After farewelling Geoff Robinson and Simon Mercep yesterday, today is the beginning of a new era for Radio New Zealand’s flagship news programme, Morning Report. Taking over the helm are Susie Ferguson and Guyon Espiner, and this morning, Elle Hunt and Megan Whelan will be going along for the ride.
9am...After some listener feedback, and hearing from the gentoo penguin again, they’re done. Susie and Guyon shake hands, and Guyon gives a thumbs up to a a well-wisher. The Morning Report team, and the Chief Executive, Paul Thompson head into the studio for a debriefing. What did you think? Let us know, via email, Facebook, or Twitter.
8:40...Te Manu Korihi news has a story about Maori and Asian people facing discrimination: The Human Rights Commission’s latest review on race relations shows Asian people and Maori reported the highest rates of discrimination in 2013. The race relations commissioner, Dame Susan Devoy, says nearly 500 496 race related complaints were received by the commission last year, a third of which centred on workplace racism or discrimination in seeking work. Maori reported the second highest rate of discrimination at 15.7%, just behind Asian people, at 15.9%.
8:34...Steve Wilde in Queenstown has a package about roads: Farmers, rural councils and business leaders are joining forces to fight a billion dollar redistribution of road funding to the big cities, and in particular to pay for the Roads of National Significance. Federated Farmers says get people who use the road to pay the road.
8:30...Headlines with Nicola Wright: The Building and Construction Minister, Maurice Williamson, says he will not be making any changes to a goverment scheme to help repair leaky homes, despite its low uptake.
Sir Peter Jackson's multimillion-dollar private jet is being used in the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane. The pay-as-you-go power company, Glo-Bug says it is trying to rectify a situation where it told customers they would have to pay one-hundred-and-ten dollars for a written statement. NATO foreign ministers have agreed to suspend all practical civilian and military co-operation with Russia, saying its annexiaton of Crimea is the gravest threat to European security for a generation.
8:19...On now, more on the the full transcript of Flight MH370, coming up, whaling, and an increase in the amount of land and sea available for oil and gas exploration.
8:14...A pay-as-you-go power company has done a u-turn after being accused of profiteering from poverty. Glo-bug was charging one-hundred and ten dollars for statements Work and Income required to get beneficiaries extra help with their power costs. The company says it will no longer implement the charge. But an advocate, Suzanne Paul, says she was told on every occasion she contacted the company in recent months that the charge applied. She says people using the company would be people having trouble paying ttheir monthly power bill, and wouldn't have the money to pay the fee.
7:54...David Donaldson, Steve Roche and Janet Roddick of Wellington based composers Plan 9, join Susie in the studio. They say they went back and listened to the old themes, and wanted to take a page out of that history. Steve Roche says it’s a big job – it serves a big purpose, and is an important 10 seconds. They say it was a big responsibility. “You’re a serious news programme, aren’t you, so you’ve got to have some instrumentation that sounds like ‘things are going to be important today’, and you need some drive, so you have to get some good percussion in there, and they wanted a track that sounded like it was made in New Zealand,” says Janet Roddick.
Here it is again:
7:28...Foreign-trained doctors who've sat and passed a key medical exam to work in New Zealand are frustrated they can't find work and are taking a case of discrimination to the Human Rights Commission. The executive chair of Health Workforce New Zealand, Des Gorman, tells Susie Ferguson DHBs have ended up with a glut of British and Irish registered medics they had recruited in the interim. He says the priority is New Zealand students studying in New Zealand medical schools. He says there is a competition for jobs.
7:15...Housing Minister Maurice Williamson tells Guyon Espiner says it’s early days yet for a Government scheme to help repairs to leaky homes. He says it’s just one alternative, and it’s the first time the Government has entered the market in this way. “There were a lot of advisors within the bureacracy saying you shouldn’t be doing this, the government’s got no responsibility....” Mr Williamson says will there be no changes to the package – it’s the best agreement he could get in Cabinet. It's an aggressive interview, well-handled by both.
7am...Leading the news this morning, Sir Peter Jackson’s multimillion-dollar private jet is being used in the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane, fewer leaky homes than expected are being fixed under the Government’s scheme, and a Power company is accused of profiting from the poor.
6:59...The birdcall is the Gentoo penguin.
6:38...Elle Hunt pops into the studio to take a photo. She reports everyone is very “focussed”.
Wellington Girls' college students Photo: Lena Hesselgrave/The Wireless
6:30...The hosts take a break, while Te Manu Korihi news plays, and editor Martin Gibson takes some scripts into the studio.
People could be late to work for the second day in a row.
6:15...Fifteen minutes into the new show, it’s time for Pacific news with Moera Tuilaepa-Taylor. One RNZer comments on how good-looking the new team is, and their relative youthfulness. No offence intended to Geoff and Simon, we’re sure.
6am...“Maranga mai! Nau mai haere mai This is Morning Report. I'm Guyon Espiner - It's Wednesday April the 2nd .”
Here's the new theme!
5:30am....So, this is early. It's quiet in the newsroom at this time of the morning. Morning Report producers are putting the last minute touches to the programme – Writing headlines, which will be updated throughout the morning, editing any pre-recorded interviews, and the editor and deputy editor are deciding the order of the programme.
Coming up at six, new presenters, shorter news bulletins, and a new theme.
