be filled, staff were told today.

A specialist print team would also be established, to reflect the needs of newspaper readers.

The company hopes to have the operational changes in place by mid-March, and production journalist changes in place by April 30.

‘Challenging’ media market

NZME chief executive Michael Boggs told staff in an email the media market continued to be “challenging”.

“With a strong digital transformation strategy, NZME has performed well versus many of our competitors and that’s been due to our ability to adapt, innovate and change quickly when required. Our subscription revenues remain resilient with digital subscriptions growing, but our publishing revenue has declined in the past few years.”

NZME chief executive Michael Boggs. Photo / Michael Craig

He said the newsroom’s mission remained the same – to deliver trusted, quality journalism.

“We also continue to focus on investing in areas we believe there is significant potential for audience and revenue growth so our publishing and audio news business remains profitable well into the future.”

He said video was fast-growing. “There is significant potential for us to grow audiences and revenue in this space.”

He said change could be unsettling for people and the news of the proposals “would have been difficult to hear for some”.

Bleak 12 months for NZ media

Today’s meeting comes in one of the bleakest 12-month periods for New Zealand media, in which hundreds of jobs have been lost across the industry.

Advertising revenue has been dropping for traditional media, especially as the economy has remained depressed.

Kirkness said annual print advertising had fallen by $10 million between 2022 and 2024. Digital advertising was also down in the same period.

The company has been encouraged by its growth in digital subscriptions, but these have not offset the advertising revenue decline. NZME’s publishing division remains profitable, but the publicly listed company is pushing to improve its bottom line.

In November, NZME lowered its guidance on earnings for the 2024 financial year, dropping it to $53m-$55m, down from earlier forecasts of $57m-$61m.

For the first half of 2024, advertising revenue for NZME’s publishing division was $50.1m, compared with $53.1m for the same six months in 2023. Reader revenue was up from $39.8m to $40.5m in the same period.

NZME confirmed the closure of 14 community newspaper titles before Christmas, with the loss of almost 30 roles. Five of the titles will live on as independent publications, after they were bought by staff.

Media companies have been urging the Government to even the playing field so that international tech giants pay their fair share for the journalism and other content that help drive their mega profits.

But the Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill has been placed on hold for now, while the Government observes how planned new legislation in Australia plays out.

Also among the hundreds of media job losses have been cutbacks at Warner Bros Discovery, TVNZ, Stuff, MediaWorks and The Spinoff.

The axing of Newshub and cutbacks in other divisions of Warner Bros Discovery saw the loss of almost 300 jobs.

TVNZ staffing has fallen from about 735 in 2023 to fewer than 600 at the start of 2025. This includes job losses with the axing of high-profile shows such as Sunday and Fair Go.

Minister responds

Media and Communications Minister Paul Goldsmith was sympathetic to people losing their jobs.

“Ultimately all businesses need to be constantly re-evaluating how they do their news, how they can make it profitable so they can continue,” he told RNZ. “That’s something NZME is working their way through. Everyone is working out how to engage audiences in a different way.”

Union’s concerns

Earlier today, E tū union negotiation specialist Michael Wood urged the Government to intervene with legislation for the media industry.

“We’ve seen major cuts over the last year at TVNZ to news and current affairs, we’ve seen cutbacks to community news at both NZME and Stuff, we’ve seen a number of newsroom restructures at multiple organisations ... And now there is the potential of further impacts at NZME,” Wood told RNZ.

E tū union negotiation specialist Michael Wood. Photo / Alyse Wright

“The totality of that is that fewer stories get told, newsrooms are less able to get out there when something happens, New Zealanders will receive less analysis of the things power people and organisations do, and that makes us weaker as a society and a democracy.

“We think it’s time the Government woke up about this. The last minister for this area was sacked for doing nothing about it, the current minister so far has done nothing about it except for back-pedalling on the Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill.

“We don’t want the Government running all of the news, but they need to make sure there’s a sustainable news ecosystem.”

Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand’s most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor and has a small shareholding in NZME.