NZME's headquarters in central Auckland, home of the NZ Herald and Newstalk ZB newsroom. Photo / NZME
NZME's headquarters in central Auckland, home of the NZ Herald and Newstalk ZB newsroom. Photo / NZME
NZME is set to overhaul its newsroom operation, with a renewed focus on digital, and a number of senior roles understood to be impacted.
The company – owner of the NZ Herald, Newstalk ZB and five regional daily news sites and newspapers – has today presented a proposal to affectedstaff which would see new senior editorial roles created and others dis-established to ensure a major focus on a digital-first operation.
NZME has a number of other editorial initiatives under development, meaning the newsroom proposal, if approved, would lead to a net loss of one role – although that of course may not necessarily mean the same people or skillsets.
The proposal is understood to cover senior editorial leaders and roles, lifestyle and entertainment magazine teams and production staff.
“We are in the process of seeking feedback from our team on this change proposal and in order to protect the privacy of those potentially impacted, we won’t be providing any specific detail,” NZME chief content officer - publishing Murray Kirkness said in a statement.
Kirkness said the company “continues to accelerate our digital transformation efforts to meet the changing needs of our readers and audiences nationwide”.
“We are committed to ensuring we have a sustainable digital news operation, while also delivering our many excellent print publications nationwide.”
“Today we met with our newsroom team to discuss a proposal which aims to simplify our newsroom operations,” said Kirkness.
“This includes moving from our current integrated newsroom operating model to having separate digital and print operations.”
NZME’s move comes amid a raft of changes and proposals throughout New Zealand’s media industry including similar transformational change at the Stuff and Newshub (Warner Bros. Discovery) newsrooms and within the TVNZ digital news department, all designed with one eye on changing audience demand and the other on prudent cost management.
As well as the senior editorial and lifestyle/entertainment magazine roles impacted, it is understood some NZME production staff – including sub-editors – would have new reporting lines under the proposal.
“The proposal contains changes to some newsroom leadership roles and reporting lines, yet the vast majority of frontline reporting and journalist roles would see little impact from the proposed changes,” said Kirkness. “All newsroom staff are being invited and encouraged to provide their feedback.”
Kirkness said print remained a hugely important part of the NZME business.
“The proposed changes to the operating model would enable a dedicated focus on both print and digital, to ensure both continue to be successful into the future.
“We want to ensure our team have ample opportunity to provide their feedback and currently we have asked for feedback by next Wednesday. All feedback will be carefully considered before any decisions are made.”
