Singapore Airlines bringing world's biggest passenger plane to Auckland route
The A380 is the world's biggest commercial passenger aircraft and the only full-length double-deck jetliner.
The airline told the Herald it will operate the A380-800 on flights SQ285 operating from Singapore to Auckland.
The return service, SQ286, will
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Newsroom
a day ago
- Newsroom
Humans vs robots: Stuff winning early audience battle
New Zealanders are increasingly favouring Stuff over the site for online news, coinciding with the Herald's move to have AI choose its home-page content. The latest Nielsen monthly audience numbers, for May, show Stuff stretching out to a 570,000 average readership lead over the Herald, with RNZ now looming behind the Herald site as a feasible contender in the future to vie for second. While Stuff has edged its leading audience number up from around 2.2m a year ago to 2.33m, the Herald has dipped by hundreds of thousands in that same period from around 2.1m to 1.75m. Since March this year the gap has widened to between 300,000 to 570,000. And, though it's early days, some of that Herald drop-off and the growth in Stuff's dominance has come after the Herald moved early in the year to having almost all of its home page curated by artificial intelligence. At times just three spots for news items were to be selected by staff. Stuff's main news section at the top of its home page is all human-curated. It adopts automated selections for sub-sections below its Editor's Picks strip further down. So could the AI, or colloquially, robot-edited Herald page be contributing to its audience downturn? Theoretically, the AI decision-making ought to precisely reflect readers' interests, interaction and engagement with content on the site. The site ought to maximise its appeal beyond what a desk of human editors could achieve and allow highly personalised menus of stories. But regular readers might have noticed oddities, including stories lingering in spaces high up on the site, certain themes securing prominence almost irrespective of the news agenda, local yokel articles from NZME papers, and a surfeit of regional crime, court and catastrophe. At the same time, when the Herald newsroom laid off 30 senior journalists and digital editors in March, it made clear its remaining staff would seek to produce fewer, better stories. So the volume of new material is likely to have dropped. Interestingly, the daily statistics via Nielsen for page views were almost even throughout last year between the Herald and Stuff, and the Herald led at weekends, but now Stuff can have a substantial lead regularly across the seven days. RNZ, though slightly down in May to a 1.43m average audience, is now in the rare zone of closing in on the falling Herald monthly number. RNZ has risen greatly over the past 24 months, from about 880,000. But its daily page views, which measures stories looked at, are nowhere near as close to the Herald, falling at times behind 1 News' site which is fourth, at 708,000 on the monthly unique reader metric. The Herald is not solely focused on the total audience number for its site because, unlike Stuff, it also has a large paying subscriber base, which brings in millions in revenue. Balancing the levels of 'quality' news held behind a paywall for subscribers and fast-twitch and high appeal content for attracting eyeballs for the open website is a constant challenge for the Herald. However, the overall slippage at the Herald has not gone unnoticed. One staffer told Newsroom: 'There's been a lot of consternation among staff about story numbers dropping since AI took over the homepage.' The Herald has also pivoted some of its editorial effort to the new video offering Herald Now, with new hirings taking up some of the gaps left by outgoing text journalists and editors. The video project is directed at raising advertising revenue from the open site through content attracting high numbers of eyeballs, so in a sense competes with Herald Premium's subscriber goal. When Stuff's owner, Sinead Boucher, announced the May Nielsen results, she emphasised how far ahead her site was over 'its nearest competitor'. 'Stuff Digital's singular focus on user experience and relevant content has seen three months of significant growth with more than half a million more Kiwis choosing for their news than any other news brand.' The Stuff audience performance will be music to the ears of TradeMe executives, who on Wednesday confirmed their purchase of 50 percent of Stuff Digital had settled and TradeMe Property ads and real estate stories would start to appear on the site. Herald journalists have a chance to hear from editor-in-chief, Murray Kirkness at an all-hands meeting set for next Tuesday, and from chief executive Michael Boggs at a quarterly NZME update the next day, July 9. AI to write stories One topic that could be discussed next week is a new Herald 'editorial futures working group' to address the use of AI, proposing to extend the deployment of automation from curating the home page to directly writing stories. The Herald had an awkward false start last year with AI-driven content when the paper's editorial – notionally the editor's daily viewpoint – was shown to have been produced using AI. Kirkness told RNZ 'more journalistic rigour would have been beneficial' and the Herald had fallen short in that instance. Staff were to be reminded of its standards. The NZME-owned BusinessDesk uses AI to create stories off NZX market information releases, and Stuff processes police, emergency and other one-source official releases using a form of AI, checked by an editor before publication. Both the Herald and Stuff have policies available to readers on their sites. Now, Herald staff have been told the site needs to look at using AI for content generation as well. In an email jokingly entitled 'The Robots are Coming Here,' (sic) Matt Martel, the managing editor of Audience and Platform, tells journalists 'We need to operate at speed to take advantage of the possibilities that Al tools offer. 