Colin Peacock

This week the broadcasting watchdog upheld a complaint that comments about Covid-19 death rates by Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking were misleading - and highlighted “the importance of data literacy” in the…

The Australian media’s last news journalists in China quit the country in a hurry this week. For the first time in nearly 50 years there’s no-one from across the ditch covering this critical country -…

This week the New Zealand Herald admitted a story about public resentment of Auckland's Covid-19 lockdowns didn’t quite fit the facts. But it wasn’t the only heavy headline lately about divisions…

The latest survey of New Zealanders’ media habits shows more people are turning to offshore-owned online entertainment platforms while engagement with most local media has fallen. 

One Auckland councilor’s proposal to offload half of a key public asset prompted a talk radio star to say the state takeover of major industries was imminent - drawing a puzzled response from the PM.

The breaking news no-one wanted to hear this week upped the pressure on the government and officials to make more information public - and more quickly. Meanwhile critics have cast doubt on whether we…

It’s three years since ‘Hit and Run’ first put Operation Burnham in the headlines, throwing light on a situation that unfolded far from the public gaze.  The official report is out after a long and…

Bauer Media says some of the nation’s most important magazines will be back within weeks now that new buyers have been found. But four months after it shut down the likes of New Zealand Woman's Weekly…

Turbulent times at the top of the National Party as Todd Muller quit - clearing the way for a new leader who has excited political reporters and pundits a lot more.

Under new ownership, Stuff has stopped farming its stuff out on Facebook and it's hiring several senior journalists. Another part of the mission to win the trust and respect of readers is a rejigged…

Stuff says Facebook is not compatible with its own “core public values” and it's "pausing its presence" on the social media giant. The move has raised eyebrows in the media - and New Zealand’s most…

A 'one-stop-shop' for Māori news based at Māori Television is proposed in a controversial report on the future of Māori media.

Journalists covering the US protests have been targeted by militarised police officers and actual military police alike - and in some places, the protesters themselves. Many blame Trump’s ‘enemy of…

Mediawatch's weekly catch-up with Lately. This week Colin talks to Karyn Hay about reporters caught in the crossfire and others copping blowback from the upheaval in the US - and musical echoes of…

Stuff's chief executive Sinead Boucher has bought the company from its Australian owner Nine Entertainment for $1. It ends years of uncertainty over the publisher's ownership and she says giving staff…

MediaWorks is cutting 130 jobs as it deals with the economic fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Prominent political pundit Matthew Hooton has withdrawn from commentary for the time being because of a conflict caused by his link to the successful leadership bid of National MPs Todd Muller and…

The long-running saga of the mega-merger of our two biggest news publishers is heading for the High Court - not for the first time. Last time round, NZME and Stuff were fighting for the right to get…

RNZ has made public more documents about the controversial changes to RNZ Concert which sparked a public and political backlash in February. They show RNZ made a bid for an extra frequency but backed…

NZME’s plea for permission to buy its rival Stuff for $1 by the end of this month kickstarted confusing counterclaims today which show a deal is far from done. It’s also a symptom of upheaval in an…

Some people couldn’t wait to get a fast-food feed ASAP after the level 3 switch - and the media copped criticism for wall-to-wall on-the-spot coverage of the frenzy. But reporters went beyond the…

Boris Johnson’s Tories in the UK are signalling a “mission attack” on the BBC, centred on a switch from households paying compulsory licence fees to voluntary Netflix-style subscriptions. Why? And…

On Thursday media companies learned some will take away more than others from the government's first targeted Covid-19 crisis package. Meanwhile, the minister of broadcasting has signaled he'll follow…

For weeks our political news has centred on the fight against Coronavirus. But this week pre-Covid concerns emerged in the media to create political headaches for Winston Peters and Simon Bridges

Last Monday's announcement on moving off alert level 4 was a major event for the media. In normal times people aren't so interested in a PM's press conference co-starring top cops and public servants.