Hooton, who is not trained as a journalist, himself said in the statement: \u201cSome may see this as a bold appointment …\u201d<\/p>\n
He is a former Young Nat who has worked for the party under the leaderships of Jim Bolger, Don Brash and Todd Muller in various roles; he is also a former adviser for Act.<\/p>\n
Hooton was an outspoken advocate for the National Party caucus to replace Simon Bridges with Muller in 2020, a leadership spill that ultimately ended painfully and dismally for Muller and the party.<\/p>\n
The new editor in chief of The Post, Matthew Hooton.<\/p>\n
Approached for comment on Hooton\u2019s appointment today, Bridges said: \u201cOutstanding.\u201d<\/p>\n
He later added: \u201cPolitical reporting needs a bit of a shake-up. It\u2019s got a little staid and predictable. Whatever anyone thinks of Matthew, he\u2019ll bring some higher-order thinking which New Zealand badly needs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Luxon criticism<\/p>\n
More recently, Hooton has not held back in his Herald columns from criticising the style and leadership of Prime Minister Christopher Luxon \u2013 amongst occasional praise, as well.<\/p>\n
As well as his centre-right commentary, Hooton has been no fan of the public service in Wellington, or its own council.<\/p>\n
He told The Working Group weekly political podcast in 2022: \u201cWellington is a complete basket case. It\u2019s filled with absolute imbeciles and losers who run the Government departments. Then you\u2019ve got a whole lot of people who vote for Jacinda Ardern. So it\u2019s got absolute imbeciles. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd on that council in Wellington, it\u2019s dominated by these flaky woke, ludicrous Green, left-wing virtue-signalling clowns and so Wellington has the city it deserves. Obviously, I wish even more harm upon it; I hope they continue to vote the way they do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stuff said Hooton \u2013 who is a doctor of philosophy and has spent much of the last 14 months out of New Zealand as a visiting associate professor at the National University of Mongolia in Ulaanbaatar \u2013 would take the editorship later this month.<\/p>\n
Stuff owner and chief executive Sinead Boucher. Photo \/ Michael Craig<\/p>\n
\u201cFew people understand power in New Zealand as well as Matthew does,\u201d said Stuff owner Sinead Boucher.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has lived and breathed political strategy and spin for most of his career, and he knows institutional self-interest better than most. He is also hugely well respected in business circles for his rigorous analysis of the issues facing the country.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said Stuff wanted an editor with energy, curiosity, urgency and a deep sense of what matters to New Zealand.<\/p>\n
\u201cMatthew is someone who uniquely embodies those qualities, and he has a clear understanding of the critical role independent journalism plays in the national conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hooton has been approached for comment.<\/p>\n
In the same statement, he said he was excited.<\/p>\n
\u201cEditors need to make difficult and unpopular decisions, withstand pressure, defend journalists, take risks and publish work powerful people dislike,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome may see this as a bold appointment, and I\u2019m well aware that it comes with ongoing scrutiny.\u201d<\/p>\n
He told Stuff\u2019s Lloyd Burr: \u201cI\u2019d hope that the powerful institutions of New Zealand \u2013 whether that\u2019s the government, the opposition, union bosses, business leaders, sports administrators or arts administrators \u2013 are a little unsettled by the appointment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Boucher told Burr that Hooton had been approached through a mutual friend a month ago. \u201cHe really understands what the role of an editor is, as very different from the role of being a columnist. We have a really strong code of ethics and conduct that\u2019s core to everything we do and Matthew absolutely understands that and is committed to it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u2018Good luck … he\u2019s going to need it\u2019<\/p>\n
The Post\u2019s newspaper will soon be printed in the South Island – its print plant is moving location from Petone in Wellington after more than 35 years, after businessman and outspoken Stuff critic Troy Bowker acquired the building.<\/p>\n
\u201cGood luck to Hooton as editor,\u201d Bowker told Media Insider today.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s going to need it \u2013 trying to (literally) sell yesterday\u2019s news and relying on the ferry, which is notoriously unreliable.\u201d<\/p>\n
What\u2019s your view? Have your say – email shayne.currie@nzme.co.nz<\/p>\n
The Post\u2019s business, economics and political editor, Luke Malpass, moves into the associate editor role.<\/p>\n
With the changes, Hooton will no longer be a Herald columnist.<\/p>\n
According to his website \u2013 in which he outlines his skills and background as a strategic consultant \u2013 Hooton has \u201cextensive experience in the banking, telecommunications, agriculture, forestry, fishing, mining, heavy manufacturing, ports, electricity, professional services, arts and M\u0101ori-economy sectors\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is well connected with the most senior figures in all three parties in New Zealand\u2019s centre-right National-Act-NZ First Coalition Government and with the Opposition Labour Party. He advised Wayne Brown\u2019s successful campaign and transition to become Mayor of Auckland, New Zealand\u2019s largest city by far,\u201d says the website.<\/p>\n
\u201cMatthew worked with every Australian bank; New Zealand\u2019s largest company, the Rank Group; Rio Tinto; major East Asian ports; and the largest and most commercially successful M\u0101ori tribes. He assisted with regulatory matters for Zespri and the creation of 2degrees. <\/p>\n
\u201cFrom 2000-2002, he was part of the project team which achieved government, parliamentary, shareholder and public support for the creation of Fonterra, New Zealand\u2019s second-largest company.<\/p>\n
\u201cMatthew\u2019s early career was as a press secretary and speechwriter in New Zealand\u2019s reformist Bolger Government in the 1990s, working in the education, agriculture, forestry and international trade portfolios.\u201d<\/p>\n
Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hooton, who is not trained as a journalist, himself said in the statement: \u201cSome may see this as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":477615,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[91332,95,17623,1558,189701,208883,2740,10938,48546,2936,3369,1073,3556,111,43,21031,139,69,1118,240463,4762,18154,3117,42847,55629,240462,95836,240464,10809,223,3114,4767,52],"class_list":["post-477614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-academic","tag-and","tag-appointed","tag-been","tag-columnist","tag-editorinchief","tag-former","tag-herald","tag-hooton","tag-insider","tag-matthew","tag-media","tag-national","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newspaper","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-operative","tag-party","tag-political","tag-post","tag-scholar","tag-staffer","tag-startimes","tag-strategist","tag-stuffowned","tag-sunday","tag-the","tag-website","tag-weekend","tag-wellington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=477614"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477614\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/477615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=477614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=477614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=477614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}