The coalition fault line over public broadcasting cracked open on Thursday with Media Minister Paul Goldsmith and NZ First leader Winston Peters both publicly distancing themselves from Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour’s running attacks on Radio New Zealand and TVNZ.
Speaking to reporters at Parliament, Goldsmith said he did not think “some of [Seymour’s] comments were helpful in relation particularly to the board.” He went further, reminding his coalition partner that “we appoint the board, and it’s typically the role of the board to make decisions around management.” Goldsmith said he had had an informal conversation with Seymour after the offending interview and reiterated that he supported Radio New Zealand and maintained confidence in its board, as RNZ reported.
Peters was sharper. The NZ First leader told reporters Seymour’s remarks “were out of order, especially if you’re a shareholding minister in that context.” He added that “we can have our criticisms about organisations, but that’s no way to go about it.” Coming from a leader who has spent decades scrapping with Radio New Zealand, and who told Corin Dann on Morning Report last year the broadcaster was “an abuse on the taxpayer” that NZ First would eventually “cut the water off” to, the rebuke landed with extra weight.
The story has been building for weeks. In a late April appearance on The Platform with Sean Plunket, Seymour took aim at RNZ chief executive Paul Thompson, board appointments and the public broadcaster’s editorial culture. “Look, that guy’s got an awful lot to answer for, and I suspect that he won’t be answering the call at RNZ for much longer,” Seymour said of Thompson. On board changes, he said “there’s a few more appointments to come. It’s really critical that we are ensuring that we get better people on the board, and those people will change the management.” He also questioned John Campbell’s appointment to Morning Report and made pointed comments about former TVNZ political editor Maiki Sherman, who resigned from the broadcaster on 12 May.
Seymour is the shareholding minister for both Radio New Zealand and TVNZ. He is not, however, the Media Minister, a portfolio that sits with Goldsmith. Both broadcasters operate under legislation that prohibits ministers from directing them on a particular programme or on the gathering and presentation of news. Asked whether he had crossed that line, Seymour told reporters he had “not given RNZ or TVNZ any direction that would breach either Act.” He said “decisions around staffing, presenter line-ups, and editorial matters are for boards and management” and that “anyone who thinks RNZ is taking editorial instructions from me clearly does not listen to RNZ.”
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon had taken a different line earlier in the week. On 12 May, Luxon told reporters he was “super comfortable” with Seymour’s remarks and that “the minister explained his comments well,” in earlier RNZ coverage. That makes the public rebukes from Goldsmith and Peters all the more striking because they break with both Seymour and, implicitly, the Prime Minister’s own assessment.
RNZ’s outgoing board chair Jim Mather had already pushed back firmly on the substance of Seymour’s comments. Mather described editorial independence as “fundamental and non-negotiable” and said “editorial decisions, including appointments to senior editorial roles, are the sole responsibility of RNZ management and are made in accordance with journalistic merit, statutory obligations, and the well established public media convention of audience need.” He warned that linking board appointments to editorial outcomes “risks undermining confidence in RNZ’s independence” and public trust. TVNZ was more terse, telling reporters only that “we don’t hold a view on the comments.”
The opposition has been clear from the start. Labour broadcasting spokesperson Reuben Davidson said Seymour’s comments “were entirely inappropriate but not surprising, coming from a government that’s become very anti media.” Greens co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick said “we just simply can’t have ministers threatening our publicly funded news agencies because they don’t like what is being said about them or what’s being reported on.” Greens MP Steve Abel went further on Sherman’s departure, telling reporters it was a “witch-hunt” and asking “why would the bosses in a public media institution whose duty is upholding the principle of free and independent media not be backing a journalist who has clearly been targeted for political reasons.” Te Pāti Māori MP and former broadcaster Oriini Kaipara called Sherman’s treatment “deeply upsetting to witness” and said the situation “felt personal” and “reeked of foul play,” in further RNZ reporting.
Speaking on Chris Lynch Media on Thursday, Seymour was unrepentant. He told the host that “the role of government is to appoint the board members to the boards of RNZ and TVNZ, and of course when we appoint those people, we want them to have a strong goal of building audiences and building trust.” He said he had had “two weeks of the media outlets that I talked about, particularly RNZ, running headlines and stories about me, kind of proving my point that they’re more interested in stories about themselves than they are about actually doing their job.” Asked where the matter was heading, he said “it’s been a bit of fun, but at the end of the day, new board members are coming, and I expect that they will be improving the direction of those entities so they have bigger audiences, more trust and a wider appeal.”
The episode tests how the three coalition partners can stay aligned on a policy area where ACT and NZ First have markedly different instincts. Peters has been combative with RNZ for decades while still treating the broadcaster as a legitimate institution. Seymour and ACT have framed public media as a target for structural change and funding cuts. Goldsmith, holding the actual portfolio, has to keep both coalition partners and two statutory broadcasters at arm’s length while a fresh round of board appointments is finalised, including a new RNZ chair to replace Mather.
For voters trying to work out where each coalition party actually sits on media and other issues, Newswire’s voting tool covers a wide set of policy questions ahead of the 2026 general election.
What do you make of Seymour’s stance on Radio New Zealand and the public rebukes from Goldsmith and Peters? Drop a comment below and join the conversation.
This article was written by AI, briefed to report the facts, hopefully without some of the bias people bring to the job π
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