Guest Post: Why the appointment of Jason Winstanley to RNZ is massive

A guest post on Kiwiblog by Fish Across Face:

When outgoing RNZ Chief Executive Paul Thompson addressed the Select Committee hearing on the Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill in February 2024, he began his submission with a remark about how timely the various media representatives’ appearances were.

Lindsay Mitchell: Why RNZ can't be trusted

This reporting is amongst the worst I have seen. And it's funded by the tax-payer.

How much beneficiaries are left with after paying the rent

"Beneficiaries are living on an average of $251 a week once they've covered their housing costs, a government report shows.

Graham Adams: RNZ’s te reo policy dovetails with He Puapua

Jacinda Ardern always insisted He Puapua was not official government policy although critics could be forgiven for thinking it was — whether it was the blind eye turned to illegal iwi roadblocks in Northland during Covid or the co-governance provisions under Three Waters.

Similarly, RNZ’s management would undoubtedly deny that its te reo policy closely echoes the He Puapua playbook despite striking similarities.

David Farrar: Radio NZ at it again

So Radio NZ ran a story from Reuters about the terrible hate crime attack in Berlin which saw 1 killed and 29 wounded at a pride festival.

However they removed a key detail from the story. That the attacker was an Islamist. Reuters had this in their story, yet Radio NZ removed it. (see below)

Geoff Parker: Waerenga-a-Hika - The History RNZ Left Out

This article is not intended to deny Māori suffering, but to argue that historical events must be examined in their full context.

RNZ's recent article, The Deadly Battle New Zealand Forgot, is a moving account of the Battle of Waerenga-a-Hika and the suffering endured by many Māori communities. No fair-minded New Zealander would deny that lives were lost, families were torn apart, prisoners were exiled, and communities experienced hardship whose effects continued for generations.

But history deserves more than sympathy alone. It also deserves context.

JC: Impey Looks the Goods at RNZ

There is an app where one can rate a headline for, among other things, readability. Negative headlines do not score well. Positive headlines do. Finding a positive headline for an article with negative connotations requires some thought. The headline for this article reads, at first glance, as though the new chair of Radio New Zealand will do well in navigating the future of the organisation. Far from it. What I mean by my headline is that Brent Impey is ‘one of them’. He seems to think that RNZ, in its present form, is perfectly positioned to carry all before it. I don’t think so.

Guest Post: RNZ National – Trapped?

A guest post on Kiwiblog by Fish Across Face:

This follows on from my recent post about the NZ media ecosystem and focusses more on the central challenge faced by the state radio broadcaster.

It’s now clear RNZ National has defied the laws of gravity, albeit in reverse. A massive increase in funding courtesy of the last Labour government has somehow transmogrified into serious erosion of fortunes – namely trust, and by extension, bums on seats.

Ashley Church: The stories RNZ doesn’t want you to hear

What will it take to get Goldsmith to act?

For some time now, I have argued that New Zealand needs an independent inquiry into the editorial culture, balance and conduct of its two state broadcasters, Radio New Zealand and Television New Zealand.

Both of these Broadcasters have drifted from their traditional role as reporters of the news, into an extreme form of ideological bias which shapes the ways that news is selected, framed and prioritised.

Karl du Fresne: Pushing the views that suit them

It’s verging on dishonesty for RNZ to describe political commentator Janet Wilson as a former National Party press secretary, as it did yesterday in an item about the reported unrest in the National caucus, as if her former status endows her opinion with special force or credibility.
For the record, Wilson described National as a “slow-slip political earthquake” and “a miasma of nothingness”. These were damning words. The unmistakeable implication was that if Wilson is dissing Christopher Luxon then the party must be in a truly dire predicament – because after all, isn’t she supposed to be on National’s side?

Anglo Saxon: New Zealand's indigenous wealth transfer scam

Transcript:
“Radio New Zealand, is also a maori broadcaster in all but name and its granular source of funding.

 
Radio New Zealand is taxpayer funded, but separately from the funding dedicated to other Maori propaganda agencies.

We are in effect paying twice to hear about what a bunch of entitled thieving pricks we are.

The whole idea of Maui broadcasting has become a mission to transfer more taxpayer funds into the hands of Maoris.....”

