UPDATED: MediaWorks head of news 'moves on'

MediaWorks has announced  group head of news Mark Jennings is “moving on,” after 27 years with the company.

No official release appears to have been issued – instead, a company spokeswoman directed NBR to a story on the company's newly launched integrated news service, Newshub.

That item reports Mr Jennings will be replaced by Hal Crawford, who will be joining MediaWorks "in the coming months" as chief news officer. 

Mr Crawford is currently editor-in-chief and publisher of Australia's ninemsn.

In the interim, Richard Sutherland has been appointed acting chief news officer and will function as a member of the group executive during this period.

Mr Jennings “will remain engaged in the near term in a mentoring capacity with the TV-led flagship brands.”

An internal staff memo about the move from chief executive Mark Weldon, which a source supplied to NBR (see RAW DATA below), says “a clear decision was made to seek a chief news officer with a very strong digital background, as we have a strong internal TV team, and looked to augment, rather than duplicate that capability in our search processes.”

The memo also says that, once Mr Crawford takes up his role, Mr Sutherland will take the role of head of flagship brands, as well as head of content

RAW DATA

Internal MediaWorks staff memo re: Mark Jennings departure from CEO Mark Weldon

Dear All,

After more than 25 years of leadership of the TV3 news, Mark Jennings is moving on.

Mark has made a major, and lasting, contribution to Mediaworks, NZ journalism, and wider NZ society. His legacy in journalism will continue to reverberate through the Newshub in its future.

I personally have greatly enjoyed working with Mark. I believe that the timing of his departure, coming as it does after the successful launch of the Newshub, and at the beginning of a new, digital-led phase, has been managed by Mark to be timing that works best for the company and for Mark personally. He is leaving on an up, and with significant momentum in our news organization.

The Newshub is a core part of Mediaworks future, is at the core of our business, and is set to take further great leaps.

With respect to our Flagship Brands, Story, Paul Henry, and Newshub Live at 6pm, Mark will work closely with Richard and the EPs in the near term to ensure the continual development of our product and audience offerings.

This reflects a very amicable departure, and one that is such we expect to be welcoming Mark back to the Newshub frequently, in particular when the new espresso machine will be installed.

As to what Mark does next – he has a lot of options, including taking some time out and watching his beloved Katy Perry videos, and consuming insomniac proportions of hard news.

Leading the next phase of the Newshub will be Hal Crawford.   Hal will join MediaWorks in the coming months as Chief News Officer. Hal is currently Editor in Chief and Publisher of ninemsn in Australia where he has led substantial audience engagement and revenue growth over the past nine years. With 4.5m visitors per month and a broad range of content, ninemsn has the highest consumption of video (outside of YouTube and video platform companies) in the Australian market.  Hal began his career in newspapers and has worked in Australia and globally in print and broadcast media. Hal has lectured in journalism at Melbourne’s La Trobe University and founded a social media research company, Share Wars.  Hal also sits on the Australian Press Council.

Hal complements a very strong Broadcast team of Richard Sutherland, Mel Jones and all our other senior broadcast professionals. Hal will start in the coming months.

Over the interim period, Richard Sutherland will be our Acting Chief News Officer, and participate fully as a Group Executive over that time. A clear decision was made to seek a Chief News Officer with a very strong digital background, as we have a strong internal TV team, and looked to augment, rather than duplicate that capability in our search processes. Richard will, upon Hal's beginning, also take the role of Head of Flagship Brands, along with the Head of Content role, placing Richard in a very senior position in the organization.

Finally, and most importantly, I would like to say a huge thank you to Mark for all he has achieved for TV3 over the years and wish him all the very best for his future.

Best

Mark