WELLINGTON, Feb 28, 2024 (AFP) – US entertainment giant Warner Bros Discovery announced plans to shutter major New Zealand news outlet Newshub Wednesday, in what the deputy prime minister called a “disaster for this country’s democracy”.
Citing cratering advertising revenues, the US firm said it was closing “all Newshub’s multi-platform news operations” in June, with a reported loss of about 300 jobs.
The announcement effectively spreads the impact of massive recent US media cost-cutting beyond America’s shores.
But Deputy Prime minister Winston Peters told local media the move was an “absolute disaster” for the individuals involved and a “disaster for this country’s democracy”.
Newshub is one of two major players in New Zealand’s free-to-air news television market.
Its demise could leave public broadcaster TVNZ with a virtual monopoly.
“We are acutely aware of our position in the local media landscape and what this means for our people, and for the country as a whole,” Warner Bros Discovery’s Asia Pacific president James Gibbons said in a statement.
“Advertising revenue in New Zealand has disappeared far more quickly than our ability to manage this reduction, and to drive the business to profitability,” Gibbons added.
“Everyone can see that the media sector, here in New Zealand, and around the world is facing some very tough circumstances.”
The announcement comes on the back of a turbulent few years for US news outlets, which have cut tens of thousands of jobs.
In many cases, newspapers and news websites are owned by larger corporations looking to shed loss-making and costly-to-run news operations.
But hollowing out newsrooms that hold the powerful to account has raised concerns that the cuts could weaken democracies.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon told local media he had spoken to the company’s chief executive to “understand the rationale for the decision”.
Newshub’s Wellington bureau chief Caitlin Cherry called the news “very sad” and said “there are a lot of pretty devastated staff” in a social media post.
The NZ Herald, a major daily newspaper and website, reported that 300 jobs would be lost, including about 200 journalists — a huge number for a country with a population of five million people.