We deserve more transparency from our state media

Sunday, 7 June 2026

The head offices and studios for TVNZ in central Auckland.

Stewart Sowman-Lund’s media column, The Sunday Report - dissecting talking points from NZ media, entertainment and pop culture - appears weekly on Sundays on thepost.co.nz and in the Sunday Star-Times.

ANALYSIS: It may seem unnecessary to be writing another column about TVNZ’s former political editor Maiki Sherman.

For one, it’s almost a month after she announced her resignation citing “unprecedented” scrutiny in the wake of two incidents: a well-publicised event in the office of the finance minister a year ago, in which it’s alleged Sherman directed an offensive slur at a fellow journalist, and a complaint from the National Party that TVNZ staff had followed National’s whip into a part of Parliament where media interviews aren’t typically allowed.

Secondly, she’s since gone on to win political reporter of the year at the NZ Media Awards - a gong that few would argue was undeserved.

Nevertheless, here we are - though this column is more about TVNZ than Sherman herself.

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On Thursday, The Post reported TVNZ had withheld a series of documents and correspondence related to the events that led up to Sherman’s departure on May 8.

In total, 17 requests lodged under the Official Information Act (OIA) were rejected in full. The response came in a three-page rejection letter, two pages of which were taken up by our questions.

1News’ former political editor Maiki Sherman.

We weren’t the only outlet to request these documents and be issued a blanket rejection; the Herald also reported that it had been denied access to the material.

It’s not unusual for OIA requests to return with a series of heavily redacted documents. It’s not even that unusual for requests to be rejected.

But in this instance, there are questions to be asked about the heavy-handedness with which TVNZ chose to approach its obligations under the OIA, legislation designed to promote openness, transparency and accountability from state agencies.

This column has previously noted that media outlets are sometimes tricky to get information out of, which is incredibly frustrating for media reporters. The Taxpayers’ Union, though hardly the most neutral of commentators, was also unimpressed saying that TVNZ needs to “accept the transparency requirements” that come with being a state-owned organisation.

On this, I agree. We deserve better. As a public institution, TVNZ shouldn’t be hiding away from providing at least some clarity about the issues that led to Sherman’s resignation.

Without running through every single request we made (at least some may not have yielded that much), there are a few worth highlighting.

For example, we know that National had lodged a complaint about the conduct of TVNZ staff. We know this because National itself revealed it and the complaint was later upheld, resulting in Parliament’s Speaker Gerry Brownlee handing down a five-day ban on Sherman reporting from Parliament. And yet TVNZ has refused to reveal the original complaint lodged by National.

This presents an issue. At the time, National was adamant that TVNZ had crossed a line while TVNZ stood by its reporters and said it had a “different view” of what took place. Its reporters, said TVNZ, were asking questions relating to a “legitimate story” and “on behalf of the public”.

Releasing a copy of the original complaint would help the public understand whether there were legitimate concerns about how that situation was handled.

On the issue of the incident in Willis’s office, we asked for further details about what TVNZ knew and how the matter was handled. Again, that the event took place is not in dispute. But if Sherman raised the issue with her manager at the time, as she says, why was it referenced in her public resignation statement almost a year later? Was it the reason for her departure? Had TVNZ dealt with it adequately at the time? Were there other reasons why its political editor chose to leave?

We also know that TVNZ engaged external lawyers to try and prevent details of this incident emerging via another media outlet last year, yet TVNZ won’t say how much that cost the broadcaster.

While TVNZ reminded us this week that it isn’t publicly funded (it’s a state-owned commercial operation), it still has obligations to be transparent. Presumably, it has its own in-house lawyers it could have used. Russell McVeagh will not have been cheap, and yet by engaging the firm the story was kept secret for several more months.

In choosing to reject all of our requests for information, TVNZ said it had considered the public interest but ultimately determined that other considerations were more important.

A spokesperson said: “TVNZ considers that given the information already in the public domain, that interest is adequately met without disclosure of the detailed communications requested and does not outweigh the strong privacy, confidentiality, employment relations, and privilege interests identified above.”

In some instances, this may well be true - and it would have been naive to expect all our requests to have been answered in full without any details redacted. That rarely happens, especially when there are knotty issues like privacy and legal privilege involved.

But is it too much to ask that a public institution that prides itself on asking tough questions of others answer some of them itself? It will be up to the Ombudsman to decide who’s right.

Have you got a media story, tidbit, gossip or pitch? Get in touch with me at stewart.sowmanlund@thepost.co.nz

Student radio institution 95bFM is leaving its campus studio in July.

In other news…

95bFM bids farewell to uni campus

Long before writing for this masthead, I was behind the mic at Auckland University’s 95bFM, which has been on the airwaves for close to six decades. As a host on weekly news show The Wire, I was given opportunities that few teenage journalists would otherwise get - regular interviews with the leader of the opposition, the chance to host a mayoral debate, and my first exposure to the formal complaint process. Thankfully, it was resolved.

This week, it was confirmed that the station will be shifting off-campus to a new home on Auckland’s Karangahape Rd by the end of next month. bFM’s general manager Tom Tremewan says the move is a significant moment for the station. “95bFM has been part of Auckland’s creative culture for 60 years. This is a big moment for the station and for everyone who has contributed to its history.” Go well, bFM!

Horror has its moment

We’ve been in a horror film renaissance for about 10 years now, but arguably there has been no better time for the genre than right now. Two indie horror films from young directors have been blowing up the international box office. A24’s Backrooms, directed by 20-year-old (!!) Kane Parsons has made over US$130m in its first week from a budget of just $10m. Meanwhile, Obsession, helmed by 26-year-old (!!) Curry Barker has outdone its budget about 140 times over - it was made for under US$1m and has earned US$160m.

Meanwhile, if you’re not watching Widow’s Bay on Apple TV then you should be - go switch it on right now and binge the first eight episodes. It’s the best (and spookiest) show on telly.

The Traitors is back - and there’s more to come

The Traitors NZ kicked off its third season this week - the first iteration of the show to receive public money from NZ On Air. It’s off to a great start, and there’s more to come. The first trailer for the upcoming season of The Traitors Australia was released this week, confirming it was also shot on location at Timaru’s Claremont Castle and involved many of the same local crew that worked on our version.

It’s a similar approach taken with both the NZ and Australian versions of Taskmaster - both are shot on location in Auckland with the help of local crew. Clearly, any trans-Tasman rivalry is put to one side when it comes to making top-quality reality TV.