Newstalk ZB's Barry Soper questions former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. Photo / Mike Scott
Away from the devastating news of Today FM’s closure - for a special Media Insider report on that, please head here - there has been plenty of other developments in the media industry this week.
At first glance, Barry Soper and Jacinda Ardern could not be more contrasting protagonists. One, the former political editor, now senior political commentator, of Newstalk ZB who’s covered 11 prime ministers (and had run-ins with them all). And Ardern, the internationally acclaimed former PM, and Mt Albert MP, who is stepping away from politics after some especially gruelling years in the top job, dealing with a pandemic and myriad issues.
Scratch deeper, though, and there are some similarities. Both have children under 5 and are dealing with the challenges of parenthood; they’ve both chosen to embark on new career paths; and they’re both partners of high-profile media personalities with their own aspirations. And over the next five days the pair will be feted at Parliament – Soper tonight and Ardern next Wednesday.
That’s about where the similarities end. Ardern has said thank you but no thank you for tonight’s black-tie event at the Grand Hall in Parliament, hosted by her successor, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and National MP Gerry Brownlee. Just on 100 guests – politicians, journalists, family and friends – will mark Soper’s remarkable four decades in the press gallery. Former prime minister Sir Bill English will be present but Helen Clark and Sir John Key are overseas – they are giving video tributes. Dame Jenny Shipley could not make it.
Next Wednesday, Ardern will give her valedictory speech at Parliament and Soper – who has moved to Auckland and bought a new home with Newstalk ZB Drive host and wife, Heather du Plessis Allan – won’t be in the press gallery to see it.
Ardern is choreographing her farewell media tour extremely carefully. She’s rejected the opportunity to sit down with any political journalists and many other requests, choosing instead just two key interviews – with TVNZ’s John Campbell and Newshub’s Samantha Hayes and one international outlet (yet to be confirmed). That’s certainly put noses out of joint in the press gallery – and it was left to her former chief press secretary Andrew Campbell to deliver the news.
Ardern’s management of journalists has riled Soper over the years, particularly the way she conducted the daily, Covid press conferences from the Beehive Theatrette. The ‘Jessica, then Tova’ line became a meme and Soper famously himself had to rush from one press conference after a heated exchange with Ardern. He was running out to speak live on ZB; social media critics accused him of throwing his toys.
“I just think she was extraordinarily uncomfortable with the media,” Soper tells Media Insider this week. “Even though she appeared to be relaxed she was very uncomfortable with the media. And the more time we had, the less she trusted the media and the media became more sceptical of her and what she had to say. And from her part, it came across as condescending and patronising.
“Initially, we had a good relationship. I liked the idea of a young, 37-year-old liberal democrat in the Prime Minister’s chair. I thought this is great for a young country like New Zealand, but it didn’t take long, for me anyway, to realise that it wasn’t quite what it seemed. And she was just ill-equipped to be the prime minister. And, in fact, she had said herself she never wanted to be the prime minister.”
Soper will tonight regale his audience with tales of his 42 years on the press gallery frontline – he’s been in the privileged position of having an extraordinary peek behind the curtains of power and witnessing the peccadilloes of those 11 prime ministers and other MPs.
He also had the opportunity to regularly sit down with them socially – apart from Ardern. He can recall just one occasion, early on in her role, where she invited media into her office for a social catch-up. “That’s where, to me, she lost out significantly with the media. The media didn’t understand Ardern. And she didn’t try to understand the media.”
Rob Muldoon tried to bully the media – an early version of Donald Trump. Soper remembers breaking the story of Muldoon conceding the infamous 1984 election, while “clearly drunk”. (Muldoon had famously also announced the election while inebriated). Muldoon denied conceding the election the next day – Soper had him on tape and challenged him at the press conference.
David Lange was a “show pony” with a sharp wit and intellect; Mike Moore would say the most outrageous things; and Jim Bolger had a habit of mimicking the accents of leaders he had just met, says Soper.
“In Canada, for example, [then PM] Brian Mulroney had just finished speaking and bloody Bolger took up the cudgel and sounded Canadian. The guy at the press conference said to me ‘I didn’t realise your Prime Minister was Canadian’. He just did it, he mimicked. And it was all almost subconsciously, I’ve had him on about it.”
Helen Clark was misread as a cold fish. “Quite the contrary, [she] was totally accessible to the media. In the frequent phone calls I had with her, she would laugh like a drain and swear like a trooper. And she was very adept, dropping hints about what the government was thinking about.
“And then when you went out and suggested that, as commentators do publicly, she would watch the flow of the public reaction. If the ripple in the pool turned into a tidal wave she would deny all knowledge of it – it didn’t come from her. But she knew you wouldn’t say it came from her. You’d say this is what the government’s thinking. She was very clever as a politician. I think she was a very adept, shrewd prime minister.”
Soper has snared many exclusives in his time – including recent angles about Stuart Nash. He remains sad for the parliamentary staffer who former speaker Trevor Mallard accused of rape – a story that Soper refused to let die, and which cost him his relationship with Mallard.
Ultimately, says Soper, politicians need to look at journalists “as though we’re theatre critics”.
“I’ve probably pissed off all the politicians in that room [tonight] at some stage but I’m a theatre critic. So I look at them, look at what they’re doing. Look at how they do it, how they approach it, and the end result, and then you go, ‘Well, hang on. It should have been done better than that’. I would have been the most brilliant Prime Minister, of course!” he jokes.
Happy Birthday to top ad agency OMD – it’s 25 today.
At the time it was born, in 1998, the “internet was still in its infancy and Netscape Navigator was the dominant web browser”, says OMD NZ managing director Nigel Douglas.
