Senior TVNZ management in limbo after Fraser's changes

By John Drinnan

Friday 26th July 2002

IAN FRASER: Go slow

A power vacuum in senior management of Television New Zealand could last until November when permanent appointments to two key positions are made.

In a highly publicised reshuffle seven weeks ago, chief executive Ian Fraser disestablished the position of Shaun Brown as head of television and created two new positions: directors of programming and new business development.

While temporary appointments are expected soon, insiders say Mr Fraser announced the slow timetable for the change at a meeting with key staff on July 11.

TVNZ expects to take until mid-November to hire the directors of programming and new business development and is looking at appointing people to take up the posts on a temporary basis. Stephen Smith, the former head of TV2 who now runs the nzoom website, is expected to be temporary head of programming.

Mr Fraser announced his management restructure on May 31 and said he would be scrapping the head of television job held by Mr Brown on a salary of $340,000. Staff hope the temporary posts will end a bizarre standoff where the two top executives hardly speak.

Mr Brown has stayed put doing his job and Mr Fraser has largely ignored him but stopped short of demanding he leave the building.

"It is a very strange. Nobody wants to ask Ian [Fraser] about it [Brown's status in the company] because it is just so sensitive," one well placed staffer said.

Much like children in the midst of parental divorce, staff have got used to the idea that "you just don't talk about it" but it is confusing programming suppliers overseas, especially since Mr Brown represented TVNZ at markets in Cannes and Los Angeles.

Clearouts of top management are commonplace in TV networks overseas - Kerry Packer's Nine network is a recent example - but usually they are swift and clean affairs.

Apart from one scheduled weekly meeting to discuss business, Mr Fraser and Mr Brown do not talk. The standoff is said to be linked to legal advice over TVNZ's potential exposure for damages claims over his dismissal.

On a standard TVNZ severance package Mr Brown could be eligible for about $170,000 in severance pay plus superannuation.

If it is shown he was forced out of the company, however, there might be claims for damages that would take the payout much higher.

There has been widespread speculation the government-appointed TVNZ board chaired by Ross Armstrong has had a say in Mr Brown's demise.

Mr Fraser rejects this view. Another view advanced by some staff is that the long period resolving Mr Brown's future is linked to the election.

Given the intense pressure on TVNZ during the campaign, the last thing it wants before an election is a row about big payouts, especially when TVNZ's $6 million out-of-court settlement to newsreader John Hawkesby set off Labour's policy against corporate golden handshakes.

Mr Brown is seen as complicit in the Hawkesby fiasco, along with former chairman Rosanne Meo, head of news and current affairs Paul Cutler and Mr Fraser's predecessor, Rick Ellis. Apart from Mr Brown, all have left the company.

But there is a school that says the Hawkesby decision was largely that of former general manager Neil Roberts but after his death from cancer nobody wanted to point a finger in that direction

There are mixed feelings about Mr Brown's sacking. While supporters worry about the role of the board and the loss of "historical memory" - there has been a big exodus of commercial talent - Mr Brown has his enemies in the production sector from his time as head of TV One.

Mr Brown declined to comment on his status, saying his employment was a private matter between him and TVNZ. Mr Fraser did not return calls and TVNZ said its recruitment process was confidential.

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