Media firm NZME to cut 38 jobs and publish fewer stories

Wednesday, 22 January 2025

The News’ Publishers Association says job cuts announced today by New Zealand Herald owner NZME are unlikely to be the only ones impacting journalism this year.

New Zealand Herald owner NZME confirmed plans to cut 38 jobs while a long-awaited helping hand from the Government for the embattled media industry remains in limbo.

NZME staff were called into a meeting this morning to discuss proposed newsroom changes.

The proposed job cuts would be across the NZ Herald, BusinessDesk and Newstalk ZB and would involve the net loss of 14 reporting and other “content generation roles” and 24 roles in editorial production.

NZME’s proposal includes more investment in video news and a stronger focus on ensuring its newsroom is focused on journalism and other content that “resonates with audiences, including subscribers”, the NZ Herald reported, quoting editor-in-chief Murray Kirkness.

That would see it publish fewer stories, cutting those that “don’t engage with audiences”.

News’ Publishers Association spokesperson Andrew Holden said the industry was in crisis and needed support to “correct the market imbalance that sees ‘Big Tech’ companies dominating the advertising market”.

Media and Communications Minister Paul Goldsmith said the Government was “doing what it can to help with broader issues facing the changing media sector”.

“However, it’s for individual businesses to determine how best to respond,” he said.

Goldsmith announced in July that the Government would advance a bill drafted by the previous government that was expected to have the effect of forcing internet search and social media giants to chip in to help fund the media.

The Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill was expected to require at least Google and Meta to enter into licensing agreements for news content shared through their platforms, providing a new revenue source worth tens of millions of dollars a year to the media.

However, progress on the legislation appeared to stall after Google threatened to stop linking to mainstream news in its search results if the bill was not changed to its liking.

Goldsmith has indicated he will take a few months to asses the impact of legislation proposed in Australia that would neutralise that tactic by imposing a tax equalling any licensing payments that internet companies avoided by cutting off news, before determining his next move.

Holden said the NPA and its members were very disappointed by the delay.

“This is a core piece of legislation that will support New Zealand-owned media and start fixing that imbalance,” he said.

'If the Government does want to support New Zealand journalism, it needs to explain what action it intends to take, to provide some confidence to our journalists and their employers.'

NZME currently employs 300 editorial staff and last year restructured parts of its organisation with a handful of people changing or losing their jobs.

It also sold a number of its small regional masthead print titles.

Among the proposals on Wednesday, The Post understands the Newstalk ZB and NZ Herald parliamentary gallery reporting teams will merge, with one role to go.

NZME warned shareholders in November that it expected its operating profit for the year to the end of December would be between $2 million and $4m below the bottom end of its previous $57m to $61m earnings forecast.

In a statement to the NZX then, it said advertising revenues fell 1% during the three months to the end of September, attributing that to “the delayed economic recovery”.

It said the final quarter of the year had “started positively” and it expected advertising revenues would be 5% higher than in its fourth quarter in 2023.

However, the NZ Herald reported on Wednesday that the media market continued to be “challenging”, quoting chief executive Michael Boggs.

“Our subscription revenues remain resilient with digital subscriptions growing, but our publishing revenue has declined in the past few years,” he told staff.

Despite the developments, NZME shares were trading unchanged at $1.07 in late morning trading, just 3 cents short of their annual high and valuing the company at just over $200m.

The media industry has been navigating turbulent times since the economy took a turn for the worst and spooked advertisers and businesses alike.

There have been mass job losses across the industry over the past year, which saw Warner Brothers Discovery close Newshub and cuts at TVNZ, Stuff, the Spinoff and MediaWorks.