Public trust in the media is vanishing, and One News seems determined to accelerate the collapse.
Its “exclusive” on Education Minister Erica Stanford was less journalism and more a study in how to manufacture drama from a non-event.
The big reveal? Stanford used her personal email to share pre-Budget information. Technically against the Cabinet Manual. But no secrets were leaked. No laws were broken.
Still, One News presented it as though they had uncovered a national security breach.
A reporter solemnly clutched a red folder like it contained nuclear launch codes.
A red folder, similar to the one the reporter used with the email dossier.
Then came the lower-third graphic warning of “hacking concerns” because nothing says journalism like injecting cyber fear into a story with no actual cyber angle.
And just when you thought the performance was over, the anchor turned to the reporter for “perspective” where she admitted that many of the emails were from personal contacts Stanford had known for years.
When your own reporter unintentionally deflates the story while it’s still on air, you don’t have an exclusive. You have a blooper reel.
Newstalk ZB tried to keep the drama alive by calling it a scandal. These days, most of its articles are just warmed-over leftovers from the Herald anyway. Still at least it wasn’t copy from RNZ.
Sure, it was a story, just not one that needed to be packaged like a political thriller.
When I worked at TVNZ as a producer on Close Up, there was a giant sign pinned to the Executive Producer’s wall that read, “Do I care?” It was a simple but powerful reminder for reporters and producers to stop and ask themselves the most important question in journalism: Would the audience actually care?
New Zealand is a small country. Not every day delivers political fireworks. But that doesn’t mean you fill the vacuum with noise.
What’s more disappointing is that One News probably knew this wasn’t a huge firework. But with two 6PM bulletins battling for survival, the temptation to inflate soft leads into exclusives is just too strong.
Viewers aren’t rejecting the news. They’re rejecting being treated like mugs. And if TVNZ wants to be taken seriously again, it might start by remembering that credibility is hard-won and easily lost. I was half-hoping for something more explosive in “part two.” But it never came.
But at least there was the red folder.
