You won’t find that in Australia, where Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation owns 60% of newspapers and Nine Entertainment (formerly PBL and Fairfax) and others the rest. Nine has appeared to uphold editorial independence. However, News does not. On major issues, the Murdoch papers reflect their owner’s views.
Other than the rare occasion when the Murdoch press has supported the Labor Party (think Bob Hawke), the papers have consistently echoed their leader’s right-wing views and supported the conservative Liberal Coalition. So too with Murdoch-owned Sky News Australia, where the conservative viewpoint swings ever more extreme, sometimes rancid, into the night.
I saw this firsthand when I was managing director of the News-owned Adelaide Advertiser in 2003. All Rupert Murdoch’s papers editorially supported George W. Bush, Tony Blair and John Howard and the US-led invasion of Iraq, justified on the false claim of Saddam Hussein possessing weapons of mass destruction. No one wrote otherwise.
In the UK, News Corporation owns newspapers which follow a similar line. But there it is far less important because newspaper ownership is diverse and readers can choose from many national newspapers which publish a range of views.
In the US, newspapers are dying in droves. The New York Times stands out as a bulwark against Trump’s brand of populism. The Washington Post did likewise until billionaire Jeff Bezos took over and shunted the paper right.
Here in New Zealand, the threat of something similar happening has arrived with Canadian expat James Grenon’s attempt to take over NZME, clean out most of the board, and potentially influence the editorial direction of NZME’s mastheads, notably The New Zealand Herald.
He’s also strongly criticised the company’s financial performance. If he and his supporters succeed, he wants to set up an editorial advisory board. I won’t go into financial results here other than to observe that Grenon’s comments seem to have become ever more muddled, with proposals changing almost by the day. Initially, he was criticising by inference CEO Michael Boggs for NZME’s financial performance and proposed cutting his pay. A bit later, he was saying he wants Boggs on the board.
Grenon has previously set up two websites, The Centrist and NZ News Essentials. Both are fringe, centre-right in content and attract small audiences. That’s fine, anyone can do this.
But it’s a very different story to take over one of our main publishing houses and declare an intention to influence editorial direction. Daily newspapers, radio and digital mastheads move at great speed. Editors have to make rapid decisions. They can’t be worrying about whether a particular story, feature or opinion column will please or displease the chairman or his editorial advisory board.
In a number of surveys, the Herald has come out as the most neutral news publisher in New Zealand. That is some achievement and a real strength in terms of building a wide audience and appealing to advertisers. It’s also important that in a healthy democracy, where most cities and regions have only one newspaper, the reading public continues to have access to a wide range of views.
In the Grenon world, several prominent Herald journalists could be at risk, notably left-wing columnists Simon Wilson and Shane Te Pou, and cartoonist Emmerson. Wilson’s writing often annoys me, but he obviously works hard and reflects the views of a large segment of the population. He deserves to be there. And critics need to remember the lefties are offset by strong columnists on the right such as Richard Prebble, Stephen Joyce and Bruce Cotterill.
In my view, the Herald’s approach is balanced. It also deserves congratulations for media writer Shayne Currie’s extensive coverage of the attempted takeover. A lot of media would not have tolerated one of their own journalists digging in so deep, often reporting allegations highly critical of the company.
It’s no surprise Stuff’s owner Sinead Boucher has called off talks with NZME about the possible sale of Stuff’s newspapers to NZME. The last thing she would want is to see those papers fall under the control of people who appear to have minimal media or journalistic experience.
The NZME board has fought back, defending the company’s financial performance and emphasising the sanctity and value of its mastheads’ editorial independence. The board has also delayed the annual shareholders’ meeting and re-opened nominations for directors. Meanwhile, the Takeovers Panel is looking into whether certain shareholders have collaborated.
Shareholders outside Grenon and his allies need to seriously consider whether the proposed changes would be in the best interests of themselves, the publications and their staff, and most importantly, the readers.
Rick Neville is the former editor of The Nelson Evening Mail, Evening Post (Wellington), managing director (publishing) INL, director Sky TV, managing director Adelaide Advertiser, deputy CEO APN, group editorial director APN, editorial director Newspaper Publishers’ Association.
