RNZ’s longtime Morning Report executive editor is stepping down, a move that insiders believe will be the catalyst for a rethink of the show’s direction - and possibly other personnel changes.
Morning Report’s ratings have faltered in the past five years, losing almost 200,000 listeners - from a high of 531,836 in 2020 to 333,200 in the most recent ratings survey.
Where Morning Report once had a lead of around 100,000 listeners over the Mike Hosking Breakfast at commercial rival Newstalk ZB, those positions have been reversed.
The Government has made no secret of the fact that it wants RNZ to place a stronger focus on lifting its traditional radio ratings - Morning Report’s troubles are symptomatic of a wider, overall ratings malaise.
Morning Report executive editor Martin Gibson is retiring in October, after 26 years at the helm of the show.
He declined to be interviewed on Tuesday on a range of topics - including his time at Morning Report, the highs and lows, and the show’s ratings - but in a statement to Media Insider, he said he was proud to have filled the role.
“I have worked with so many talented presenters, editors, producers, reporters and managers over the past 26 years who share the love of radio.
“It’s been a privilege to broadcast to the country for three hours each and every weekday. The immediacy and ever-changing nature of putting out a radio news programme is always exciting, making the right decisions are paramount even if at times they can be challenging.
“I have loved every minute putting of live radio each morning, deciding what stories we run, where we place them, as well as chasing late breaking stories, working with presenters on question lines all at the same time as ensuring we are topical, accurate and fair in our coverage and with an ever present eye on the clock in the control room.
“I will miss being there in the morning but everyone has to retire at some time and now is a good time for me.”
Gibson is certainly respected within RNZ and by former colleagues who have worked closely with him but insiders believe his retirement gives the show - currently hosted by Corin Dann and Ingrid Hipkiss - a rare and huge opportunity to reset its direction and consider other personnel changes.
The focus will now be on bosses, including chief executive and editor in chief Paul Thompson, as to whether they have the stomach for a deeper overhaul.
“As we know, it’s going to take much more than this to refresh,” one well-connected RNZ source told Media Insider.
Gibson’s announcement comes after the recent appointment of Annabel Bania as a Morning Report producer, after five years in a similar role at RNZ’s Checkpoint.
As part of her role, the former Newstalk ZB journalist is expected to bring a stronger focus to question lines and interviewing techniques.
There is no doubt the show is relatively rich in resources - it was a finalist in the 2024 Radio Awards for best show producer or production team in talk radio, and alongside Gibson were 15 other names listed (some of those people will have come and gone during the year).
The Hosking show has fewer than five names in similar positions.
Then Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters took aim at Morning Report host Corin Dann in April, labelling him an “arrogant wokester loser” following a fiery on-air exchange in which the NZ First leader also appeared to question the value of RNZ’s public funding.
During an interview about a NZ First bill to define the term “woman” in law, Peters told Dann that his questions were reflecting the lines of his party’s political opponents.
Dann told Peters it was his job to put up arguments for the politician to answer.
“Sorry, you’re not going to accuse me of putting up their arguments and believing in them. I’m the devil’s advocate here and I put up the argument for you to answer.”
Peters said: “The fact is, you’re paid for by the taxpayer and sooner or later we’re going to cut that water off too, because you’re an abuse on the taxpayer.
“You’re not hearing both sides of the story, you keep on putting the argument of the woke left. You’re a disgrace to the mainstream media.”
An RNZ spokeswoman said in response: “RNZ has a rigorous editorial policy that demands our work is always underpinned by fairness, accuracy, independence, respect and decency.
“This was a robust political interview where our interviewer conducted himself in a professional manner.”
In the May Budget, RNZ’s funding was cut by almost $5 million a year for each of the next four years. The company has been seeking voluntary redundancies, partly in response to the budget cut.
Media and Communications Minister Paul Goldsmith said that the decision had been made before the Peters-Dann interview.
Act leader David Seymour told Media Insider last year that he and his MPs have refused to appear on the show for four years because of several issues.
“The reason why none of us are particularly interested in going on Morning Report is that they’ve shown themselves over the years to have an incredibly toxic culture, and they’ve been deeply disrespectful, and when we raised issues, they basically told us to shove it," Seymour said.
“So we said, ‘Okay, well life is short. We don’t want to deal with you’.”
Seymour listed three key examples for Act’s position:
“So after repeated incidents, and at that point, six years of dutifully showing up and getting up early, being in the studio on time and basically being treated rudely, I decided, actually, I don’t need them in my life. And since we made that decision, Act’s grown by about 1000% and their ratings have tanked.”
Seymour reiterated he did not have any issues with other RNZ shows, and was making his comments as Act leader, not as a shareholding minister of RNZ.
An RNZ spokeswoman said at the time: “It is not uncommon for political or high-profile figures to take a stance against a particular media programme or show and Act leader David Seymour is entitled to his views. This particular stance has been in place for several years.
“RNZ is committed to interviewing the people most relevant to stories and will continue to seek comment from Act Party representatives where appropriate.”
The spokeswoman did not directly address comments and claims by Seymour about a toxic culture at Morning Report.
“As an independent public media organisation, RNZ is guided by a rigorous editorial policy that we stand behind. We offer recourse to a robust complaints system and RNZ is also subject to the New Zealand Media Council and the Broadcasting Standards Authority.”
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.
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