'In the past 18 months, we have built First Gen tools (First Look, First Cut, etc) concentrating on production efficiency. We are now turning toward content generation. 'The risks if we get this wrong are fundamental. 'Our competitors, such as Stuff, are already using Al to generate news articles, and we need to work out the Herald way to do this, and how we will declare what we are doing,' the memo says. 'We're setting up an editorial working group looking at how we quickly advance our use of Al, including for content generation. This could start with processing media releases from official sources in the way that BusinessDesk processes NZX announcements.' Stuff tells Newsroom its views on AI use are set out in this article. Editor-in-chief Keith Lynch: 'Essentially we use AI to process simple press releases (for example police PR) to generate first takes of stories that are then edited by human editors before being published to Stuff. This is to ensure that everything published fully aligns with our code of ethics and high standards. 'Using AI for this type of work frees up our reporters from 'turning around press releases' and allows them to focus on delivering unique journalism – the kind of reporting AI cannot do.' No word yet on the editor's new advisers NZME board director and substantial shareholder Jim Grenon. Photo: NZME While the Herald's editorial futures working group gets into its work, the much-awaited Editorial Advisory Board that emerged during the Jim Grenon-led shareholder push against NZME's board is yet to take shape, much less be publicly announced. The board would in theory advise Kirkness and other editors on editorial strategy. Grenon, a centre-right advocate and a critic of Herald journalism since Covid days, has promised more quality content but also suggested measuring its political leanings, possibly by AI. One of the advisory board members is set to be the former blogger, lawyer and ZB Plus founder Philip Crump, who in the board fight wash-up did not make the cut for the senior directorships. The E Tū union, representing Herald journalists, dismissed Crump's suitability for the editorial advisory role. 'Having worked in the same newsroom as Philip Crump, we do not believe he has the experience, ability, or mana to take on what would be an influential role.' Crump counters that his career in elite law firms overseas and in the area of governance makes him a good fit for the advisory board. As NZME works out what it wants its advisory board to do, and considers the views of Kirkness and others on appropriate nominees, the union has nominated journalist Simon Wilson for one seat. Wilson, an experienced writer and columnist, would be seen by many to be a counterpoint to the centre-right worldview of Crump (and Grenon). Former Herald Premium editor Miriyana Alexander, who drove the hugely successful launch and development of the site's digital subscriptions before resigning last year, is also said to be in the frame for a possible seat. She would likely be warmly received by former newsroom colleagues, including Kirkness, as an editor relentlessly focused on quality journalism. RNZ comings, goings and cuts Incoming RNZ head of AI, Patrick Crewdson. Photo: RNZ Meanwhile, AI is also a top focus at RNZ, with the appointment of senior Stuff executive Patrick Crewdson as the public broadcaster's first director of AI strategy & implementation. Crewdson, a 20-year veteran of Stuff and its allied newspapers who rose to editor in chief of the site, was most recently head of product development. RNZ said: 'Patrick brings a great range of AI skills and knowledge. However, as importantly he understands the pressures of a newsroom and will be able to guide our adoption of AI in a way that follows our deeply held ethical and journalistic standards.' In another major personnel change at RNZ, Martin Gibson, the editor who has led its Morning Report programme on RNZ National for more than 25 of its 50 years on air, will leave in October. Gibson's exit comes as RNZ faces stubbornly declining radio audiences (Morning Report has fallen way behind Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking Breakfast) and pressure from the Media and Communications Minister Paul Goldsmith to boost its listenership and trust. RNZ has repeatedly pledged to act to restore RNZ National audiences but each GfK audience survey brings more bad news. It has suffered badly with the Auckland market and though its online audience (see above) is performing strongly, and on-demand and podcast listenership grows, the radio ratings are an almost intractable challenge. RNZ announced a cost-cutting round after the Budget's $4.6m annual reduction in funding, including an offer of voluntary redundancies and likely falls in external commissions, a health-related payment and marketing bills. One area not expected to be hit is its classical music station, RNZ Concert. Asked by MP Rachel Boyack during Parliament's Scrutiny Week if he could guarantee Concert would be safe from cuts, Paul Goldsmith said: 'I cannot make absolute guarantees because the board is responsible for these decisions,' but cuts were 'certainly not my expectation'. Goldsmith also believed an RNZ proposal not to replace one of two West Auckland AM radio transmitting towers, which could affect a number of community radio stations, would be resolved. 'We're concerned about that. I'm interested in that and certainly in discussions with the RNZ board about that.'
