NZME Announces New Regional Video News Initiative Programme

Friday 13 May 2016

NZME Announces New Regional Video News Initiative Programme Supported by $400,000 from NZ On Air

13 May 2016 – New Zealand Media and Entertainment (NZME) has partnered with Very Nice Productions to generate regional multi-media content in the mid-lower North Island. The initiative, with the working title of Local Focus, was awarded $400,000 dollars this week by NZ On Air’s Regional Media fund.

Local Focus will extend NZME’s current local video news offering by deploying a network of video journalists devoted to covering local content. The video journalists will be located in NZME offices throughout the mid-lower North Island.

Cameron Death, General Manager Video for NZME and Shayne Currie, Managing Editor of the New Zealand Herald, will be spearheading Local Focus from the NZME side.

Death is excited about both the project and the funding. “In the changing media landscape it is becoming increasingly important to develop innovative ways of creating and sharing content. Regional stories are just as important as the goings-on in the cities and we’re creating new ways for those stories to be told via innovative video and large-scale distribution. Thanks to the financial support from NZ On Air, this project will allow us to showcase what is happening outside city boundaries.”

NZ On Air says its intention with the regional media fund is to provide coverage of local issues and events, not otherwise covered by national media, reaching out to audiences through digital platforms with good quality audio-visual story-telling.

The new partnership is just as important as the funding, says Death. “Very Nice Productions, under the leadership of Alistair Wilkinson, one of New Zealand’s most experienced broadcast journalists and news managers, and Myles Thomas on the operations and business side, is an independent multi-media production company, and has an outstanding reputation for producing quality video content. We can’t wait to work with them to champion local stories about the regions, for the regions.”

Wilkinson says, "This is a win for journalism in the regions. Working in partnership with our newsroom colleagues from NZME, we're looking forward to uncovering stories that deserve to be told in regional New Zealand."

ENDS

© Scoop Media