“Google was just getting going in Sergey’s garage. Advertising on the web was a 468x60 banner which was a lot less than awesome. TV was very dominant, print and radio were awesome. Outdoor was the beach. Media muscle was paramount which is why the powers that be created these global mega-media conglomerates. OMD was right at the front of that. We were the 300-pound gorilla from the get-go.”
He says OMD pioneered the first programmatic desk in New Zealand, part of the digital step change.
OMD stands for Optimal Media Directions, not that anyone uses that name. The acronym is the essence of the brand. These days its New Zealand client list includes The Warehouse Group, McDonald’s, 2degrees, Sky, Kiwibank, Bluebird Foods, Frucor, AA Insurance and Qantas.
Last year, OMD won a Global Effie award – the Oscars for the ad industry – for its Ministry of Health ‘Unite Against Covid’ campaign.
Douglas, one of NZ advertising’s most influential and powerful executives, has taken the time, at Media Insider’s request, to compile 25 lessons/observations and secrets to success in the industry:
1. Culture is King. Create an environment that attracts retains and empowers
2. Culture is being not doing. Set it and let it grow from the inside out
3. Know, care and connect with your people
4. Walk the halls
5. Don’t sweat the small stuff
6. Perfection is the enemy of progress
7. Done is better than perfect
8. Hustle
9. Relationships are key
10. When people change, everything changes
11. Get sticky
12. Karma is a thing
13. Delete, defer, delegate, do
14. No only means no when you get it 10 times
15. This industry gives, but it also takes
16. It’s not for the faint-hearted
17. Anyone can buy spots and dots. Be someone!
18. Invest in your people
19. Invest in your clients!
20. Sacred cows are not sacred
21. You can never over-communicate
22. There is definitely more than one way to skin a cat
23. Revenue sets you free
24. Love the work
25. We’re not saving babies but sometimes we save babies
One of New Zealand’s most iconic magazines is launching a paywall. The Listener will launch a digital subscription service mid-year, Are Media has confirmed to Media Insider.
“We’re very confident with what we have planned,” says Are Media New Zealand general manager Stuart Dick. “We have got a really strong, loyal print subscriber base – we want to invite new audiences in, digitally.”
It is a remarkable turnaround for a title that, just three years ago, fell victim to German media business Bauer’s sudden closure in New Zealand, forcing it, the New Zealand Woman’s Weekly and other titles off shelves completely. There were no guarantees they would reappear.
Five months later, Are Media – the Australian media firm set up in 2020 by Mercury Capital – acquired the masthead and remodelled the business completely. It identified the titles it wanted to retain, brought the cost base under control; and “we’re pleased with the strength of our revenue performance across core products”, says Dick.
The paywall will carry five years’ worth of Listeners, available as e-editions, as well as articles to complement the print magazine’s weekly endeavour. As well as a new digital editor, the company was investing in more contributor resource.
The price point, for now, remains a secret but Listener print subscribers and readers would be rewarded for their loyalty, says Dick.
The magazine has a circulation of 45,000 with about 29,000 subscribers and a strong retention rate; its readership has increased 19 per cent since 2019, from 193,000 readers back then to 229,000 today. “Karyn Scherer has been in the role for 18 months and is doing a fantastic job carrying on from Pamela Stirling,” says Dick.
The average age of a Listener reader is in the 50s; Dick sees the chance to attract a slightly younger audience digitally, while also appealing to its loyal base.
Dick said the title would stay true to its key pillars on its new digital platform – including current affairs, health, lifestyle and politics. In the early phase, crosswords and puzzles would remain print features. “Never say never, if we can think of the next Wordle…!”
The doyenne of New Zealand sportswriting and reporting, Suzanne McFadden, is leaving her role at Newsroom’s LockerRoom in May. McFadden, who also had an illustrious career at the NZ Herald, will continue to write as a contributor as well as work on special projects. For the immediate future, she wants to spend more time with her family.
Paul McIntyre has been appointed editor of the Otago Daily Times, replacing Barry Stewart. He is just the 16th editor in the paper’s 162-year history.
The Media Council has ruled the word f*** is okay to use in certain news articles. On March 4, Stuff published an article in the wake of Cyclone Gabrielle, quoting an orchardist who said: “What you see here is f***ed. Our livelihood is f***ed.” (Our asterisks added).
Stuff argued that there had been a softening of attitudes to the word over the years and the council agreed.
“The Media Council notes that while still offensive to some people, the word is not used gratuitously or given undue emphasis in the story. In this case it was legitimate to use it to illustrate the despair and intensity of feeling of the person interviewed for the story.”
The Broadcasting Standards Authority ranks the word at just 26th on its list of most offensive words. At the risk of using up all the asterisks in the world, we won’t go into the level of detail of the first 25 except to say the first one starts with ‘n’ and the second one starts with ‘c’.
The heartbreak at MediaWorks reverberated around the media industry yesterday. Our thoughts are with our colleagues, rivals and friends.
Devastated. Love our strong Today FM whanau. Thank you for your messages.
— Tova O'Brien (@TovaOBrien) March 30, 2023
For a special Media Insider report on what unfolded - and why - please head here.
David Higgins is the founder and director of Duco Events. On Sunday night (it’s been postponed from Saturday), he will take his Synthony music extravaganza, featuring Dave Dobbyn, Kimbra, Shapeshifter, Tiki Taane, Jeremy Redmore and the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, to the Auckland Domain. Tickets are still available.
Much of the South Island is set to plunge below 0C tonight and tomorrow.