Funding cut or correction? What now for RNZ?

Saturday, 31 May 2025

RNZ had a big night at the annual media awards shindig in Auckland on May 16, with in-depth journalist Anusha Bradley wresting the coveted cup for Reporter of the Year from Stuff and NZ Herald contenders.

But on Budget day six days later, the champagne bubbles were thoroughly burst.

Media minister Paul Goldsmith snatched back $4.6m from the $25.7m annual boost RNZ was awarded in 2023, saying he expected the state broadcaster “to improve audience reach, trust and transparency”.

The news got worse for RNZ this week, when the latest listener figures revealed the broadcaster’s radio audiences had hit a five-year low.

Flagship news programme Morning Report shed 22,100 listeners, putting it more than 100,000 behind Mike Hosking’s top-ranking ZB breakfast radio show.

Champions of RNZ argue declining radio audiences mean the broadcaster needs more money, not less, because they’re now fighting for attention across multiple media platforms.

And they are making inroads - RNZ’s website is now the country’s third-biggest news site, behind Stuff and NZ Herald.

But the digital push also brings risks. In 2023, RNZ CEO Paul Thompson told The Post a planned website revamp would make it “more relevant and accessible”, but not fluffier and more commercial.

“That would be a real mistake. Other companies are doing that really well. We need to be unique, because we're the only public broadcaster in New Zealand,” he said.

But RNZ recently launched a new Life section. Facebook ads promise the latest wellbeing trends, and promote stories about fancy kitty litter, and the doomed quest for a flat belly. “The government can’t defund RNZ enough,” Facebook commenter Howie said.

Because a public-interest broadcaster writing stories about celebs, kitty litter and dogs farting on planes, raises two questions - what qualifies as public interest journalism? And if the public broadcaster is doing the same stuff as commercial media, why do we need to fund it all?

Where does the money go?

RNZ’s 2023 budget bonanza came as other media tried desperately to cut costs to survive. NZME and Stuff ditched community newspapers, TVNZ cut staff and current affairs programme Sunday, and there was the shock shutdown of TV news stalwart Newshub. (Now rebooted by Stuff).

Flush with an extra $25.7m a year, RNZ picked up many reporters caught in the redundancies and restructures, which is obviously a win for journalism and the public.

But big-name hires for new, non-journo jobs, and bidding wars making it harder for other media to compete for top talent, fuelled a perception that RNZ was splashing cash at others’ expense.

Former Christchurch Press and Melbourne Age editor Andrew Holden was appointed as a new complaints custodian; former Wellington bureau chief Kate Gudsell became national emergency planning manager, and the number of staff paid more than $100,000 jumped more than a third, from 107 in 2022/23 to 145 in 2023/24.

Thompson wouldn’t be interviewed about the budget cuts, saying it wasn’t the right time, as they were still reviewing their plans.

But in a statement, RNZ defended its spending and recruitment, saying 89% of its staff work in content production and it “pays people fairly for the roles they do”. The average salary is $89,463.

“Any suggestion that we are a management heavy organisation is misplaced.”

When the 2023 funding boost was announced, $12m was pegged “to maintain public media services”, $12m for a new digital platform and $1.7m for AM transmission.

Thompson said in RNZ’s 2023/24 annual report, that more than half the extra money that year went on “serious cost pressures”, following nine years of frozen budgets. That included maintaining transmission infrastructure and technology upgrades. The organisation also launched a new Asia news service.

Former RNZ journalist Conan Young says the company had been under-funded for years, and the 2023 budget increase was simply playing catch-up. Now a journalism lecturer at Canterbury University, he worked for RNZ for 19 years, in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, leaving in 2023.

While all media companies fled to temporary offices after the Christchurch earthquakes, RNZ’s temporary digs lasted 10 years, Young recalls.

“Honestly, it was grim. The heat pumps would turn off in the middle of winter, and you’d be getting out the little fan heaters to try and keep warm.

“My whole time at RNZ, it didn't feel like I was working at some really well-resourced public media broadcaster. It felt like we were always doing things by the seat of our pants.

“They've recently changed their audio editing software. We had this ridiculous system that is more useless than what you could download for free off the internet.'

Young argues RNZ’s recruitment drive carried the company to where it should always have been, with top talent breaking agenda-leading stories.

“But to me, it feels like they've just embarked on that journey. And I really cannot understand the timing of these cuts.”

While he doesn’t think the 7% budget cut will lead to job losses, it might mean some roles go unfilled.

Thompson noted in the annual report that, “while expenditure commitments have been made, due to the timing of the projects and a prudent approach to implementing them, RNZ recorded a net surplus of $7.4 million for the year”.

So is this the moment to finally kill off RNZ Concert, which gets just 162,300 listeners a week? Victoria University associate professor, and vice-chairman of Better Public Media Trust, Peter Thompson, thinks that’s unlikely, given the unholy racket that erupted when they tried in 2020 to axe its presenters and use the frequency for a youth station.

“It would save a little bit of money, but they've already cut back…That would be something that's valuable to a significant constituency within the New Zealand public.”

Then there’s the Local Democracy Reporting (LDR) scheme, which funds 17 reporters into commercial newsrooms to cover issues of local importance, such as council meetings.

RNZ has run the scheme for five years, and co-funded it for the past two, matching NZ On Air’s $884,000 annual contribution.

