Phillip Crump: Sinead Boucher Buys an Event

Matthew Hooton’s appointment is not a conventional hire. That is precisely the point.

When news leaked last year that Matthew Hooton was being considered for a seat on the RNZ board, my first reaction was: of course he is. The fit wasn’t quite right but the impulse behind it was entirely him.

So the announcement earlier this week that Matthew would be the next Editor-in-Chief of The Post and the Sunday Star-Times didn’t surprise me. In fact, it was exactly the type of provocation that has been Matthew’s trademark ever since I've known him.

David Farrar: Two good appointments for The Post

The Post announced:

Incoming editor-in-chief of The Post and the Sunday Star-Times, Matthew Hooton, has appointed Henry Cooke as political editor and Amelia Wade as Auckland editor.

“Henry Cooke and Amelia Wade are the best New Zealand journalists of their generation and they are only going to get better still,” Hooton said.

Bob Edlin: Hooton shows his editing skills on Page 2 of The Post...

Hooton shows his editing skills on Page 2 of The Post – and the words “NZ Herald” are among the excisions

PoO is wondering about the fate that might befall the Stuff website staffer who posted news of two editorial appointments at The Post. Whoever it was might have provided readers with more information than presumably was intended by newly appointed editor-in-chief Matthew Hooton.

Both The Post print version (on Page 2) and website (here) have recorded the appointments of Henry Cooke as The Post’s political editor and Amelia Wade as Auckland editor.

Peter Williams: Hooton of The Post

A new way for the newspaper industry

Has New Zealand just appointed its first “celebrity” editor?

The quite remarkable announcement today of columnist, speech writer, PR agent and strategist Matthew Hooton to be the editor of Wellington’s Post newspaper has some overtures of former British cabinet minister Michael Gove becoming editor of The Spectator and one time Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne leading London’s Evening Standard.

David Farrar: The Hooton-in-chief

The Post announced:

In a bombshell move, former National Party strategist-turned consultant Matthew Hooton has been chosen as the new editor of The Post, replacing outgoing Editor in Chief Tracy Watkins. He hopes NZ’s powerful institutions are ‘a little unsettled’ by his appointment, and has big plans to accelerate the brand to become Kiwis’ primary news source.

It is fair to call this a bombshell move.

I think it is a very smart, albeit somewhat risky, move.

John McLean: The Pravda Post

The paper propagandizing for a New Zealand neo-Marxist Government in waiting

Pravda was the official newspaper of the Soviet Union’s Communist Party. Although Pravda means “Truth” in the Russian language, the Pravda newspaper wasn’t about truth. Quite the opposite. It was propaganda for the Soviet regime.

Roger Childs: The wokeist ‘Post’ newspaper won’t comment on the real issues

It is very sad that the Legacy media will not cover many topics that affect our democracy and the interests of all New Zealanders. They seem terrified of commenting on Māori issues, presumably because they fear being called “racist.”

Below is a letter to the editor I sent off a week ago. Do readers feel that it is unreasonable and insulting to people who call themselves Māori?

Karl du Fresne: Meanwhile, down a blind alley ...

That worked out well, didn’t it?

Just six months ago, Stuff announced the appointment of Caitlin Cherry as editor of what was then The Dominion Post.

Both she and her new employer made rapturous noises. “We’re thrilled to have Caitlin leading our newsroom in the capital,” cooed Stuff’s Joanna Norris at the time. “She is a fierce advocate for the city and as a lifelong Wellingtonian, she is inherently aware of all that is newsworthy in the city and region.”