The Spinoff
24-06-2025
- The Spinoff
‘Short-term pain' and long-term fallout as Kāinga Ora scraps thousands of state homes
Nearly 3500 planned homes have been cut from the pipeline in a sweeping overhaul aimed at restoring the agency's finances, writes Catherine McGregor in today's extract from The Bulletin. Thousands of state homes scrapped If you missed the news of massive cuts to the state house building programme, that's understandable – it came on Thursday, just as the country was powering down for the Matariki weekend. As the Herald's Lane Nichols reports, Kāinga Ora is cancelling 212 planned housing projects which would have delivered almost 3500 state homes, with 20% of the agency's vacant land holdings to be put up for sale. The rest will be land banked for 'possible future development', Kāinga Ora chief executive Matt Crockett said. The decision means the agency will need to write down between $190 and $220 million in sunk costs for scoping and planning work. Both Crockett and housing minister Chris Bishop said the cancellations were a tough call, but necessary to restore fiscal discipline to the troubled agency. 'We need to bite the bullet on this' said Crockett. 'There is often some short-term pain that comes with the resetting of past decisions, but it needs to be done.' Impact across the regions The cancellations are widespread but will hit hardest in Auckland, Palmerston North, Christchurch and Whangārei. In Auckland, Onehunga lost 259 new homes across multiple developments, while a $100 million, 16-storey tower in central Manukau has been shelved. Over in Mt Wellington, the Rowlands Ave redevelopment – planned to replace 60 demolished units with 180 new homes – has also been abandoned. In Palmerston North, 245 homes across nine projects have been cut, and in Whangārei, 322 new builds have been cancelled. A planned 108-home village in the Christchurch suburb of Sockburn has also been scrapped. Auckland councillor Josephine Bartley, who worked with residents in Jordan Ave and Rowlands Ave before they were relocated, tells Newsroom's Jonathan Milne many families were promised the right to return. 'I just don't understand it,' she said. 'We have so many people still on the Public Housing Register who need homes. Kāinga Ora's role should be about building homes – what else are they here for?' The big reset The cancellations form part of a wider turnaround plan for Kāinga Ora, which followed a review by former prime minister Sir Bill English amid cost blowouts and spiralling debt. In February, Bishop unveiled details of a 'reset' to refocus the agency on its core role as a landlord, not a developer. The plan also includes shedding hundreds of jobs and offloading high-value properties in affluent suburbs like Remuera. Bishop said the project cancellations and land sales are designed to free up funds to build homes in places where they are most needed. 'Meanwhile, over the next two years, Kāinga Ora is delivering over 2000 additional social homes as well as a big refit programme to bring older social homes up to scratch.' The government has also funded 2,000 homes through strategic partnerships with Community Housing Providers, 400 affordable rentals, and has established a 'housing flexible fund' which will enable 'up to 650-900 more social homes and affordable rentals', he added. The cost to communities As Milne writes in his excellent piece in Newsroom, the topline figures tell only a fraction of the story. Over the past seven years, around 5000 Kāinga Ora homes have been demolished – often with ambitious rebuild plans that never materialised. 'Amid the politics and policy and media discussions of where Kāinga Ora's money has all gone, few are asking where the people have gone,' Milne writes. In Onehunga, for example, where 62 state homes were flattened, the promised high-rise replacements were designed – twice – before being scrapped altogether. 'All these thousands of people moved out to make way for the promise of the new – but it's proved to be a hollow promise.' Those left behind are often confronted by daily reminders of what could have been. 'The last thing you want to see in your communities is big, massive, empty housing lots,' councillor Josephine Bartley said. 'It does something to the people that still live round there, the people that see that emptiness every day.'
NZ Herald
21-06-2025
- NZ Herald
Lotto Powerball winners: Invercargill SuperValue owner thrilled to have sold $15m ticket
The supermarket owner who sold one of last night's $15 million Lotto Powerball ticket tells the Herald he is 'so thrilled' and is planning a small celebration with his staff. Last night's $30m Powerball draw was won by two tickets, one bought by a MyLotto player in Wellington and
