Voyager Internet chief executive Seeby Woodhouse reposted social media content that has led to the company losing its naming rights sponsorship of the New Zealand Media Awards. Photo / Michael Craig
Voyager Internet chief executive Seeby Woodhouse reposted social media content that has led to the company losing its naming rights sponsorship of the New Zealand Media Awards. Photo / Michael Craig
The New Zealand Media Awards have stripped Voyager of its sponsorship after social media content “inconsistent” with its values was reposted by the company’s chief executive.
The News Publishers’ Association (NPA) notified Voyager and the firm’s chief executive and founder, Seeby Woodhouse, that it has terminated its naming rightssponsorship of the annual awards.
The decision announced today follows the NPA becoming aware of social media content reposted by Woodhouse, who has since apologised.
The NPA board considered the social media content to be “inconsistent with the values and standards it upholds” on behalf of New Zealand’s news publishing community.
“While Mr Woodhouse’s profile states that reposting does not necessarily signify his agreement with the content, and the repost has since been taken down, NPA considers the repost irreconcilable with its values and standards,” NPA said.
‘It was wrong, and I’m sorry’
Woodhouse told the Herald that he apologised “unreservedly” for retweeting a post that was “unacceptable”.
“That was a mistake, and I take responsibility for it,” Woodhouse said in a statement.
He said, late at night, he retweeted a post without reading it fully.
“When it was raised with me, I removed it immediately.
“Even though my profile bio says, ‘retweets do not necessarily indicate agreement’, that is not a shield. I was wrong to accidentally retweet it. There are no caveats to that,” Woodhouse said.
Voyager Internet chief executive Seeby Woodhouse reposted social media content that has led to the company losing its naming rights sponsorship of the New Zealand Media Awards. Photo / NZ Herald
He said if people had followed his work for a while, they would know he has strong views and didn’t shy away from debate.
“None of that makes up for what happened here. Accountability is simple: I shared it, it was wrong, and I’m sorry,” Woodhouse said.
Voyager said it had already made the decision not to continue as naming rights sponsor beyond this year’s awards.
“For the last ten years, I’ve been an avid (some would say addicted) Instagram user,” he wrote.
He said that he estimated that he posted close to 100,000 reels over the last decade without incident.
The News Publishers’ Association (NPA) has notified Voyager and the firm’s chief executive and founder, Seeby Woodhouse, that it has terminated Voyager's naming rights sponsorship of the annual awards. Photo / Instagram
“Most of the time, it’s harmless. But in the endless deluge of content, judgment can slip,” he wrote in 2025.
He said sometimes he reposted a video because he agreed with it, and sometimes he did because he disagreedwith it.
“Sometimes I share something just because it’s interesting, or because I don’t have time to watch it now and want to bookmark it for later. I’ve developed a kind of shorthand with my followers – most of whom know that not everything I post is an endorsement,” he wrote in April last year.
Sign up to The Daily H, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
