RNZ’s salary costs jump $5m and the number of staff earning over $100,000 rises 35% in a year; Breakfast host on what led to her decision to leave TVNZ; Inside the “shambles” of Whakaata Māori’s restructure as former lawyer takes ERA case; Community editors consider options for axed NZME titles.
Media Insider: RNZ salary costs jump $5m in 12 months; Anna Burns-Francis on her TVNZ exit; Editors eye options to save newspapers
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Outgoing Breakfast host Anna Burns-Francis; RNZ chief executive Paul Thompson. Photos / TVNZ, Mark Mitchell
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The overall salary and wage bill for the 12 months ended June 30, 2024, was $37.088m, up from $32.080m the previous year.
And the number of staff now earning more than $100,000 a year has increased from 107 in 2023 to 145 in 2024 – a 35% increase.
RNZ chief executive Paul Thompson was the company’s top earner, with the annual report revealing a salary of $557,734 – comprising a base salary of $474,103, a performance component of $54,365 and superannuation of $29,266. This compared with a total package of $545,169 in 2023.
In response to written questions, Thompson said RNZ aimed to pay people fairly for their roles with salaries consistent with the public sector median.
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“The increase in roles remunerated at over $100,000 is largely due to the remuneration review process and the bringing in-house of roles that were previously contracted. This has decreased our consultancy fees by close to $400k and our contractor spend by $300k,” he said.
RNZ’s total staff number for 2023/24 was 347 – up from 309 the previous year.
“We have added new roles, including an emergency planning manager, a director of editorial quality and training and the entire RNZ Asia unit (eight fulltime roles),” said Thompson.
“A number of the new roles are fixed-term in nature (programme and project management, IT and development) to help us execute specific projects such as our editorial systems upgrade.”
He said the percentage of frontline roles had increased from 87% to 89%, “demonstrating our focus is on delivering news and content for our audience”.
“As you point out, it has been a very difficult year for our media with a loss of services and a sharp decline in the numbers of journalists,” said Thompson.
“This disruption underscores the role and function of public media at a time when other sources of content are under pressure. RNZ retained its funding level in the last financial year, and this has allowed us to continue our digital transformation, increase our content offering to audiences and make more content available to use as part of our 65 content-sharing agreements across media.”
He said RNZ was also mindful of the need to “deliver value for money and use its funding in a prudent manner”.
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“This year we delivered a surplus of $7.4m. Our focus remains on delivering for our audience – with 85%+ of RNZ costs spent on content production/creation versus back office-related costs.
“In comparison with other public media internationally, and spend in the commercial sector, our cost per capita for delivery of services is low at $14.10 a head based on direct funding of $70.4m. In Australia, the equivalent NZ dollar cost for the ABC is $45.76, Canada’s CBC $38.51 and Finland, which has a similar population size, $167.32.”
Anna Burns-Francis on her TVNZ exit
Outgoing TVNZ Breakfast host Anna Burns-Francis has detailed the background of her decision to leave the early-morning show, saying the move to two presenters “was just not the right fit for me”.
And she says she has been overwhelmed by the public response since announcing her decision, including receiving a couple of job offers, “which is a relief!”
Burns-Francis told Media Insider it was her decision to leave TVNZ. Unfortunately, she was under the weather yesterday and couldn’t chat on the phone, but was kind enough to take the time to email back a response.
“It’s a big decision, and I thought about it long and hard over the past couple of weeks,” she said.
“It’s no secret TVNZ is facing some huge financial challenges. As is the wider media industry, right? (I think I’ve read that in your column!) In the end, I could see that the changes needed for Breakfast, to make it work with two presenters, was just not the right fit for me.
“I didn’t take part in the selection process – but I did sit on it for a bit after the proposal came out, to see if my feelings would change throughout the consultation period. They didn’t, and I confirmed that with the boss this week.”
TVNZ has yet to announce who will fill the Breakfast roles, but it appears the likely frontrunners are Jenny-May Clarkson and Chris Chang, if they want the roles, with Daniel Faitaua retained as a back-up option.
Burns-Francis admits, “I freaked out a bit” with the reality of her announcement hitting the headlines.
“I’ve always considered myself a journalist first, and being a headline or a face on a homepage is a bit disconcerting. You know they say never read the comments, but my inbox is full of lovely messages from my colleagues and friends and people who watched the show saying very kind things.
“That’s been really nice. And a couple of job offers even – which is a relief! I’ve still got a mortgage to pay.”
She said she was “not done with being a journalist yet”.
“It’s been my whole career and it’s taken me around the world. I can honestly say I love going to work, it’s a huge part of who I am. I know, though, that it’s not easy being a journalist these days. You’re often getting it from all sides eh?
“The public don’t hold back in sharing their thoughts (I’ve always been delighted to receive equally rude emails accusing me of being biased from both a left and right perspective after a political interview).
