News editors say the RNZ editing scandal speaks to a bigger picture, expressing concern about the economic and work pressures New Zealand's digital media industry is facing.
The state broadcaster launched a review after it emerged last week text of a Reuters story about Russia's invasion of Ukraine, published on RNZ's website, had been altered to include a pro-Russian sentiment. The RNZ journalist who allegedly inserted the pro-Russian sentiment into news stories has been placed on leave.
They went on to claim they altered stories for five years without question.
Evidence then emerged of Israel-Palestine, China and transgender stories being changed on RNZ's website. Twenty-six stories and counting have been discovered as altered in a rolling audit.
Broadcasting Minister Willie Jackson, RNZ board chair Jim Mather and chief executive Paul Thompson all declined to appear on Newshub Nation this week.
Appearing on the programme's political panel, Newsroom co-editor Mark Jennings said their decision not to front up was not good enough.
"[RNZ's] trust has been hammered over this so if I was the chairman I'd be in here showing I'm going to act…. Maybe they're just running a little bit scared," Jennings told Newshub Nation co-host Rebecca Wright.
Former National MP Nathan Guy described the handling of the editing scandal as "woeful" and believed RNZ's credibility has "been shot".
Guy said if he was the Broadcasting Minister he would publicly express his disappointment and demand accountability and answers from RNZ.
"We just can't afford to have our public broadcaster actually being allowed to, I think, tell mistruths to the New Zealand public at a time when we are screaming out for truthful stories."
However, the panel pointed out how the whole fiasco shines a light on the pressure and underfunding of digital journalism.
Newshub Nation digital editor Finn Hogan told the panel the RNZ debacle speaks to something broader.
"I think there is a bigger story here as well. The pressure on the industry is immense from an economic perspective, from a business perspective but unfortunately, the brunt of that is often being born by digital teams," Hogan said.
"Digital journalists are often paid a lot less money than traditional broadcast, they're being asked to produce content at all hours of the day, very, very quickly and there often aren't those traditional guard rails or oversight around them."
Jennings agreed, telling the panel RNZ has been grossly underfunded for 15 years - digging at the previous National Government that Guy was a minister in.
Guy hit back at Jennings: "So suddenly it's a National Government's issue for editorial oversight?"
"This is what happens when you underfund an organisation for so long. The executives get exhausted, the staff numbers are way down," Jennings said.
"In the end, you don't have oversight and a mistake like this, a bad mistake like this happens."
At the start of the year, the Government announced an annual increase of $25.7 million to RNZ after saving millions from scrapping the RNZ/TVNZ merger. The funding comprises of $12m for RNZ to maintain public media services, $12m for a new digital platform and $1.7m for AM transmission.
Jennings described this funding as "a little bit" but also noted other factors adding to the organisation being run down such as COVID-19 and the recent severe weather events.
"The organisation gets stretched beyond what is basically acceptable," he said.
"It doesn't entirely excuse it but it explains some of the reasons it happened."
Hogan said the takeaway from the RNZ editing scandal should be "newsrooms really need to invest and pay attention to their digital arms".
Earlier this week, Newshub received a statement from RNZ about the editing investigation.
Spokesperson John Barr said more than 300 stories have been reviewed so far and he understands only one employee is behind the edits.
"The external review will be led by the board who will decide the terms of reference for that review, the areas to be covered and the external experts involved," Barr said. "This information will be confirmed as soon as possible and will be made public - as will the outcome of the review."
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