Multitasking viewers take “U” on

Young viewers are keeping their eyes on two screens at once with the “.co-hosts” on the new television channel U.
TVNZ launched U on May 14, targeting 15-24 year olds. Every Monday and Wednesday night a range of .co-hosts go online to chat with other viewers about the shows airing at the time.
Nick Baker is a [...]

Academics urge Government to rethink TVNZ7’s demise

A group of 60 academics that sent an open letter last week to the Government over its canning of TVNZ7 hopes its closure can be rethought and different ways of funding the non-commercial channel found.
Dr Peter Thompson, media studies senior lecturer at Victoria University has been an advocate of public service broadcasting for several years [...]

Auckland dancers bust a big move on US TV show

An all-girl hip-hop dance crew from Auckland is set to rock the stage as the first non-American competitors on MTV’s America’s Best Dance Crew next week.

ReQuest – a group of eight girls, aged 17 to 19 – has fought its way into the top 10 after a series of auditions in Los Angeles. The [...]

Paul Henry: Case of the ‘foot-in-mouth’ disease

Paul Henry has resigned from his post as one of the most provocative television presenters in New Zealand.

The Chief executive of TVNZ, Rick Ellis, accepted the resignation under mass public scrutiny after Henry made two crude remarks on-air within a few days of each other.
Henry had pronounced Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit incorrectly several times in a crass manner, then [...]

Blog: Paul Henry has his supporters too

Paul Henry’s reputation is down the gurgler and he’s no longer a respected broadcaster in the eyes of the nation, but let’s be honest, he’s still got his fans.
Henry, the well-known host of the TVNZ show Breakfast, knows how to put his foot in it.
Firstly, he humiliated an interviewee by pointing out her ‘moustache’ and laughing hysterically over it; secondly, he [...]

Campaign calls for ‘Paul Henry show’

Thousands of New Zealanders have joined a campaign urging Paul Henry to start his own television show following his resignation from Breakfast on Sunday.
Henry’s comments about New Zealand’s Governor General Sir Anand Satyanan and Commonwealth Games organiser Sheila Dikshit, have recieved a lot of public scrutiny both here and overseas.
Auckland Indian Association President, Harshad Patel, [...]

Paul Henry does it again

Seasoned journalist and controversial television presenter Paul Henry has fallen from grace after making racial slurs about Governor-General Sir Anand Satyanand on Monday.
After an outcry from viewers TVNZ chief executive Rick Ellis suspended him for two weeks without pay.
Public opinion on the issue seems to be divided. Many viewers have been waiting for this opportunity [...]

Star returns to Good Morning stage

The first winner of Good Morning’s Find a Star is to return to the show to sing the praises of this year’s winner and the competition which he said helped boost his career.
Last year’s winner, Anthony Utama, will sing at the final of the second Good Morning competition on July 9.
Anthony Utama was a University [...]

TVNZ experiments with Heartland launch

An abridged schedule for TVNZ’s new digital channel Heartland suggests it will be dominated by recently produced reality TV – hardly the unlocking of “biggest untapped resource since the Maui oil fields”, as it is promoted.
The channel will be available only on Sky TV from June 1. The partnership between TVNZ and Sky has been [...]

Media must safety-train journalists, says embassy hostage

Media organisations should not be cutting costs when it comes to the safety of the journalist, says world-renowned reporter Chris Cramer.

Cramer, a journalist for four decades and now the global editor for multimedia at Reuters, says journalism has become more dangerous.

More reporters are being targeted in conflict zones and more are dying in [...]