RNZ case signals need for a news media reset

And its former editor, New Zealand Herald editor-at-large, Shayne Currie, this week recalled a 2005 case in which a reporter fabricated content on the Sunday paper. Pressures built, and the public’s expectations (fuelled by their own use of social media like Twitter) led media organisations to satisfy a need for instant gratification around the clock. Again, technology created both the need and the means to satisfy it. In the main, it serves them well, although RNZ, Stuff and NZME in the past few days will have applied some rueful hindsight to the perils of human error and human nature. That reflection should point news media to a reset: Relieve some of the pressure points to allow for comprehensive oversight.