TV executive breaks silence on closure bombshell
One of the TV executives who told Newshub staff of the proposal to shut the operation down has told Stuff he doesn’t want to give people “false hope”.
In an interview with Stuff yesterday afternoon – hours after delivering the news to hundreds of his own journalists – the boss of Warner Bros Discovery’s New Zealand arm, Glen Kyne, said that between now and Newshub’s proposed closure in June, there were zero alternatives on the table as it stood.
“We’ve been managing our cost base as tightly as we possibly could have, but we’re at a point where the revenue drop is so significant that we’ve had to make a major proposal today,” Kyne said.
Last year, Kyne met with the thenBroadcasting Minister Willie Jackson to discuss Newshub’s struggles.
Kyne said he never approached the then-Labour government – nor had he gone to the current coalition government
– asking for a bailout.
“More broadly … we were making them [the Labour government] aware of the severe impact of the economic downturn, and it was starting to question the viability of the operation model here in New Zealand,” he said.
Kyne said it was clear that no material steps had been taken by the Government since.
“We have not been expecting any subsidisation from Government. It is a very difficult decision today to move to this proposal. We expect as a result of this proposal that we are going to hear from many people, not just our own staff, but other external stakeholders who will no doubt have a view or potential options that they want us to consider, and we will listen to all people internally and externally who want to talk with us.”
Kyne was asked whether the objective was to save the newsroom, and whether there had been any external conversations about the news arm of the business being bought.
Kyne said he didn’t want to offer “false hope that as of today is not there”.
“It was important we spoke to our people first. We fully expect that and hope that as a result of an incredibly challenging and difficult announcement today that it will also avail other conversations.
“We will engage and progress conversations as quickly as possible from anyone who wants to engage with us.
“We haven’t had any direct offers to do anything differently with the news operation.”
Kyne said conversations would be entertained that could provide a different proposal or solution.
“I’m not going to call them options at the moment, because they’re not on the table,” he said.
Speaking of the potential loss of the Newshub newsroom and journalists, Kyne said it was “horrific”.
“I don’t know how to describe it in any other words,” he said.
He hoped that after the Newshub announcement, there would be a national debate around local media and the health of the sector.
“Things need to happen to allow local media and news journalism to thrive into the future, because it is under threat.”