After months of uncertainty, NZME’s annual shareholder meeting took place yesterday afternoon at its Auckland offices, in the appropriately named iHeart Lounge.
The Herald’s Shayne Currie described the meeting as ‘chilled out’ due to the icy room temperature but it was an equally good description for the lively, good natured and relaxed discussion observed by an audience of approximately 50 shareholders. Notable attendees included former proprietor Michael Horton, Australian media commentator and investor Roger Colman and Hobson’s Pledge leader, Don Brash.
The meeting did, at times, veer between formality and farce.
After crisp presentations from outgoing Chair Barbara Chapman and CEO Michael Boggs, some of the questions from shareholders were so lengthy that it was difficult to make out whether there was a question in amongst it all, and if so, what the relevance of it was to the meeting.
One gentleman was very concerned about the closure of Marsden Point and the risk that this posed to the country. But despite going to NZME’s offices in Whangarei, he could not find any journalists interested in the issue. Chapman responded that he was definitely in the right place as the room was full of journalists and they would know where to find him if they wanted to follow up.
Another lady who had immigrated to New Zealand from Hong Kong thirty years ago said that she had asked a question at a previous shareholder meeting and had been bullied by several journalists as a result. Chapman apologised if the lady had felt bullied and said that there was no place for bullying at NZME. When the lady clarified that the journalists had in fact been from another publication, Chapman said that that was a relief to hear.
But in so far as the business at hand was concerned there was little new.
Michael Boggs confirmed that operating EBITDA for the first quarter of 2025 was higher than the same period in the previous year.
Boggs also reported that cost reduction initiatives completed in the first half of this year will deliver annualised savings of $12M. This amount includes the $4M of savings previously announced relating, to what he described as, “our refreshed newsroom operating model”.
In relation to ‘the business of journalism’, Boggs reported that the top 10 free stories in 2024 generated 5.2 million page views. Free users were responsible for 59% ($36M) of the Herald’s digital revenue. By contrast, the top 10 premium stories last year generated 800,000 page views, and paying subscribers contributed 41% ($25M) of digital revenue.
The incoming Chair, former National Party Minister, Steven Joyce, gave a short and assured speech - the focus of which was on shareholder returns. However, he did field questions during, and after, the meeting on the proposed editorial board which has been a topic of recent debate.
Joyce made a good point, and one that I thought had not been made enough during the last few months, and that was that editorial boards are not uncommon in publications overseas. Indeed, they are widely considered to represent best practice.
“I wouldn’t fear it. It’s an opportunity to debate editorial policy, an opportunity to support the development of editorial policy,” Joyce said.
Following on from Joyce, Jim Grenon gave a confident speech which I hope allayed some residual fears amongst shareholders. He will, undoubtedly, bring a huge amount of business experience, focus and energy to the Board.
For my part, I am very much looking forward to being part of the editorial board and I am confident that it will operate in a manner which supports, and enhances, the editorial team at the Herald.
Finally, my thanks to RNZ’s Mediawatch for promptly correcting the record on Sunday for a discussion that took place last Wednesday regarding my recent articles on trust in the media which ruffled feathers amongst journalists.
Lawyer and writer Philip Crump explores political, legal and cultural issues facing New Zealand. Sometimes known as Thomas Cranmer. This article was published HERE
After crisp presentations from outgoing Chair Barbara Chapman and CEO Michael Boggs, some of the questions from shareholders were so lengthy that it was difficult to make out whether there was a question in amongst it all, and if so, what the relevance of it was to the meeting.
One gentleman was very concerned about the closure of Marsden Point and the risk that this posed to the country. But despite going to NZME’s offices in Whangarei, he could not find any journalists interested in the issue. Chapman responded that he was definitely in the right place as the room was full of journalists and they would know where to find him if they wanted to follow up.
Another lady who had immigrated to New Zealand from Hong Kong thirty years ago said that she had asked a question at a previous shareholder meeting and had been bullied by several journalists as a result. Chapman apologised if the lady had felt bullied and said that there was no place for bullying at NZME. When the lady clarified that the journalists had in fact been from another publication, Chapman said that that was a relief to hear.
But in so far as the business at hand was concerned there was little new.
Michael Boggs confirmed that operating EBITDA for the first quarter of 2025 was higher than the same period in the previous year.
Boggs also reported that cost reduction initiatives completed in the first half of this year will deliver annualised savings of $12M. This amount includes the $4M of savings previously announced relating, to what he described as, “our refreshed newsroom operating model”.
In relation to ‘the business of journalism’, Boggs reported that the top 10 free stories in 2024 generated 5.2 million page views. Free users were responsible for 59% ($36M) of the Herald’s digital revenue. By contrast, the top 10 premium stories last year generated 800,000 page views, and paying subscribers contributed 41% ($25M) of digital revenue.
The incoming Chair, former National Party Minister, Steven Joyce, gave a short and assured speech - the focus of which was on shareholder returns. However, he did field questions during, and after, the meeting on the proposed editorial board which has been a topic of recent debate.
Joyce made a good point, and one that I thought had not been made enough during the last few months, and that was that editorial boards are not uncommon in publications overseas. Indeed, they are widely considered to represent best practice.
“I wouldn’t fear it. It’s an opportunity to debate editorial policy, an opportunity to support the development of editorial policy,” Joyce said.
Following on from Joyce, Jim Grenon gave a confident speech which I hope allayed some residual fears amongst shareholders. He will, undoubtedly, bring a huge amount of business experience, focus and energy to the Board.
For my part, I am very much looking forward to being part of the editorial board and I am confident that it will operate in a manner which supports, and enhances, the editorial team at the Herald.
Finally, my thanks to RNZ’s Mediawatch for promptly correcting the record on Sunday for a discussion that took place last Wednesday regarding my recent articles on trust in the media which ruffled feathers amongst journalists.
Lawyer and writer Philip Crump explores political, legal and cultural issues facing New Zealand. Sometimes known as Thomas Cranmer. This article was published HERE
4 comments:
Philip, thanks for this update. Does this mean that we are going to finally get some fair unbiased reporting that's not all about how great the far left are and how evil Seymour is? Fair, unbiased and even is all our poor suffering readers want.....it's simple really
Best wishes for your role on the Editorial Board. I’m looking forward to wanting to subscribe to the Herald again. Sincere thanks to you, Jim Grenon and all those who helped to engineer this promising change. As a previous commenter has said fair and unbiased news is all it will take, although I confess predominance of the language 95+% of us speak would be appreciated. It’s much quicker and easier to read the news without lengthy double ups or words and phrases I haven’t got time to decipher. Even better, it leaves more word space for the journalism.
Yeah Phillip. You can start by ensuring the taxpayers union, family first, and other serious organisations get a voice in the paper.
You’re going to have to reduce the away with the fairies (figuratively and literally) stuff in the paper, and blind allegiance to dei.
You’re going to need a strong dose of intestinal fortitude to get your message through — from top to bottom — an indoctrinated, brainwashed activist newsroom
Please do balanced reporting. This govt is building a lot of good that we don’t hear about
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