The NZ Herald<\/a> and RNZ had been leaked details of emails inviting journalists to meetings in July. <\/p>\nThe invitations were heavy on HR language and sent a day in advance, with the promise that support would be available and acknowledging change proposals \u201ccan be unsettling\u201d.<\/p>\n
Stuff journalists who were in contact with the Herald at the time were concerned the company was about to announce job losses and cutbacks \u2013 those fears were later confirmed.<\/p>\n
In an email to Stuff staff, Boucher confirmed consultation had started on \u201ca simplified structure\u201d.<\/p>\n
She said the proposal also included plans to invest in production, the company\u2019s Indepth journalism team and in specialist content areas.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe did not comment on the rumours earlier today as \u2013 out of respect for those involved \u2013 we always want to speak to our people first.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know that the reporting from our competitors may, however, have unsettled a wider group of people unnecessarily.<\/p>\n
\u201cBusinesses must always evolve to meet the needs of their customers and for the future. As we have always done, Stuff Group will continue to reshape the business, invest in new roles and new products where that makes sense and this requires change proposals such as today\u2019s. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat doesn\u2019t make it any easier for the people and managers involved. We ask that you please be sensitive to your colleagues if they are part of this proposal and give them space if needed.\u201d<\/p>\n
The job losses are the latest in a series of cutbacks at major New Zealand media firms. Over the past five years, Stuff, NZME, TVNZ and others have all reduced newsroom numbers, as they reshape their business models and in response to challenging economic conditions.<\/p>\n
E t\u016b has been approached for comment.<\/p>\n
Last month, E t\u016b director Mat Danaher said in a statement: \u201cHaving a properly resourced team of journalists and editors is the best guarantee of accurate, distinctive and high-quality news. Technological change can support that work, but it should not be used to create a false sense of efficiency through staff cuts. <\/p>\n
\u201cFewer journalists and editors inevitably means less capacity to cover stories, scrutinise those in power and produce the journalism New Zealanders rely on.\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":"An internal document leaked to Media Insider today reveals 19 existing journalist-type roles will now be reduced to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":583119,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[3225,138,4500,2223,10666,1651,17246,16432,158238,2936,3112,18206,2225,5342,661,1073,111,91184,139,4061,69,1118,5352,1517,3599,19346,1865,102,10119],"class_list":["post-583118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-according","tag-business","tag-changes","tag-confirmed","tag-cuts","tag-digital","tag-document","tag-editing","tag-extent","tag-insider","tag-job","tag-leaked","tag-loss","tag-losses","tag-major","tag-media","tag-new-zealand","tag-newsroom","tag-newzealand","tag-number","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-reporting","tag-reveals","tag-roles","tag-stuff","tag-today","tag-with","tag-within"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583118","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=583118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583118\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/583119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=583118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=583118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=583118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}