For several months now, New Zealand network, TV3, owned by Mediaworks has been in severe trouble and strife.
It started with the axing of long running current affairs show Campbell Live on the 29th of May last year.
Since then the entire news department has faced trouble with mergers of departments and content. The Paul Henry Show is broadcast on television and radio.
The Midday News was cut, and Nightline was replaced with Newsworthy hosted by Sam Hayes and David Farrier. Last week it was announced by the network that Farrier was leaving to pursue other interests leaving Hayes to front the show solo.
Today Mediaworks announced that the 6pm News was going to be axed. News will still be broadcast at 6pm, however it will now be under the brand NewsHub instead of Three News.
The content will be different to how it used to be. Instead of delivering facts only, this show will have opinions and entertainment mixed in.
Former TV3 presenter Rachel Smalley has weighed into the debate saying that networks need to evolve however based on comments on social media and New Zealand news sites the sentiment is not the same, with people saying they just want the news delivered straight without opinion.
This comes a week after Bauer Media in Australia announced the closure of 44 year old magazine Cleo due to declining sales.
The question I have to ask is, have media executives sat down and asked why people are switching off? Is it because media behaviour has changed? Or is it because the content is no longer up to scratch?
Of course ratings dictate what will be published, however if ratings are falling it is time to ask why rather than starving the public of important news and information. Doing so will only lead to further declines, although that is beneficial for independent bloggers and newscasters who will no doubt capitalise on a growing desire for independently researched and analysed articles.
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