Colin Peacock

A review of the Cyclone Gabrielle response found the emergency management response was not fit for purpose - and not good for media providing critical 'real time' coverage of the disaster. But one…

Controversial comments on co-governance, confusing criticism of the media earned the NZ First’s leader a week’s-worth of headlines and airtime - as well as the unauthorised use of an old English punk…

The future of TV news and current affairs is in the balance at our two biggest  TV broadcasters - both desperate to cut costs as their revenue falls. The government says it’s now preparing policy to…

Midweek Mediawatch - Mediawatch’s weekly catch-up with Nights. Colin Peacock talks to Emile Donovan about a manic Monday afternoon of news - cricket, Oscars, terror in the skies . . . and the…

TVNZ’s proposals to balance its worsening books by killing news and current affairs programmes mean New Zealanders could end up with almost no national current affairs on TV within weeks. It’s a…

TVNZ is shutting down Sunday, Fair Go, 1News at Midday and 1News Tonight in an effort to keep its business "sustainable" in a declining advertising market for broadcast news.

Just a week after Warner Bros. Discovery's shock announcement that it plans to shut down Newshub, TVNZ has announced it intends to cut dozens of jobs.

Last week a plan to completely close Newshub and TVNZ’s big losses and a slump in revenue rocked the media. News on Wednesday of an announcement on Thursday about the future of news at the state-owned…

For years news media bosses warned the creaking business model backing journalism would fail at a major local outlet. It finally happened this week when Newshub’s owners proposed scrapping it. Then…

For years news media bosses warned the creaking business model backing journalism would fail at a major local outlet. It finally happened this week when Newshub’s owners proposed scrapping it. Then…

Warner Bros. Discovery plans to close its Newshub operation on June 30, ending its TV news broadcasts and online news. The company has blamed an economic downturn and decline in advertising. Around…

Last week the great and good of New Zealand’s news media urged MPs to back a law change to make Google and Facebook pay them for their news. They say the income could be critical to the survival of…

Media bosses warned MPs this week journalism is in jeopardy here if they don't back a Bill making offshore tech giants pay for news carried on Facebook and Google. It's based on laws already in place…

Media bosses sounded a warning in Parliament today about journalism in jeopardy and the potential damage to democracy if the Government doesn’t back a Bill making offshore tech giants pay for their…

In past years some media outlets were ambivalent about Waitangi Day - some even hostile at times. But new moves by the new government and a strong pushback from Māori gave it an extra edge this…

Sky TV became the big beast of pay TV by keeping a stranglehold on exclusive live rights to the country's most popular sports for paying subscribers. This week it suddenly announced top rugby, netball…

Midweek Mediawatch - Mediawatch’s weekly catch-up with Nights. Colin Peacock talked to Emile Donovan about just-announced changes to RNZ National's schedule and an RNZ news story last weekend which…

The summer holidays are usually a dead zone for domestic political news - but the unseasonal and unexpected downfall of Golriz Ghahraman bucked the trend this month. Media copped criticism from some…

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, predictable reports of shark sightings signalled the start of the summer silly season. And with water running out in the capital, and a…

A special edition of Mediawatch looking back on the year in the media - ending with the Mediawatch five-minute mashup of 2023’s news.  

Five years ago Dr Merja Myllylahti warned our news media were becoming dangerously dependent on global digital platforms which gave them online audiences but undercut their income and didn’t seem to…

Wellington’s mayor is under pressure after acknowledging an alcohol problem. Her admission was prompted by media questions about drunken ‘antics’ based in part on a reported recording which no media…

The chief of the country’s most powerful media watchdog says we need new laws now to hold media to account in future. The outgoing government had a plan for one single body to oversee rules for all…

Midweek Mediawatch - Mediawatch’s weekly catch-up with Nights. Colin Peacock talks to Mark Leishman about the ongoing process of forming a new government testing the patience of political reporters -…

As we wait for a new government, one election did deliver a clear-cut result this week - Forest and Bird's Bird of the Century poll. The winner had considerable offshore input thanks to a celebrity…