Click to view  

Ani O'Brien: RNZ’s X/Grok political hit job is not a child-safety story

X is simply the space the managerial class can't control

I want to preface this piece with a concession that RNZ’s reporting has improved a lot lately. Their articles are more fulsome and usually present a variety of perspectives. Their online written reporting is on the whole very good, but unfortunately their radio content is not and hiring John Campbell will make things worse. Private media companies like Stuff and NZME regularly republish RNZ articles to the extent that I wonder why the Herald in particular doesn’t fire all of their journalists and just syndicate RNZ content.

The articles I discuss here are not good examples of the quality of RNZ’s reporting. They are indulgences in reflecting the meta-narratives of the leftist managerial class.

David Farrar: Good for Morning Report, but not necessarily for Radio NZ

Radio NZ reports:

John Campbell is returning to RNZ, as the new co-host of Morning Report alongside Ingrid Hipkiss.

RNZ’s Chief Audio Officer Pip Keane said the field of applicants for role on the flagship news programme was impressive but Campbell stood out.

Karl du Fresne: RNZ's boss gives New Zealand the fingers

A few thoughts on the announcement that John Campbell will take over next year as co-host of RNZ’s Morning Report:

■ RNZ chief executive Paul Thompson had a choice. He could make a polarising appointment or a non-polarising one. He chose the former. In doing so, he gave the fingers to the large (and I suspect growing) number of New Zealanders who neither like Campbell nor trust him as an impartial journalist and commentator. Disregarding RNZ’s obligation to serve all New Zealanders, Thompson made an appointment that he must know will alienate people and almost certainly lead to a further loss of faith in RNZ. He didn't have to do it; there were alternatives.

David Farrar: Media Council finds Radio NZ inaccurate on alcohol reporting

Radio NZ reports:

The New Zealand Media Council has upheld a complaint from the Brewers Association of New Zealand against Radio New Zealand (RNZ), citing a breach of Principle (1) Accuracy, Fairness and Balance in its reporting on alcohol consumption guidelines.

John McLean: New Zealand left's extreme difficulty with violence

Radio New Zealand’s highly selective approach to violence

I’ve just listened to Radio New Zealand’s 6pm news. That news segment covered various items; flooding in Bali, the Maori Party disingenuously purporting to distance itself from Takuta Ferris’ brazen racism…other minor stuff.

What RNZ’s news bulletin studiously did not cover is the killing of a prominent American political and social commentator named Charlie Kirk, a decidedly newsworthy event in the Western world. Kirk has been shot dead within the last day.

John McLean: Shadow Boxing Report On Radio New Zealand

A report with whopping willful blindness

In mid-August 2025, news emerged of a report on the performance of “RNZ National”, Radio New Zealand’s 24/7 “flagship” broadcast channel that includes Morning Report (6am – 9am, weekdays) and RNZ’s Saturday Morning show.

JC: Oh Dear, Never Mind

Spring is upon us but that doesn’t seem to be the case at Radio New Zealand, where the joys of spring are noticeably absent. There is no spring in their step but instead a palpable air of mortification among the people they like to call their kaimahi (staff). As a result of Richard Sutherland’s report on the organisation, according to the Herald’s Media Insider, the kaimahi are harbouring hurty feelings and are distressed.

Mike's Minute: How did RNZ not know about this already?

You may have read a report commissioned by Radio NZ to look into why their operation has become such a dumpster fire.

It said a bunch of stuff that was obvious. One thing that surprised and saddened me though was that most people within that organisation thought radio was dying and audiences were bailing.

Peter Williams: Remember what the R in RNZ is for

If RNZ wanted a warts and all report on its failings and reasons for the catastrophic audience decline in the last five years it certainly received one this week.

The former Head of News for the organisation – a man who’s also had senior or supervisory roles in newsrooms at Newstalk ZB, TVNZ and Newshub – delivered a withering assessment of the state owned broadcaster.

Centrist: RNZ’s one-sided report on Ngāti Tukorehe flag vandalism....

Journalism or taxpayer-funded activism? RNZ’s one-sided report on Ngāti Tukorehe flag vandalism

From reporting to rallying cry

RNZ Māori news journalist Layla Bailey-McDowell reported that Ngāti Tukorehe’s flags were taken down in what the iwi described as a blatant and violent racist attack and an act of terrorism.