Apocalypse now?

For years news media bosses warned the creaking business model backing journalism would fail at a major local outlet. It finally happened this week when Newshub's owners proposed scrapping it. Then TVNZ posted losses prompting warnings of more cuts to come there. Can TV broadcasters pull a crowd without news? And what might the so-far ambivalent government do? Newshub staff leaving a meeting on Wednesday after the announcement was made. For years news media bosses warned the creaking business model backing journalism would fail at a major local outlet. It finally happened this week when Newshub's owners proposed scrapping it. Then TVNZ posted losses prompting warnings of more cuts to come there. Can TV broadcasters pull a crowd without news? And what might the so-far ambivalent government do? After Warner Bros Discovery top brass broke the bad news to staff on Wednesday, Newshub at 6 that night became a news event in itself. In her report political reporter Amelia Wade reminded viewers more than 30 years of TV news and current affairs - spanning the entire period of commercial TV here - could come to an end in June. Before TV3 launched in 1989, state-owned TVNZ had been the only game in town. But for most of its recent history, TV3's parent company MediaWorks was owned by private equity funds and it was hamstrung with debts. There were periodic financial emergencies too which seemed to signal the end. In 2015 the boss Mark Weldon axed the current affairs shows Campbell Live and 3D and replaced them with ones that didn't pull in more viewers or pull up many trees with their reporting. "Reports of our death at 6pm have been greatly exaggerated", host Hilary Barry responded to reports 3 News might be for the chop the following year. But Weldon persuaded the owners to stump up a significant sum to launch Newshub instead. When the huge global company Discovery bought MediaWorks loss-making TV channels in December 2020, many in the media were pleased a major media outfit was now in charge. Using the Official Information Act, Newsroom later reported the Overseas Investment Office fast tracked Discovery's application and sought no guarantees of a commitment to local news. The 2021 mega-merger in the US that turned it into 'Warner Bros Discovery' excited The Spinoff founder Duncan Grieve. "Tova O'Brien breaking stories on CNN NZ at 6pm, before an evening of local reality TV souped up by global budgets and distribution - with major sports and drama rights for good measure," was one scenario. "It could also swing the other way, with the New Zealand linear asset seen as too small and obscure," he warned… Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details