What does the exit of RNZ’s boss mean for the organisation?
Saturday, 23 May 2026
ANALYSIS: RNZ chief executive Paul Thompson has announced he will leave the organisation at the end of this year, leaving a gaping hole at the top of the public broadcaster.
Sure, he has another seven months to keep the boat steady - but it’s a major loss for the network.
It also means there are now at least three high-profile media roles with vacancies across three different organisations - and with the media industry shrinking, filling them won’t necessarily be as easy it once was.
Those roles include replacing (my boss) Tracy Watkins, editor of both The Post and the Sunday Star-Times, who is leaving the role - and the media entirely - in a couple of months.
TVNZ is hiring an Executive Editor - described by 1News chief content officer Nadia Tolich on LinkedIn as “one of the best roles” in news leadership.
And now RNZ will be looking for a new chief executive.
Read more:
David Seymour denies role in RNZ boss Paul Thompson’s exit after ‘unhelpful’ commentary
Maiki Sherman’s resignation sparks questions over Māori representation at TVNZ
These roles all demand a lot, though the RNZ one is particularly challenging. It’s a chief executive, yes, but it also doubles as an editor-in-chief. Though it would largely be hands off from a day-to-day editorial perspective, it’s not just a business leadership position but requires journalistic oversight as well.
Not to mention, the political climate that any new RNZ boss would find themselves in - though Thompson is leaving in December, after the election, meaning the shape of the government could be very different to where we find ourselves today.
Thompson’s resignation came just a few weeks after ACT leader and deputy prime minister David Seymour made highly critical remarks about him in an interview.
Thompson had “an awful lot to answer for”, said Seymour, and he suspected he “won’t be answering the call at RNZ for much longer”. He was also critical of Thompson for overseeing the appointment of John Campbell as Morning Report co-host, though the first few weeks of Campbell’s tenure could surely have upset very few who actually listen.
The deputy PM struck a far more measured tone during an interview with The Post on Friday, saying that he had no early knowledge that Thompson would be departing but that it was a “great opportunity” for RNZ to refresh.
He also defended his previous criticisms, effectively saying it’s what any shareholder should do if they have concerns about the direction of a business.
“If somebody thinks that it's unhelpful and external to get feedback from their shareholders, that's not an attitude that would get you very far if you were the chair of any private company in New Zealand,” the minister said.
But the question now turns to who might want to leap into a position that has become highly politicised and which takes on significant scrutiny from all quarters.
Though there are a few internal candidates who may be qualified to step up - such as former political editor Jane Patterson, who has since moved into a quality control position within RNZ - it would make sense to look externally given the political atmosphere surrounding this job.
Bringing someone in from outside is an opportunity to build trust.
All three government parties appear to have ramped up their criticism of media outlets, particularly TVNZ and RNZ, in recent months, and an outside appointment may be one way to temper some of this - again with the caveat that Thompson is not actually leaving until December.
Outside the business, names worth considering include Jo Norris, currently managing director of Stuff’s Masthead businesses (which includes The Post). She has chief executive experience, as a former boss of ChristchurchNZ, but has extensive editorial experience as well.
We’ll learn next week how RNZ has been faring in its attempt to claw back listeners from Newstalk ZB, though the data won’t fully capture the arrival of John Campbell to Morning Report.
Nevertheless, given Newstalk ZB has been touting its recent ratings success, would it be out of the question for RNZ to look at who in the ZB stable could be lured over? There would possibly be a culture clash in transitioning straight from the commercial competitor to the rather straight-and-narrow public broadcaster, but perhaps there is an opportunity to inject some new life from the top down.
RNZ has successfully reinvigorated its digital offering, but last year’s scathing internal report by ex-news boss Richard Sutherland made a point about RNZ needing to remember that first and foremost it was a radio station.
“The most worrying theme was the view that RNZ regards live listening as a sunset activity, rather than a growth opportunity,” wrote Sutherland.
Could NZME’s chief audio officer, Jason Winstanley, be lured over? Probably not, but it would certainly be interesting.
Another option would be Glen Scanlon, a former RNZ boss that left to become chief executive experience as head of Water Safety NZ - again someone with both leadership and editorial experience. He’s also a former Broadcasting Standards Authority CEO, and formally worked in numerous roles around various newsrooms here and abroad.
TVNZ’s recently departed news boss, Phil O’Sullivan, was a well-respected newsroom leader, though it seems unlikely he’d want to return quite so soon to the world of public media.
Which makes Glen Kyne - a former Warner Bros Discovery executive - a possible left-field choice. He was the man at the helm when Three’s entire news division, Newshub, was dismantled - however, he has managed to maintain more goodwill than you may expect given how many people lost their jobs.
The announcement of Thompson’s departure comes at the tail end of a particularly rough few weeks for local media.
In addition to the pressure piled upon RNZ by some in the Government, TVNZ faced scrutiny over actions by its political editor Maiki Sherman, who later resigned.
Meanwhile, the Government confirmed it was intending to scrap the Broadcasting Standards Authority, intending to see media self-regulate using the Media Council model that some outlets - like The Post - already abide by.
And given it’s an election year, expect things to heat up even more.