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Mediawatch
Mediawatch looks critically at the New Zealand media - television, radio, newspapers and magazines as well as the 'new' electronic media.
Sundays at 9:05am and 10:12pm
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Latest audio
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Pre-budget teasers increase exposure - and scrutiny
These days governments roll out pre-Budget announcements almost daily for weeks in the run-up. It gives their selected plans more exposure at a time of their choosing - but it also attracts greater… Read more
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Bid to backstop local news in tight times
12 May 2024Local newspapers are under pressure and some places have already lost their local news outlets. The Wairoa Star closed last week, but journalists want to keep going. A bid to re-start the Star online… Read more
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Mediawatch: Sunday May 12
12 May 2024Pre-budget teasers increase exposure - and scrutiny; Green MP under pressure over conduct; bid to backstop local news; Gaza coverage attract complaints - and prizes. Read more Audio
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TVNZ news cuts and closures in limbo
10 May 2024TVNZ has been told it failed to fulfil obligations to its journalists when it decided to cut dozens of jobs and close news and current affairs shows. The future of journalists and top-rating… Read more
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Midweek Mediawatch - StuffHub takes shape
8 May 2024Midweek Mediawatch: Hayden Donnell talks to Emile Donovan about new hires for the upcoming Stuff-Newshub 6pm bulletin. Also - TVNZ and the journalists’ union face off over job cuts while the outgoing… Read more Audio
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Stuff announces staff for new 6pm news bulletin
The first details about the TV news bulletin that will replace Newshub at 6 from July have been revealed. The producer - Stuff - has hired several senior reporters and producers from Newshub and will… Read more
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Call for urgent action to save news
New Zealand news media face "extinction within a few years" without urgent changes to media companies, and the laws and agencies that govern them. That’s the stark warning of a new report… Read more Video
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Critics foam over frothy poll coverage
5 May 20241News was inundated with complaints over what the prime minister called "frothy" poll coverage this week. Many saw inconsistency in the backlash, but there was a glimmer of a point under the double… Read more
Coming up
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Mediawatch for 5 May 2024
5 May 2024One opinion poll prompts intense political pushback; new report urges sweeping changes to media, law and funding - and fast; Wairoa Star closes after more than a century in print. Read more Audio
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Midweek Mediawatch - polls, papers and a post-match snafu
1 May 2024Midweek Mediawatch: Colin Peacock talks to Emile Donovan about an MP taken to task about his knowledge of the arts - and a TV producer taking on a funding agency in court. Also: a new political poll… Read more Audio
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Competitive current affairs across the Tasman
28 Apr 2024While TV news and current affairs shows are becoming an endangered species here, they seem to be still going strong in Australia where broadcasters back the shows with big budgets. But intense… Read more
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Mediawatch for 28 April 2024
28 Apr 2024New media minister rolls in after PM's surprise reshuffle; TV news and current affairs on the way down here, but highly competitive across the Tasman. Read more Audio
Mediawatch
Sundays at 9:05am and 10:12pm
Follow this podcast.
- Email mediawatch@radionz.co.nz
- Follow @MediawatchNZ on Twitter
On air since 2001 and as a podcast since 2007, Mediawatch looks critically at big stories and issues in the news right now - and what’s going on behind the scenes across the media.
Mediawatch examines the output of reporters, producers and editors - as well as the input of PR and the ad industry. It also questions the executives, policy-makers, politicians, regulators and tech companies which influence our media today.
Colin Peacock, Producer and presenter of Mediawatch
Colin studied journalism at the University of Canterbury then headed overseas to freelance back in the 1990s before pitching up at BBC News for eight years. He worked for BBC World TV and news and sport network 5 Live before ending up as a producer at the World Service. After a stint at World Update, a co-production with Public Radio International in the US, he returned to New Zealand and came to RNZ in 2003. He’s been producing and presenting Mediawatch since 2007.
Hayden Donnell, Mediawatch producer
Hayden Donnell has been a writer, reporter and editor for news outlets including the New Zealand Herald, TVNZ, RNZ and Newshub. In recent years he’s also worked for The Spinoff, where his story on the making of Kim Dotcom’s much-maligned album Good Times won a Voyager award for best entertainment feature. He also presented the web series Get It To Te Papa, which follows his quest to get underappreciated artefacts into our national museum. He joined the Mediawatch team at the beginning of 2020.