Stories by Hayden Donnell

The associate justice minister was put through through a tough examination on TVNZ's Q+A last weekend over past and present statements on guns laws. But not every minister's recent announcements on…

In this week's edition of Midweek Mediawatch, Hayden Donnell talks to Emile Donovan about the Herald backing away from running another ad from Hobson's Pledge, a question going begging in the coverage… Audio

A rancorous debate over an Olympic boxer and violent riots in the UK both trace back to rampant misinformation online -  and one social media platform in particular.

A New Zealand Herald editorial written with the help of artificial intelligence has raised questions about how our media should use the technology for journalism - and how much their consumers should…

The New Zealand Herald’s publisher NZME says it should have employed more “journalistic rigour” when it used artificial intelligence tools to create an editorial that appeared in the Weekend Herald…

In this week's Midweek Mediawatch, Hayden Donnell talks to Emile Donovan about the Herald using AI to write an editorial - and delves into the media's disappointment over our lacklustre Olympic medal… Audio

Air NZ has often had an easy ride from our media. But with domestic airfares spiking, that's starting to change.

In this week's Midweek Mediawatch, Hayden Donnell talks to Emile Donovan about an emerging media consensus over our malfunctioning Defence Force aircraft, how rude words slipped though in music on… Audio

A journalist kicked out of his local café kicked off hot debate in the media this week, and Gen Z copped criticism in the middle of all that - and not for the first time. But the appetite for a…

In this week's edition of Midweek Mediawatch, Hayden Donnell talks to Emile Donovan about the government's latest reason for not funding 13 cancer drugs, a mammoth loss expected at TVNZ, AI faking the… Audio

Many media outlets reported interesting poll findings this week about using emojis at work. The only problem: the poll was almost meaningless, statistically-speaking. But it's far from the first time…

Midweek Mediawatch: Hayden Donnell and Emile Donovan apologise poetically to a small Tararua seaside settlement inadvertently insulted by RNZ online. Also: Stuff launches crime podcasts you pay for -… Audio

A plan to update the system for regulating our media content has been running under the radar for years. Some agencies that do the job now have backed the move to one single body, but this week the… Video

Midweek Mediawatch: Hayden Donnell talks to Emile Donovan about new hires for the upcoming Stuff-Newshub 6pm bulletin. Also - TVNZ and the journalists’ union face off over job cuts while the outgoing… Audio

1News was inundated with complaints over what the prime minister called "frothy" poll coverage this week. Many saw inconsistency in the backlash, but there was a glimmer of a point under the double…

In this week's edition of Midweek Mediawatch, Hayden Donnell talks to Emile Donovan about the departure of broadcasting minister Melissa Lee - and the arrival of the next one Paul Goldsmith. Also: a… Audio

As another report shows another decline in New Zealanders' trust in the news, two editors sat down with Mediawatch to discuss the findings and what could be done to turn things around.

Warner Bros. Discovery has confirmed its plans to shut down Newshub, including its website and all TV news shows by July 5. 294 staff will lose their jobs. The company says no deal is in place yet…

Breaches of the broadcasting standard for discrimination and denigration are rare in news media - but hosts on just one network have now done it three times in the past four years. 

There were howls of outrage when SailGP cancelled racing on Saturday after a Hector's dolphin was spotted on the course. But some of the critics were missing important context which one journalist has…

Midweek Mediawatch - Mediawatch’s weekly catch-up with Nights. Hayden Donnell talked to Emile Donovan about Winston Peters attacking the news media in his State of the Nation speech - and the death of… Audio

Artificial intelligence tech threatens to take our eyeballs even further away from the outlets which produce news - but it’s also a tool they can use to make more of it. This week Stuff - which has… Audio

TVNZ is shutting down Sunday, Fair Go, 1News at Midday and 1News Tonight in an effort to keep its business "sustainable" in a declining advertising market for broadcast news.

Just a week after Warner Bros. Discovery's shock announcement that it plans to shut down Newshub, TVNZ has announced it intends to cut dozens of jobs.

Warner Bros. Discovery’s decision to shut down Newshub was met with mourning within the media - and also concern about what could replace it in the media ecosystem Audio