“And if you’ve got one of those jobs people can criticise – well, this year you’re one of the lucky ones right? So I feel for my friends and colleagues, they’re working harder and harder and facing constant waves of uncertainty and I just hope, I really, really hope, that there’s some stability soon and we can all get back to focusing on what matters – journalism.”
She says the highlight of her time at TVNZ was as its US correspondent, based in New York.
“America’s a fascinating (sometimes maddening!) country to live in and report from, and being there during huge societal shifts – the summer of BLM [Black Lives Matter], Covid, Trump to Biden presidencies, January 6th, the Supreme Court decision on abortion – that country will never be the same and it was an amazing adventure to report on all of that.
“As for now? Well, Christmas is around the corner so I’m going to take a couple of weeks to enjoy a cold beer in the sun and trips to the beach. The alarm still goes off early, except now it’s a baby and not my phone squawking. And I’m sure by the time the new year comes round, I’ll be ready to get back into it.”
‘Shambles’: Inside Whakaata Māori’s cutbacks
Whakaata Māori (Māori Television) finally announced on Thursday night the outcome of its long-running restructuring proposals – the loss of 27 jobs, the shifting of its te reo channel to digital and the closure of its daily news bulletin Te Ao Maori News (it will live on as a digital brand).
Behind the scenes, it’s been anything but a smooth period – as Media Insider reveals in a special report, the company’s head of human resources (HR), who joined the organisation a little over a year ago, left the business last Friday, understood to be frustrated with the way the process, which has taken more than two months, has been led.
Other sources say the process has been a “shambles”.
Whakaata Maori has defended its position and the way it has gone about addressing a $10m cut in Government funding over the next two years.
But it seems clear, from the number of leaks coming from staff and people close to staff at Whakaata Māori, that it is an unhappy ship.
Former Whakaata Māori leader takes case to ERA
Whakaata Māori’s employment dispute with a former senior leader is set to go to a hearing.
Media Insider reported in September that the TV company’s former in-house counsel Josie McNaught, an experienced and respected journalist and writer who qualified as a lawyer in 2016, had raised a personal grievance case over the way her role was disestablished earlier this year.
The Employment Relations Authority has now received a “statement of problem” from McNaught. It is understood the parties had been in mediation but this appears to have been unsuccessful.
A Whakaata Māori source earlier tipped off the Herald to the situation, along with a number of allegations about the way McNaught was treated.
McNaught, who has more recently been contracting as a lawyer with the Broadcasting Standards Authority, said she could not comment.
A Whakaata Māori spokeswoman said earlier: “It is not appropriate to comment on employment matters including by way of either confirmation or denial of the existence of claims, due to obvious privacy considerations.”
Will some axed NZME titles be saved by their editors?
At least two NZME community newspaper editors are considering options to save their titles following the publishing company’s announcement yesterday that it will close 14 titles before Christmas.
Taupō & Tūrangi Herald editor Dan Hutchinson is considering his options in the coming days.
“I think the chances of that paper closing are close to zero at this stage and I would expect to have more news on that soon,” he said.
“There is huge commercial support for that title, and while it might not have the scale to make it attractive to a corporate owner, as a small owner-operated business it stacks up well. You could probably say the same about a few of the other titles being closed.
“There are a few fundamental things that make the free community newspaper attractive to certain advertisers but you need to get your content, sales and delivery absolutely right before you hit that sweet spot.”
The 14 titles – including the Horowhenua Chronicle, whose origins stretch back 131 years, and the Te Awamutu Courier, whose origins go back 113 years – will be gone within three weeks. NZME says its community network remains unprofitable, despite its best efforts to improve its financial position.
“There is interest in trying to do something to save our paper, the big BUT is what is there to actually save?” said Te Awamutu Courier editor Dean Taylor.
“Some locals and former locals have made offers to help if a plan is put together – I believe to save it as a going concern we need the expertise of an existing publisher who wants to add to the stable and can step in and seamlessly carry on.
“Failing that I do intend to negotiate to acquire the masthead and utilise it in some form for the community.”
NZME – which owns nzherald.co.nz, the NZ Herald and six other daily newspapers, a suite of radio stations including Newstalk ZB and property website OneRoof – says it has been approached by several parties interested in buying individual community mastheads “and we will liaise with those people in the coming days”.
It would not say who was keen. “Any expressions of interest remain confidential,” said a spokeswoman.
Regardless of these discussions, NZME said it would be publishing the 14 titles for the final time by Christmas.
The 14 titles to be closed are Hauraki-Coromandel Post, the Katikati Advertiser, the Te Puke Times, the Te Awamutu Courier, the Taupō & Tūrangi Herald, the Napier Courier, the Hastings Leader, the CHB Mail in Hawke’s Bay, the Stratford Press, the Bush Telegraph in Tararua, the Whanganui Midweek, the Manawatū Guardian, the Horowhenua Chronicle and the Kāpiti News.
