TVNZ news team cuts revealed

Staff at TVNZ reportedly face a round of job cuts which will be outlined today, with around 20 jobs in the mix. Photo / Doug Sherring

TVNZ news management met with teams this afternoon to finalise details of a restructure expected to result in job cuts.

Head of news John Gillespie said there would be a net loss of less than 10 jobs across the news team, however, a number of roles will be advertised for which staff can apply for internally.

Gillespie could not give specifics on the types of jobs which were on the line, but said they were of an operational nature, including support staff and producers.

The broadcaster is also seeking to take on more video journalists in the regions, including Tauranga, Northland, Hawke's Bay and Southern Lakes.

Gillespie said today's restructure was the first for the news team, but there could be more to come.

TVNZ chief executive Kevin Kenrick told the Herald in March that the broadcaster must make changes to be more cost effective - and that meant fewer staff.

"We are reviewing all parts of the business," he said. "For a sustainable business going forward, it will mean less staff."

Kenrick cited the changes happening in the media landscape and said the restructure was a way to prepare for the future.

"We're at the early stages now," he said. "But we will be making some changes in the next three to six months."

"We will have conversations with teams and have consultations on what's proposed but if we were to go forward with what's proposed today we would disestablish a number of roles. We would create some new ones but in absolute terms the net effect would be less," he told the Herald in another interview.

He said the job cuts would come from "the area of how we get the content back to TVNZ and then get it out to viewers".

"If you look at the processes, the systems, the roles around the editing, the production, we think that there's duplication in what we're doing right now and we think we could create a centre of excellence in one place and do that more efficiently."

In December the Herald reported that the state broadcaster TVNZ spent more than $2 million in the past two financial years on "early termination" payments to top presenters and other newsroom staff. At the time, the business warned staff it needed to make radical changes to remain profitable.