Staff at NZME have been presented a proposal to cut almost 40 jobs from the NZ Herald, BusinessDesk and Newstalk ZB.
The cuts come as part of a major reorganisation of the Herald newsroom, in order to improve profitability of NZME’s publishing division while ensuring it continues to meet changing audience demands.
Technology to streamline
The proposal includes cutting about 14 reporting and content generation roles and 24 roles from editorial production. It also includes more investment in video news, and a stronger focus on journalism and content that resonates with audiences and subscribers.
Production roles – including copy and layout sub-editors and graphic artists – are set to be cut. Meanwhile, NZME told staff that new technology, including automation tools and operational processes, would be implemented.
Publish-ready material
At the NZ Herald, 14 “desks” are proposed. These would cover specific topics (such as live news, sport, business) and areas (Auckland, Wellington and the South Island). Each will have their own editor and specific targets, such as subscriptions, page and video views. They plan is that they produce “publish-ready” material to reduce the reliance on production journalists.
Operational changes are expected to be in place by mid-March, whereas the changes to the production journalists will be in place by April 30.
The media market in Aotearoa has been a tough place to be in the last 12 months. In 2024, Warner Bros Discovery announced the closure of Newshub as well as cutbacks in other divisions. These changes resulted in the loss of almost 300 jobs.
TVNZ, Stuff, MediaWorks and The Spinoff have also made cutbacks in the last year.