“I am sharing it because we must work on this together and get the best outcome for our people and audiences while acknowledging difficult decisions will be made.”
He said RNZ had absorbed a 7% reduction in funding in 2025 by cutting spending in several areas, including marketing and commissioning, and reducing staff numbers by 5%.
In May this year, RNZ’s funding was cut by a further 2%, with the prospect of another 5% reduction in each of the following two years. “Meanwhile, higher inflation is adding further cost pressures.”
Until now, RNZ has been relatively immune from the major cost-cuts that have impacted commercial media firms. While it’s had to trim costs, this is the most significant cost-cutting programme in recent years.
“We will now continue to review all of our costs and find further savings where we are able. However, given that 60% of RNZ’s expenditure is staffing costs, our workforce will need to become smaller,” Thompson told staff.
TVNZ, NZME and Stuff have all made various cost-cutting moves, while Newshub closed entirely in 2024.
RNZ’s flagship Morning Report co-hosts John Campbell and Ingrid Hipkiss and (inset) RNZ chair Brent Impey. Photos / RNZ, Photosport
Thompson himself leaves RNZ at the end of this year; RNZ has been recruiting for a new chief executive.
It also has a relatively new chair, Brent Impey, and a refreshed board with several new faces.
The cuts come just as the broadcaster has announced major changes to its Saturday Morning show, with a single new host set to replace Susie Ferguson and Mihingarangi Forbes, following a seven-week consultation with staff.
The number of staff who work on the show is also being reduced.
“These changes are part of RNZ’s broader work to strengthen live audience engagement while ensuring programmes remain financially sustainable,” an RNZ spokeswoman said last week.
“Moving the programme’s presentation and production to Auckland will also enable closer collaboration with RNZ’s wider audio teams and make the most of our new Auckland facilities.”
Thompson told staff in his email today that as a first step, the company was reopening a voluntary redundancy scheme that was run in 2025/26.
“In the next 10 months we will make a series of small, targeted changes across the organisation and reduce or stop specific activities that are not delivering the best value for audiences – rather than one major change in programming or delivery.”
Thompson said the broadcaster would be guided by its RNZ strategy as it undertook the cost-cutting work.
He reminded staff of the broadcaster’s four strategic goals: increasing trust in RNZ; reflect a changing nation; win audience loyalty with “energy and innovation”; and run RNZ efficiently and effectively.
The company, he said, would be making the most of new data and technology, “improving the way we plan and deliver our work, and focusing our resources where they can have the greatest impact for audiences”.
Thompson also said the broadcaster was “expanding access to AI tools where they can safely improve productivity and continue to develop our trusted digital products and services”.
The job cuts will come into place between now and June 30 next year.
Thompson acknowledged in his email that there was “a lot to digest”. He said he and fellow executives Pip Keane and Mark Stevens would be “getting out to talk with people over the next two weeks to make sure we have these conversations directly with our kaimahi”.
RNZ’s official statement
In a statement to Media Insider, RNZ reiterated some of the key points in Thompson’s earlier email.
“RNZ’s priority is to communicate clearly and honestly with our talented staff and support them as much as possible as we respond to reduced funding,” said the statement, attributed also to Thompson.
“We have already taken steps over the past year to reduce spending, including a reduction in workforce size last year.
“Now, due to a further reduction in our funding this year, and with more reductions indicated for the next two financial years, we need to make further savings to remain financially sustainable and continue delivering on our public media charter for New Zealanders.
“This will involve a reduction in staffing of around 10% over the next financial year, affecting approximately 25 to 30 roles. This will involve a series of targeted changes.”
He confirmed the voluntary redundancy scheme as a “first step”.
Further changes would be worked through carefully, “with fair process and constructive engagement with staff”.
He said RNZ’s focus was “to continue to do a great job for New Zealanders and minimise impact on content while making the organisation more efficient and sustainable”.
“We will continue to prioritise trusted news, information and entertainment, and to work with our people on these challenges and keep them fully informed as decisions are made.”
Approached for comment, Media and Communications Minister Paul Goldsmith said today: “That’s an operational matter for Radio New Zealand to speak to. We expect Radio New Zealand to produce the best results for their audiences within the budget available.”
Budget cuts
As Media Insider reported in May, RNZ has had its budget shaved once again as part of the government’s Budget – a $1.4 million baseline cut on top of a $4.6m annual reduction last year.
RNZ’s then chair, Jim Mather, said that “we will need to make further changes to ensure RNZ remains financially sustainable and can do the best possible job for audiences”.
In last year’s Budget, taxpayer funding for RNZ was slashed by almost $5 million a year – about 7% of its annual budget – for the next four years.
May’s cut, from baseline funding of $65.831m to $64.422m, was on top of that.
RNZ was put on notice about its financial performance in a forceful letter from the Government in March.
Media and Communications Minister Paul Goldsmith. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Goldsmith told the public broadcaster that the Government wanted further savings “to be identified and realised to ensure RNZ’s long-term financial sustainability”.
“It is a vital, ongoing expectation that RNZ delivers improved performance and represents a value-for-money investment for the Crown as owner. This includes right-sizing operations and increasing efficiency to mitigate reliance on cash reserves and the sale of land to fund operations.
“While some cost-reduction initiatives have been implemented, further savings need to be identified and realised to ensure RNZ’s long-term financial sustainability.”
In response, Mather told the Herald at the time that public funding was treated seriously and prudently.
“The operating costs referred to in the letter are for the year ending June 2025, when we were operating under an increased budget and had expanded our services.
“In the current financial year, we are absorbing a 7% funding cut and have reduced expenditure accordingly.
“RNZ has reduced discretionary ($2.5m), marketing ($0.4m) and commissioning spend ($1.5m), reduced capital expenditure with new initiatives to be funded through internal change ($2m) and removed a proposed healthcare benefit and performance-based payments ($1m).
“RNZ has focused its resources, controlled costs, and modernised the business. It has made significant savings and efficiencies while improving services.
“In terms of FTEs [fulltime employees], as of 30 March, RNZ’s FTE was 342 – a reduction of 5.3% from the end of the last financial year. Looking ahead to the new financial year, RNZ will continue to live within its means and focus on providing value to the public through trusted content.”
Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand’s most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor and has a small shareholding in NZME.