'StuffMe' applicants leak independent news start-up's plans

Details of the long-signalled plan of Tim Murphy and Mark Jennings – the former NZ Herald editor-in-chief and the MediaWorks head of news – to launch a news site intended to fill the “serious news” gap were unexpectedly made public yesterday.

Marketing material for their new venture, Newsroom, which touts itself as “a new, independent site doing in-depth news for thinking people” was included as part of the final submission to the Commerce Commission by Fairfax NZ and NZME in support of their merger application.

Its inclusion is meant to demonstrate that “as foreshadowed in Fairfax and NZME's original application to the commission … there are no barriers to entry and businesses that recognise the opportunity to monetise digital news content will make that investment.”

The release of the marketing material came as a surprise to Messrs Jennings and Murphy, with the latter telling NBR that “it had been given to a few corporates and an agency or two in the past week! But we're big enough and ugly enough to know how this works.

“It made us smile actually,” Mr Murphy says. “A couple of things have changed since that presentation [masthead etc] but the rest of it was fine.

“Feel very official being announced by the ComCom!”

Indeed, presented with the lemons of another party leaking their plans, Mr Murphy has been busy making promotional lemonade:

Out of the chaos.... Hope!

Hang on Help is on its Way. https://t.co/3Wxc0YsRG3

— Tim Murphy (@tmurphyNZ) November 29, 2016

Newsroom is intended to launch as a subscription service in mid-February with a free site to follow in March. Revenue sources are listed as:

• Foundation investment
• Enhanced existing revenues from newsroom.co.nz subscribers
• ‘Family of Five’ corporate sponsors
• NZ University partnerships
• NZ On Air funding for digital
• Pre-roll video and banner advertising
• Voluntary audience micropayments.

According to the marketing material, as well as Messrs Jennings and Murphy as co-editors, the personnel for the site will include Melanie Reid as investigations editor, Bernard Hickey as economics editor, Eloise Gibson as environment and science editor and Rod Oram as a contributor.

Business and development support will be provided by “technology sector leaders Selwyn and Craig Pellett.”

It remains to be seen how useful including the Newsroom material in their submission without permission will assist the merger-minded companies to sway the Commerce Commission, given the new venture describes the gap in the media market it will seek to exploit as being the way the “mainstream media have largely withdrawn from quality news about our society.”