The decision was been described as "a huge disappointment" by those working on the series.
Posting on Facebook, they wrote: "Most of us are long-serving employees of TV3, some have been with the company since it started more than 25 years ago. We have put everything into our work, often in stressful and dangerous circumstances, reporting on the people and issues that matter to New Zealand. While most of us are serving out our final days as employees of MediaWorks, we cannot comment further."
Fans and fellow reporters have been quick to lament the show's demise, calling it a "sad day" for investigative journalism.
Penfold also shared a hand-written note from Pora thanking her for helping his case.
Monday night's episode of 3D attracted an audience of 118,000 viewers, aged 5+ and 63,000 viewers aged 25-54.
3D received $567,420 in NZ on Air funding to support 10 pieces of investigative journalism this year.
Staff were told in early November they had six days to come up with a way to save the show.
Penfold's recent Tweets suggested the show's future seemed dicey.
Originally called Third Degree, the current affairs series underwent a revamp this year, as the network attempted to stem falling ratings.
It was cut to 30 minutes and moved to Sunday nights at 6.30pm, then later to Monday nights at 9.30pm.
3D's small crew of journalists and producers played a key role in exposing the shoddy police investigation into the 1992 rape and murder of Susan Burdett.
MediaWorks has struggled with ratings across several of its programmes this year, including local versions of Masterchef and X Factor, which will not return next year.
Its news division underwent similar turmoil, with long-running current affairs programme Campbell Live shut down in May.
- nzherald.co.nz
