fbpx

Movings|Shakings: 5 June

Radio New Zealand picks up Forbes

Following on from yesterday’s widely covered report that presenter Mihingarangi Forbes (Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Paoa) had left current affairs programme Native Affairs on Māori Television, Radio New Zealand has now announced that the presenter would be joining the state-funded broadcaster as a specialist correspondent of Māori Affairs.

Forbes has more than 20 years’ experience in the television industry, having worked as a journalist and producer for MediaWorks and TVNZ. During her stint at MediaWorks, she spent six years working as a reporter on Cambell Live.   

Announcing the appointment this afternoon, Radio New Zealand head of content Carol Hirschfeld said: “Mihingarangi is a skilled investigative reporter with a highly regarded track record. She will significantly strengthen Radio New Zealand’s reportage on Māori issues and signal the organisation’s commitment in this area.”

Earlier today, the Herald reported that Forbes left Native Affairs due to the fact that Māori Television management had interfered with the reporting on Native Affairs. The report did not include any quotes from Forbes, but says that there were tensions between Māori Television chief executive and editor-in-chief Paora Maxwell and the news teams working at the organisation. Quoting an unnamed source, the Herald says that Forbes’ resignation follows on from two instances of executive interference with reports that were set appear on Native Affairs.

(Read the full Herald story here).

Google recruit

Touchcast has confirmed the appointment of Conan O’Sullivan to its Auckland office in the newly created role of experience director.

O’Sullivan most recently worked at Google Creative Lab in London, where led multi-disciplined teams across creative, design and UX to work on global online education products and systems. During this stint, he developed campaigns and activations for Google Science Fair, and activations such as YouTube Space Lab and YouTube Your Film Festival. 

“The role of experience director reflects the company’s pivot towards much broader connected experiences and compliments the skills and expertise already in place across UX, service design, technology and content,” said Touchcast managing director Andrew Hawley in a release.​

Touchcast managing director Will Joyce says that this appointment comes off the back of Mark Coleman’s recent appointment as technical lead. 

“Much like the experience director role, Touchcast’s technical lead is a crucial contributor in the development of human experiences; Mark himself is a unique character, able to navigate the intersection of humanity and the technology that permeates our everyday interactions,” says Joyce.

Coleman has a background in media communications and audio visual production, and has worked on a range of projects—spanning architecture, technical direction and technology among other things—over the years.  

While a local, Coles has also worked in the UK on brands such as Disney, Microsoft, Virgin Media, Westfield and BNZ.

Sweet deal

Account manager Dan Hughes moved to Sugar&Partners from Ogilvy to work on the Blues and Daikin Australasia accounts.

During his stint at Ogilvy, Hughes (a qualified lawyer) spent two years on the Rebel Sport account overseeing new brand work, which featured hard man Brad Thorne delivering a poetic Eulogy to winter sports.

“Dan’s a smart young suit on the rise and is sports mad into the bargain – which is a good fit for the Blues,” says Sugar&Partners creative director Damon O’Leary. “As an Aussie – he’s also going to be great for our trans-Tasman account Daikin.”

Going Loco

Auckland-based agency Uno Loco has confirmed the appointment of Mark Ferguson, who joins as a group account director. 

In addition to appearing in Shortland Street and Lord of the Rings, Ferguson spent the last three years with cievents as business development director (during this stint he won a BDM Global Achivement award for his work on the Flight Centre account).

Ferguson previously also founded and ran events company Ovation Entertainment between 2000 and 2010, and also worked at TVNZ in various capacities during an 18-year stint.   

Speaking on his move to Uno Loco, Ferguson said: “Uno Loco have a wide range of resources including experiential, media, design and events. I can’t wait to show new and existing clients how we can bring all that together to deliver exceptional results. Incentive experiences are a personal passion, so watch this space.”

The Breeze

The Breeze recently named Robert Scott as the new host of the station’s nationwide ‘Drive’ show, starting on Monday, 8 June.  He replaces Mark Leishman, who has moved to new MediaWorks radio brand Magic.


 
Scott has a 30-year career in radio, most recently as co-host of popular Breeze Breakfast show The Two Robbies. Scott’s move to Magic means that The Breeze Breakfast will be co-hosted by Robert Rakete and Anna Thomas from 8 June.
 
Ian Avery, the content director for The Breeze says:  “In tandem with the successful launch of Magic we have been evolving The Breeze brand so it delivers greater value for audiences and advertisers. Robert Scott was our first choice to host ‘Drive’. He’s done an amazing job for The Breeze in the competitive breakfast market, and I am looking forward to seeing our other listeners discover his talent and enjoy his company.  I know Robert is looking forward to the new challenge – and to sleeping in after 17 years of early starts. I’m also very pleased to announce Anna Thomas is moving to a full-time co-host role on Breakfast.  Anna is well-known, and well-loved by The Breeze audience, so this is a seamless transition for the brand and an exciting evolution of the breakfast show.”
 
Scott was also looking forward to the move, saying: “Change from a position of strength is a rare luxury in radio, and I`m proud of what Robert Rakete and I have achieved. On a personal note, my kids (14 and 18 years old) cannot recall a time in their lives when I’ve been around in the mornings, so breakfast with them will be a treat”. 
 

About Author

Comments are closed.