But with NZ On Air getting an extra $6.4m over four years in this year’s budget to expand the LDR and similar court reporting scheme Open Justice, RNZ could potentially withdraw its contribution, clawing back almost a fifth of its budget cut.

Asked if it will continue to fund LDR, RNZ says it sees the scheme as essential to ensure local stories that impact communities continue to be told.

“RNZ expects to have discussions with partners about funding for the ongoing programme.”

Reach, trust and transparency

It’s not clear what Goldsmith meant when he called on RNZ to be more transparent. But the organisation has been quick to counter his digs at audience reach and trust.

When Paul Thompson started as chief executive 12 years ago, RNZ was two radio stations reaching about 15% of Kiwis a week. His goal was to reach 80% of adults a month, by 2027.

Today, between its radio stations, website, app, podcasts, and sharing of stories with other media, that’s up to 79%.

And this week they issued a press release, burying the lede of falling radio listener numbers by trumpeting an improvement in trust, to 56%. That doesn’t exactly sound boast-worthy, but, in an industry that took a reputational hit from the tide of anti-establishment anger borne of Covid, they rank top of the field.

Is news radio dead?

Will Irvine was raised on a nutritious breakfast of Morning Report and the daily bird call.

But the Wellington 20-year-old no longer has a radio. He’d sometimes listen in the car. But now he doesn’t have a car either.

Two years ago, Thompson told The Post he was hopeful radio listener numbers would bounce back. Instead, they’ve got worse.

The good news for the public broadcaster is that Irvine (and his mates) still care about RNZ. Because instead of switching the radio on in the morning, Irvine opens RNZ’s digital home page.

“We are genuinely worried about budget cuts for RNZ,” he says. “New Zealand media is in an increasing state of corporate capture - the way that we see it. And having RNZ as a publicly funded broadcaster is super important to us. I think RNZ would be my main source of news.”

As editor of Victoria University’s student magazine Salient, Irvine is probably not representative of his peers. Many of them would encounter RNZ journalism on social media, but none are likely to listen to news radio.

In a September column, former NZ Herald editor Gavin Ellis advised RNZ to “stick to the radio audience you know you can get, rather than the one you think you would like”.

With the proportion of over-60s listening to broadcast radio falling from 66% in 2020, down to 53%, he argued RNZ was alienating older listeners by trying to appeal to younger audiences. While reflecting changing social mores is appropriate, broadcast radio is the wrong place for that, he said.

“I am among those who now regard listening to Morning Report more as a duty than a pleasure. It has an earnest quality that I sometimes find irritating.”

Goldsmith has clearly not written off radio, having this week called on RNZ to “never lose sight of the fact that the core business is having live radio”.

What is public interest journalism anyway (and why do we need it)?

On Tuesday, shareholders of NZ Herald owner NZME will vote in a new board. Young says there’s no better illustration of the need for public media than the torrid months that preceded that meeting, with billionaire Jim Grenon trying to roll the board and wield influence.

“He made no secret of his desire to have more editorial control over one of the country's largest news publications. And that's how easily this can happen. I think public media is one defence against that.”

Peter Thompson also argues public media has never been more important.

“The idea that you’re going to defund the public media at a time when the entire media sector is in crisis, and when public knowledge and democracy itself is being threatened by a proliferation of disinformation, hate speech and other kinds of fake news, through the online platforms - the timing couldn’t be worse.”

He says it’s a significant recognition of the importance of publicly funded journalism that a government that includes Winston Peters - who decried the previous Public Interest Journalism Fund as “bribery” - has expanded funding for the LDR and Open Justice schemes.

Auckland University of Technology head of journalism, Greg Treadwell, says journalism is a foundation of a healthy democracy and publicly funded media is a critical backstop.

“When journalism is clearly under threat, and governments have a responsibility to…make sure the public is well informed, it seems bewildering that it needs saying, but it’s time to put robust measures, at least for publicly funded media. Because the private sector is in turmoil, and we have failed to come up with solutions for that.”

RNZ’s charter states that its purpose is “to serve the public interest”.

In its 23/24 annual report, board chairman Jim Mather said that means RNZ serves New Zealand audiences “in a way no others do”: “we are non-commercial; our charter means we are dedicated to reflecting New Zealand identity; we deliver to under-served audiences; have a commitment to quality content; support the national debate with our news and current affairs and offer a vital service to our arts and culture community”.

But are stories about fancy kitty litter really public interest journalism?

While RNZ’s magazine-style radio shows have always presented music, reviews and lifestyle content, now they appear on the RNZ home page, interwoven with news.

Peter Thompson argues lifestyle reporting can absolutely be public interest journalism, such as a recent story about kids choosing not to use cellphones, or a piece debunking “wild and woolly” wellbeing trends. Yarns about kitty litter, not so much.

“If that was the only thing they were doing, I'd be a bit concerned. But there's a range of quite useful, educational, reflective material on that page…I think that's entirely in line with the public charter.”

Treadwell agrees lifestyle stories can be in the public interest, within reason.

“There's a line I wouldn't fund, in terms of lifestyle journalism…They'll get told to pull it back if they're doing the latest beauty trends.”

RNZ says there’s a misconception that public media should focus only on niche content.

“Our charter is very clear that we are here for all New Zealanders, and that is very important to us…What we offer is a distinctive, advertising-free public media choice for audiences. It is unique.”