Broadcasting Minister Willie Jackson has no qualms about the $230,000 spent on a review panel to investigate editorial processes at RNZ.
The panel's report, released earlier this week, found better enforcement of standards and oversight was needed at RNZ - saying the state broadcaster's "overall organisational structure that has existed since 2016 is unsatisfactory and separates digital news team from the news team".
"We had some top-line people there," Jackson said when asked if the $230,000 review was bang for buck.
The review was launched after it emerged in June an RNZ digital reporter was altering stories about the Russia-Ukraine war to include a pro-Kremlin sentiment. The reporter subsequently resigned.
Jackson told Newshub Nation on Saturday the Government did not regret the amount spent on the review because "we had no choice".
"You had three of the top people in the business" conducting the review, he said. The review panel was made up of media law expert Will Ekel, public law expert and former journalist Linda Clark, and ex-ABC editorial standards director Alan Sunderland.
"You're almost talking about national security here," Jackson added.
"Sometimes, you can't spare the expense when you're talking about national democracy - you're talking about our national radio station.
"We want the public to feel comfortable and, in the end, you're reading the recommendations - it might not seem a lot but we know that it's not being undermined, we know that it was one journalist, we know that the investment now will cover the gaps."
According to the review's findings, the "single most common issue" at the state broadcaster was "the structural separation that exists between RNZ's broadcast news content and its digital news content".
"The inappropriate editing that took place occurred in the digital news team, which sits in the content division of RNZ," it said. "The rest of RNZ's broadcast news output, which was not in any way connected with the inappropriate editing, is done by a separate division - the news division.
"There are valid historical reasons for this division, which was common in many organisations, particularly public broadcasters, in the early days of the internet.
"Digital journalists, initially at least, needed room to grow and establish themselves. But those days are long gone."
Jackson told Newshub Nation the review's final result was pleasing.
He said he was "particularly pleased" with the work of RNZ Board of Governors chairman Jim Mather.
However, Mather was one of the people criticised in the report as overreacting to the editing scandal. As was RNZ chief executive Paul Thompson, who responded to the scandal by calling the editing "pro-Kremlin garbage" in an interview.
"It was an emotional time," Jackson said.
"All of a sudden, you're looking in front of you and you're seeing all these reports being edited. I mean, obviously, Paul got a little bit carried away… Jim's been a steady hand and I think they're on track now.
"I don't think it'll happen again - they're going to cover the gaps."
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