NZME chief executive Michael Boggs said: “This is a sad day for NZME and it’s not news I want to be sharing.
“However, it is the right decision to ensure we continue to operate a sustainable media business and to put NZME in the best possible position for ongoing financial growth into the future.”
Hutchinson described the confirmation of the closures as “tough news”.
“Most have had a couple of weeks to come to terms with the possibility of the closures but it still leaves an empty feeling in the stomach,” he said.
The closures will see the loss of 29 roles. Hutchinson was pleased to see NZME had retained an extra role in Waikato.
“A lot of people have worked their arses off to come up with a hybrid print-digital solution to local news in that region this year and I don’t think we were far away from pulling that off. We will still have the Waikato Herald and three journalists covering news in that region who will continue to be supported by the wider regional team and the NZ Herald.”
E tū union negotiations specialist Michael Wood said he hoped and encouraged interest from individuals and other groups to buy at least some of the titles. “It would have been better for there to have been some sort of transition towards that. But where that can happen, that would be a good outcome.”
There was “real upset” in the communities about the cutbacks, which he said also followed Stuff reducing its local capacity earlier this year.
“So you’re seeing a media market in which there are cutbacks in big city centres, but just the wholesale loss of capacity and coverage in regional New Zealand.”
Some of the community newspapers had been around for more than 100 years and were part of the “local social fabric”, Wood said.
“These are the papers that tell stories about what the local council’s up to ... the local schools and rugby teams and what they’re up to. They really are the beating heart of local communities that tell local stories and it’s very hard for that local storytelling to be replicated out of Auckland, Wellington or Christchurch. So it’s a huge loss.”
There were also questions around other players in the eco-system, such as NZ Post, which had lifted distribution costs significantly, he said.
With a significant footprint, a large corporate player in this case was able to suddenly cut 14 titles. “There are some questions in terms of how the sector is structured – is there some value in more localised ownership models that might be a bit more resilient in the sector?”
Big radio changes at MediaWorks
More big changes are in the wind for MediaWorks radio talent, following the resignations of high-profile hosts Sharyn Casey and Paul Ego this week, and as the network awaits the arrival of Simon Barnett.
Casey, the host of The Edge drive show, wrote on social media: “I‘m sad, I’m happy, I’m grateful, I’m scared, I’m excited but miss my kids & husband, I need a break from constantly mining my life for content, to learn new things, to grow outside of the studio I’ve spent my entire adult life and see where I land”.
She said she had been “pretty open” that she had wanted to leave The Edge when she hit 20 years ... “that I wanted to leave by my own choice and on the crest of the wave”.
“Two weeks ago, I realised the wave was ready, I was ready, the 20 years was gonna be almost 19 and I’m content with it.”
Ego is leaving More FM’s breakfast show next Friday and it is understood that at least two hosts on The Sound are also preparing to hang up their mics.
As MediaWorks awaits the arrival of Barnett, who returns to the More FM breakfast show in the new year following his time at Newstalk ZB, the radio and outdoor advertising company is no doubt carefully balancing its talent roster and costs.
Meanwhile, at NZME, Stacey Morrison is finishing up as Flava breakfast host this month.
It will be fascinating to see how all these changes affect the ratings in the competitive music radio battleground in the next 12 months.
One Good Text
This week, we catch up with Duco Events founder David Higgins about his coup in bringing former Daily Telegraph journalist (and British PM) Boris Johnson to New Zealand.
Movers and shakers
The respected chief executive of Whakatāne-based Beacon Media, Aaron Buist, is departing the business this week, after seven years there.
“I’ll admit to feeling sad as I leave an industry that has been part of my life for over 25 years, be it making the paper carrying the news, or publishing the news,” he said in a message to Media Insider.
“I’m also feeling incredibly grateful for the wonderful opportunities I have had, for the support John [Spring] and all the Beacon teams have shown me, and of course for all the amazing people I have been so fortunate to meet and work with these last 25 years.”
Buist finished up in the office yesterday, with his role officially ending early in the new year.
He may yet stay in the media industry if the right role arises – “I remain an evangelical advocate for quality news” – and will take the next few weeks to consider his options.
Meanwhile, DDB Group Aotearoa says it is “excited” to welcome back a “boomerang” to one of its senior agency roles.
David McIndoe will return to the company as chief strategy officer following roles at TBWA and Saatchi & Saatchi.
“Over a career spanning 20 years, McIndoe has led the charge on many of New Zealand’s most-loved brands, from banking to beer and everything in-between,” DDB said in a press release.
“McIndoe was DDB’s planning director from 2010–2013, and was integral on a range of award-winning campaigns, including the return of the classic Steinlager ‘Original White Can’ and Sky’s ‘Happy Place’ work, which saw both brands enter significant growth periods.”
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.
