Mark Weldon resignation – academic comment
Mark Weldon resignation – academic comment
Dr Cathy Strong, senior journalism lecturer
Reaction to the
shock resignation of MediaWorks chief executive Mark Weldon
this morning has flooded social media, with most of the
commentary celebrating his departure. Commentary from Massey
university journalism lecturer Dr Cathy Strong appears
below.
“This is really good news for journalism. It
actually means that MediaWorks now has the opportunity to
bring in someone with the leadership skills to rebuild the
TV3 news brand that has been so badly damaged. The flood of
comments on social media shows that the purge of solid
journalism was not acceptable to the New Zealand public and
the direction Mark Weldon was taking the company had little
support. Whoever takes over may find it difficult to attract
good journalists back, as the embedded news culture has been
decimated.
“Hilary Barry’s resignation last week was clearly the last straw and Weldon’s departure was inevitable as he was running out of journalists to present with a red rose. Who knows what has been going behind the scenes, but clearly someone with power has seen the way public opinion was been heading over the past year and realised it was untenable. My hat goes off to that person.”
ends