September 16, 2014
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Broadcaster Julian Wilcox may regret not making the switch to politics, as his new boss at Maori TV makes a move worthy of The House of Cards.
Despite a promise when he was appointed in March not to make radical changes in the short term, Paora Maxwell today unveiled to staff a new corporate structure that gets rid of the executive news and current affairs post held by Mr Wilcox and the production manager's title held by Carol Hirschfeld.
Some of their responsibilities will come under a new head of programming and production, who is expeccted to be current programming head Haunui Royal.
Mr Maxwell says the proposed structure was to ensure alignment of operations to business strategy for increased performance and results.
He says just three of the channel's 180 staff would potentially face job losses.
Six executive roles are proposed, including Head of People, Language and Culture; Head of Programming and Production; Head of Corporate Affairs; Head of Technology and Operations; Head of Multi-Platform; and Head of Finance and Admin.
The changes seem to confirm fears expressed last week by Mana leader Hone Harawira and Labour's Kelvin Davis that news and current affairs at the channel would lose its independence, with no news person on the executive.
Despite the bulk of the news team working on election coverage, the deadline for feedback is next Tuesday.
Some staff feel today's announcement is just phase one, with the other shoe to fall after the election.
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