NZME restructure by the numbers: 12 jobs to go from regional newsrooms
Wednesday, 10 July 2024
A restructure at New Zealand Media Entertainment (NZME) aimed at diverting resources away from the regions and into Wellington and Christchurch has been approved with no changes.
In all the restructure has resulted in the reduction of 11.7 full-time equivalent (FTE) editorial roles at the company, which publishes the NZ Herald as well as a number of regional and community titles around the North Island.
“The changes will ensure those newsrooms have the appropriate resourcing to produce the right mix of high-quality content that better connects with our print subscribers and local communities, while continuing to serve our digital audiences,” said NZME editor in chief Murray Kirkness.
Just over a month ago, Stuff revealed staff had been called into a shock meeting and informed of the proposal.
A presentation shown in that meeting and seen by Stuff showed the proposal, dubbed “Project New Horizons”, would “redistribute resources in areas such as Wellington, Christchurch, business and politics, where we believe there is significant potential for digital audience growth”.
As such, Kirkness said, the company would soon advertise for new reporters in Wellington and Christchurch.
“Those affected by this change have the opportunity to apply for new roles within the structure,” he added. “In addition, we have five existing vacancies across our regional and community newsrooms.”
Here’s a breakdown of what the restructure will mean for NZME’s regional newsrooms, by the numbers.
15%
Of the total minutes readers spend on Stuff’s sites in Wellington are spent on NZME’s. In Canterbury, NZME attracts 16% of readers compared to Stuff.
These numbers are among the factors that prompted NZME to restructure resources away from the regions and into main centres.
Two weeks
The amount of time that elapsed between NZME-owned Hawkes Bay Today winning the coveted Newspaper of the Year title at the Voyager Media Awards, and the change proposal being announced.
50%
Under the new structure, Hawkes Bay Today’s newsroom will lose half its full-time equivalent (FTE) staff, dropping from 12 to just 6.
The disestablished and re-scoped roles result in the loss of three news directors and three multimedia journalists.
Seven
A key feature of the restructure is the creation of a “hub”, from which news directors and editors will oversee multiple regions at once.
Under the outgoing structure, each regional newsroom has its own local news directors.
Seven roles have been created in the hub: a North Island regional editor, a chief regional content leader and, under them, five regional content leaders.
Stuff understands that news directors who are being made redundant from across the newsrooms had until midday Monday to indicate whether they would take redundancy or apply for one of the new roles.
Zero
There appear to be no dedicated staff visual journalists, responsible for shooting still photos and video, under the new structure (outside of Gisborne; see below).
Stuff understands NZME has said the remaining regional journalists will be “upskilled” so they can take photos as well as write stories.
46%
In the year to the end of December 2023, publicly-listed NZME reported a 46% drop in annual profits, to just under $12 million.
That represents profits across its commercial radio business, which owns about half the country’s commercial radio stations including Newstalk ZB, as well as publishing.
Its revenues declined 5% to just under $348m, more than $100m of which, or 29% of its business, came from its digital products, said CEO Michael Boggs.
Zero
The only NZME regional newsroom that will not experience any reduction or re-scope of roles is Gisborne.
* CLARIFICATION: This story has been updated to include NZME’s profit update from 2023, instead of 2022. (Amended: July 10, 2024, 1.51pm.)