TV exec who delivered Newshub closure bombshell breaks silence

Wednesday, 28 February 2024

Newshub staff were told on Wednesday morning the company's news operations would close by the end of June.

Warner Bros. Discovery NZ executive Glen Kyne announced to staff on Wednesday that Newshub would be shutting down under a proposal.
About 200 staff may lose their jobs in the closure, with many feeling blindsided by the “absolutely brutal” announcement.
Kyne spoke with Stuff on Wednesday afternoon to speak of the decision.

One of the TV executives who told Newshub staff of the proposal to shut the operation down has told Stuff he doesn’t want to give people “false hope”.

Glen Kyne said they didn’t expect a government bail out.

In an interview with Stuff on Wednesday afternoon - hours after delivering the news to hundreds of his own journalists - the boss of Warner Bros. Discovery’s New Zealand arm, Glen Kyne, said between now and Newshub’s proposed closure in June, there are zero alternatives on the table as it stands.

“We’ve been managing our cost base as tightly as we possibly could have, but we’re at a point where the revenue drop is so significant that we’ve had to make a major proposal today,” Kyne told Stuff.

Last year, Kyne met with the then-Broadcasting Minister Willie Jackson to discuss Newshub’s struggles. Kyne said he never approached the then-Labour government - nor has he gone to the current coalition government - asking for a bailout.

Newshub is shutting down under a proposal by owner Warner Bros. Discovery

“More broadly… we were making them (the Labour government) aware of the severe impact of the economic downturn and it was starting to question the viability of the operation model here in New Zealand,” he said.

Kyne said it was clear there no material steps had been taken by the government since.

“We have not been expecting any subsidisation from government, it is a very difficult decision today to move to this proposal. We expect as a result of this proposal that we are going to hear from many people, not just our own staff, but other external stakeholders who will no doubt have a view or potential options that they want us to consider and we will listen to all people internally and externally who want to talk with us.”

Kyne was asked whether the objective was to save the newsroom, and, whether there had been any external conversations about the news arm of the business being bought.

Kyne said he didn’t want to offer “false hope that as of today is not there”.

“It was important we spoke to our people first. We fully expect that and hope that as a result of an incredibly challenging and difficult announcement today that it will also avail other conversations.

“We will engage and progress conversations as quickly as possible from anyone who wants to engage with us.

“We haven’t had any direct offers to do anything differently with the news operation.”

Kyne said conversations will be entertained that could provide a different proposal or solution.

“I’m not going to call them options at the moment because they’re not on the table,” he said.

Speaking of the potential loss of the Newshub newsroom and journalists, Kyne said it was “horrific”.

“I don’t know how to describe it in any other words,” he said.

“We have an incredibly talented group of people who have played a pivotal role in the fourth estate in New Zealand for 35 years.

“There is nothing more important in a healthy democracy than plurality of voice and Newshub in particular has played a critical role as an independent commercial news organisation.

“The challenge, given the broader economic sense is that also we can’t afford to sit as a commercial media player, we cannot subsidise losses indefinitely. We have to make a change.”

He hopes after the announcement today, there will be a national debate around local media and the health of the sector.

“Things need to happen to allow local media and news journalism to thrive into the future, because it is under threat.”

The executive said after the Covid-19 pandemic, the media market dropped significantly and while there was a rebound in 2021 and a sense of optimism, the global economic crisis started have an impact on TV advertising in a significant way from mid-2022 - and it hasn’t rebounded since.

“Broadly, nearly $100m has left the TV advertising sector over that time, which is nearly 20% of the market and what’s that’s done has put enormous pressure on the operating model and made it unsustainable into the future.”