TVNZ Appoints New Head Of News And Current Affairs

TVNZ Chief Executive Rick Ellis today announced the appointment of Heaton Dyer as the new Head of News and Current Affairs to replace Paul Cutler who recently left TVNZ to join CNN.

A New Zealander, Mr Dyer is currently Director of Current Affairs for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, with whom he has been since 1997. During his time with CBC, Mr Dyer has been responsible for the development and production of CBC's flagship current affairs programmes including 'The Fifth Estate', which recently won the prestigious Mitchener Award for meritorious public service and the top television award from the Canadian Association of Journalists.

Most recently, Mr Dyer has been overseeing a complete overhaul of the news and current affairs output as part of a repositioning of CBC.

Prior to joining CBC, Mr Dyer held a number of senior producer's roles at television networks around the world including the Nine Network, ABC and SBS in Australia, BskyB, CNBC and European Business News in the UK, and TVNZ. During his time with TVNZ between 1992 and 1995 he was responsible for launching 60 Minutes and other current affairs programmes.

Rick Ellis said he looks forward to welcoming Mr Dyer to TVNZ in November when he will take up his new role.

"Heaton's track record as a world-class news and current affairs producer and executive in public service broadcasting organisations like the CBC will be invaluable to TVNZ as we look to embrace the government's new charter.

"TVNZ has a proven track record in news and current affairs and I am confident that Heaton will be able to lift our performance in this area to new heights."

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