Media Insider podcast: Stuff's Trade Me deal - will staff share in chief executive Sinead Boucher's lucrative payday?; New NZME chair Steven Joyce opens up in first major interview
Stuff boss Sinead Boucher
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Newsroom
13 hours ago
- Newsroom
It's no longer illegal to be a proudly violent Proud Boy
It started as a fringe movement in the United States – a group of self-described 'Western chauvinists' known as the Proud Boys. A bunch of them were jailed after the January 6 US election riots, and they've now been pardoned by President Donald Trump. Their legacy of far-right extremism, violent rhetoric, and polarising influence has raised questions not just in American courtrooms but on Kiwi shores too. 'They have been organising in New Zealand, although they deny that is the case,' Stuff investigative journalist Paula Penfold tells The Detail. 'Now, the terrorist designation that they were given [in New Zealand] in 2022 has been allowed to expire, and we don't yet know the reasons for that to have been allowed to happen, we don't yet know whether the Proud Boys are still active in New Zealand, but we think it's pretty important that our authorities should find out.' Founded in 2016 by Gavin McInnes, the Proud Boys quickly gained notoriety for their involvement in violent street clashes, their role in the January 6 Capitol riots, and their unwavering embrace of conspiracy theories. While their presence in New Zealand has remained relatively low-key, Paula Penfold, who has been investigating the group for several years, says their ideology has crossed borders with concerning implications. 'We had been working with a researcher of the far right who had been compiling a dossier of people he believed had been sympathising and identifying with the Proud Boys for several years by then, going back to around 2019. 'They had been making posts on social media, which were anti-Muslim, and racist, and misogynistic, and were promoting gun culture. 'They had come up with their own New Zealand Proud Boys insignia. They would attend anti-immigration rallies, wearing the distinctive black and yellow polo shirts of the Proud Boys that they wear in America. 'And they would post on social media, in New Zealand, quite openly at that stage, using the term 'uhuru', which is a Swahili word for freedom that they had co-opted, the Proud Boys, and they would photograph themselves doing the 'okay white power' symbol. And they were reasonably open about it.' She says the March 15 terrorist used that same 'okay white power' symbol in court, before he was convicted of killing 51 people in two mosques in Christchurch in 2019. But when Penfold questioned the Kiwi men online about their ties to the Proud Boys, she was met with quick denials. 'They were dismissive. They said they were just a group of friends. Although they did admit at their height, a leader had been in contact with the founder, Gavin McInnes, in the states, but they denied they were doing anything other than going drinking, and shooting, and hanging out, just as a bunch of mates, a fraternity.' Then, in 2022, the New Zealand government took a bold stance, listing the Proud Boys as a terrorist entity, a move that made global headlines and was praised by anti-extremism campaigners. 'It was big news … and what it would mean in practice was that anyone who supported or funded or participated in Proud Boys actions here was committing a criminal act, imprisonable by up to seven years, so it was a big deal,' Penfold says. But then last month, without any fanfare, the group slipped off the list of designated terrorist entities. The only statement on the move was released on the website of the New Zealand Gazette – the newspaper of the Government. Penfold describes it as bland and brief. 'The designation had been made under the Terrorism Suppression Act … and every three years that designation will expire unless the Prime Minister seeks to extend it.' When asked why he didn't extend it, a response to Penfold from the Prime Minister's office 'didn't specifically answer that' but she was told 'the Proud Boys remain on the radar … and if any new information comes to hand, they will consider it'. 'Those who monitor terrorist organisations and far-right extremist groups … are really concerned at this step that the designation has been allowed to lapse,' Penfold says. So, as New Zealand grapples with the rise of conspiracy-fuelled protests and declining trust in democratic institutions, the Proud Boys' shadow, though faint, may still be felt. Check out how to listen to and follow The Detail here. You can also stay up-to-date by liking us on Facebook or following us on Twitter.
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.'
Scoop
a day ago
- Scoop
Trade Me And Stuff Group Announce Deal Completion
Trade Me Property and Motoring debut on the country's largest New Zealand website for the first time today, marking the formal completion of the deal between the two highly successful Kiwi brands. As announced earlier this month, Trade Me has taken a 50% stake in Stuff Digital, bringing together the largest digital news audience with the leading property, motors, jobs and marketplace portal. 'This is just the beginning of a bold new partnership focused on growth and having a tangible, positive impact on the lives of New Zealanders,' Stuff Digital's Acting Managing Director, Ben Haywood says. 'Today marks the start of where the real work begins, as we look to combine our strengths and lead new directions in the experiences, products and content New Zealanders love best.' Trade Me's Head of Property Alan Clark says while today is a significant milestone for connecting even more New Zealanders with the insights they need to navigate life's big milestones, it is just the start of what Trade Me's investment will mean for New Zealanders. 'Our first focus is on generating the highest quality property market insights and rich content - together empowering Kiwi to feel confident on their property journey,' he says. 'But what today also marks is the start of a powerful new chapter where two of the most trusted brands in Aotearoa are collaborating for the benefit of our audiences, partners, and Kiwi across the motu.' About Stuff Group Stuff connects with around 3.4 million Kiwis every month across its major businesses, delivering quality news, content and experiences that help make Aotearoa a better place. Stuff Digital has unrivalled reach across the nation through number one news website and homegrown social network Neighbourly. Stuff Masthead Publishing connects with audiences through subscriber-led digital and printed metropolitan, regional and community publications, as well as a range of much-loved consumer magazines. Stuff Brand Connections arms advertisers and partners with a comprehensive range of cross-media advertising and Stuff Events solutions. About Trade Me Limited Trade Me is the largest online marketplace and classified site in Aotearoa. For 26 years it has been the place Kiwi look first to buy and sell across property, motors, jobs and marketplace with over 1.5 million Kiwi visiting Trade Me every month.
