Media Matters: ‘Hurricane’ Jane blows through
NZME's chief executive departs after 18 months without affecting anticipated IPO. With special audio feature.
The resignation of (the allegedly self-styled) ‘Hurricane’ Jane Hastings as NZME chief executive is the major talking point in NZ media this week.
Ms Hastings departs after just 18 months in the top job.
In a statement, her resignation was framed by Australian parent company APN News & Media [ASX: APN] in terms of ‘mission accomplished’: “I am extremely proud of achieving the transformation goals set for NZME and I have complete confidence in the future of the business,” Ms Hastings was quoted as saying.
Given she was widely tipped to have been appointed to integrate and then lead the organisation through an IPO that’s now been shelved (due to market conditions rather than the company’s performance, according to APN), the question of whether it’s actually a case of having accomplished the ultimate mission or more one of no longer having a mission to achieve is moot.
While Ms Hastings did, as the statement notes, organise the business “into new verticals of news, sport and entertainment, which are delivering strong audience growth,” those changes have come at a cost, including the jobs of a number of senior journalists at the New Zealand Herald and senior staff at the Radio Network.
That inevitably has caused mutterings of discontent amongst the editorial rank and file, some of whom claim she has presided over an erosion of the ‘Chinese Wall’ between editorial and advertising departments.
Media Matters also understands that cuts will continue under her successor, chief financial officer Michael Boggs, who had no media industry experience prior to joining NZME from Tower Insurance in October 2013.
The company aims to shed another $10 million of costs this year. Apparently $2 million of these savings will be from newsroom staff costs, including the NZ Herald’s contributors budget being slashed by 25%, a target meant to be met by April.
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Thu, 10 Mar 2016
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Media Matters: ‘Hurricane’ Jane blows through
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