'Lots of tears': Tova O'Brien signs off on Newshub for the last time

Tova O'Brien has bid farewell to Newshub. Photo / Supplied

Tova O'Brien has signed off on Newshub for the last time.

The network's former political editor is leaving Discovery for a new role at MediaWorks, and presented her final bulletin as Newshub's political editor today.

In an emotional post shared to Instagram, O'Brien wrote, "Lots of tears today, happy and sad, as I sign off for the last time.

"It's the people that make the place. Thank you to my 3News/Newshub whānau for making the last fourteen years the best fourteen years."

While the farewell was a bittersweet one, O'Brien may not have mixed feelings about departing Discovery amid a restraint of trade stoush with her former employer.

The journalist is currently awaiting an Employment Relations Authority decision on whether a restraint of trade clause in her Discovery contract could prevent her from starting in her new role with MediaWorks for three months, effectively leaving her unemployed.

The contractual clause is based on the notion that O'Brien is teaming up with a direct competitor of Discovery's Newshub.

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A post shared by Tova O'Brien (@tovaobrien)

But the journalist, who had been with Newshub for 14 years, has argued to the ERA that her soon-to-be role as a breakfast radio host is not similar to her role as political editor on TV3.

She took the dispute to the ERA after mediation failed. A determination is expected next week following a three-day hearing in Auckland which finished on Thursday.

Owner of Newshub, Discovery, said it is "archaic" to think that radio and television breakfast news shows are not in direct competition with one another.

Discovery argued that Newshub's The AM Show will compete for the same audiences and advertising dollars as O'Brien's new radio show with MediaWorks.