An Investigative News Media Blood Bath |500 Words
By Alastair Thompson
Last week was a bad week for NZ Media. And for much more than just the announced "review" of Campbell Live.
One of NZ's best newspaper editors Tim Murphy resigned as editor of the NZ Herald. According to sources he decided to go
over differences in opinion on how the editorial side of NZME. was being managed by its CEO Jane Hastings. Its an
interesting story which I go into in detail in the second part of this article.
For working journo's the other shocking public news in the week was the decision of Phil Kitchin to take up a job with
Paula Bennett in the Beehive.
The reason this news is notable for media old-timers is that Phil is also a complete legend of investigative journalism
- probably the longest serving investigative reporter in the Fairfax stable - he is responsible for a bunch of huge
Scoops, the biggest being exposure of the rape culture being perpetrated inside the Police Force and the case of Louise
Nicholas.
Bit Phil is not the only leading Fairfax investigative journalist who has left the publisher recently.
Michael Field - who recently published an in-depth expose of fisheries abuse in the Pacific Ocean - has resigned.
Scoop understands he was effectively forced out in the fall-out which followed a legal threat from a Kiwi businessman
and one-time a minor Russian oligarch - Stephen Jennings - who has recently got himself into a spot of bother in Africa.
You can read the apology here.
While hanging out an investigative journalist when a news organisation is threatened is not uncommon, when it happens is
particularly bitter blow. For the same reasons that police investigators need their superiors to play the role of
protector in TV dramas, so do editors.
Dig a bit deeper at Fairfax and you discover that in the space of a few months they have lost several more senior
reporters.
According to inside sources the driving force behind this has been the rise of Stuff the Nation as a priority for the
organisation. Hank Schouten, Tim Hunter and Tim O'Donoghue have also gone, and legendary sports editor Trevor Mckewen
apparently walked out when he saw what was happening.
There have been more Fairfax casualties in the South Island and according to an unconfirmed report yet another
redundancy meeting was held in the Wellington based group sub-hub yesterday.
All of which goes a long way to explaining why Paul Thompson, the former Group Editor at Fairfax, told RNZ staff last
Wednesday that they were very lucky they were working for a publicly funded broadcaster with no exposure to the
advertising market.
The Role Of Sky City In Tim Murphy's departure
Unquestionably the best real deal investigative crew in NZ at the NZ Herald. The Herald is home to David Fisher, Jared
Savage, Phil Taylor and Matt Nippert whose depth of investigative experience is unmatched in NZ media. Backed up by an
experienced Gallery crew it has arguably been the NZ Herald that has been holding back the barbarians at the gates of NZ
Media.
And because of this the reasons behind Tim Murphy's departure are interesting.
Also interesting was the timing, on the day that the Campbell Live story broke.
The explanation for Murphy's departure that follows is not sourced from him.
The story begins with the appointment of Jane Hastings.
Her predecessor Martin Simmons was an old time journalist. For much of his lengthy period as editor of the NZ Herald
Martin was Tim's boss. Martin was a believer in the old-school idea of editorial separation. Tim himself was at the NZ
Herald for more than 30 years, the first two thirds of which he spent as a front line reporter. Jane Hastings came in
with a background more in Radio and marketing than news.
Tensions quickly emerged over The Radio Network and its competition Media Works.
For years there had been an unwritten rule at The Herald that TRN and The Herald were allowed to slag each other off -
and they did so - a lot. They did this partly because they were commercially joined at the hip - in order to be seen to
be independent and free.
But under Hastings that has changed. Plugs for TRN hosts and initiatives and reporting anything Mediaworks was doing,
except negatively, was discouraged.
According to Scoop sources Tim tried hard to resist commercial demands from the publisher - and it eventually ground him
down - and this ongoing battle is held by many to be the reason for his departure - a departure which was not a surprise
to many.
There is one example of editorial pressure being applied which is a good example of the genre.
In October last year Anne Gibson wrote this story : "Tears flow from worker at SkyCity meeting", the union had turned up and spoken about work conditions at NZ's gambling giant, the highly politically connected Sky
City Casino company.
Anne Gibson, wife of NBR Managing Editor Neville Gibson is a hugely experienced business reporter and lightyears away
from wet when it comes to business matters. Sky City was livid. They wanted an apology. (It's worth pointing out at this
point that Sky City's PR chief is former Christchurch Press Political Editor Colin Espiner.)
Sky city went over Tim Murphy's head direct to Jane Hastings. In the wash up Tim apparently looked at the story closely
and decided that there was nothing in it that warranted an apology. But then some strange events occurred. A senior
(unnamed) Herald editorial staff member was sent over to Sky City to discuss the story. And shortly after a right of
reply editorial piece appeared in the paper in which Sky City discussed its contributions to the community.
Now this Sky-City story is not a huge scandal. It is in fact typical of how these things work.
NZ's business leaders have a love hate relationship with the media - which is for the most part rather naïve and
remarkably self-interested.
Fair-cop is a concept that appears to disappear from the lexicon once salaries cross the $300k a year mark. And
political leaders are no different. With great responsibility often comes great hubris.
But this background story about Tim Murphy's departure is useful as an example of what happens in media organisations
when they are under financial pressure. The barriers which protect independence and truth get attacked all the time.
They stand a chance of remaining in place if they are defended by experienced media players - but there is a constant
tension.
All news organisations in NZ are under financial pressure and in these circumstances it gets worse. The barriers are
coming down. NZ's media companies used to be managed by news professionals, ex journalists. Now they aren't. This is
progress. However it comes with consequences.
Editorial excellence in news can only be maintained if journalist are empowered to work with out fear or favour.
And that is simply not possible if NewsRooms are run by marketing and money people.
- Alastair Thompson, 15 April, 2015