She said she was proud to accept her prize at the New Zealand Media Awards on Friday night, but the moment was “bittersweet”.
“Re: News is sadly ending next week after nearly a decade of serving rangatahi audiences,” wrote Madden-Smith on Saturday.
She said she understood that Re: News was closing for financial and strategy reasons.
“… but I hope this can show you that youth journalism shouldn’t be minimised as a ‘nice to have’.
“It is vital to our democracy that young people have a dedicated platform so their voices and issues aren’t sidelined, like they often are in traditional media.”
Re: News’ closure follows similar moves by other major media companies – RNZ and NZME have launched and closed youth brands in recent years.
Re: News was launched in 2017 and has been through various changes over the past decade. In 2024, several roles were cut, and it moved from text-based journalism to predominantly video storytelling.
More recently, it has been most prominent on TVNZ+ – where it has its own section – and on its social pages, such as Instagram and Facebook, pointing back to news stories on TVNZ+ or TVNZ’s 1 News website.
Media Insider revealed in late March that Re: News’ several staff were in consultation, and a TVNZ spokeswoman confirmed on Saturday the closure.
“We’ve made the difficult decision to wind up the editorial side of Re: News,” she said.
“Content might be produced under the Re: brand in future, where there are viable commercial or funding pathways to do so.
“We’re proud of what Re: News has delivered. TVNZ is a commercial broadcaster and while we investigated several options, we could not find an ongoing way to fund this work.”
The proposed cuts at TVNZ come as it works through a period of major investment in its digital technology.
‘We do the job because we want to make the world better’
On stage on Friday night, Madden-Smith thanked colleagues, her broader support network and TVNZ “for the support up until now”.
“To TVNZ … I hope you invest in youth news journalism again because it’s vital to democracy. How can we expect young people to engage in our political system if the Fourth Estate so often sidelines their voices or fails to even reach them sometimes?”
Madden-Smith wrote on LinkedIn that youth journalism wasn’t “just little TikToks” but also agenda-setting investigations and documentaries.
“I’m so incredibly proud of what we achieved as a team and feel so grateful I got to be part of it.
“I cannot put into words how much this team has helped me grow as a journalist and as a person.”
She also thanked those who were the subject of her award-winning work.
“We do the job because we want to make the world better, or in this case, the health system. I really hope these stories can help protect trans people, uplift our neurodivergent whānau, and get everyone to please (please please) listen to people with chronic illnesses like ME/CFS – we urgently need more research and compassion.”
Media Awards judges Karen Rutherford and Jim Kayes said Madden-Smith’s entry showcased “rare depth and care in video journalism”.
“Zoe’s entry demonstrates an innate ability to get up close with the talent, allowing us to walk in their shoes as they face complex challenges brought about by a broken health system. Researching, reporting, producing and editing Zoe shows solid skills as an all-rounder, even setting up two-camera shoots whilst working solo.
“Zoe’s narratives are compelling, tackling misconceptions and questioning how government changes will work or why they are failing.”
The TVNZ spokeswoman did not comment specifically on Madden-Smith’s departure.
She already has a new role, working alongside Paddy Gower, whose show Paddy Gower Has Issues returns to Three for a third season in August.
“Regarding specific roles, we do not comment on employment matters, but the size of our newsroom is unchanged,” said the TVNZ spokeswoman.
The struggle for youth
RNZ’s youth platform Tahi was scrapped last year as part of the public broadcaster’s response to an almost $5 million annual funding reduction.
“The youth market is notoriously difficult and despite the hard work of everyone involved, Tahi has not reached the target audience to the extent that would justify continuing to fund it,” RNZ said in a statement at the time of its decision.
NZME, publisher of the NZ Herald, has also launched and closed two youth-focused brands in recent years, including digital audio brand Kick and social media brand What the Actual?!
RNZ senior editorial leader John Hartevelt – in referring to Tahi’s closure – said at the time that expansion of platforms such as YouTube and TikTok had made it difficult to support dedicated youth channels.
“We are able to reach younger audiences by making our content freely available on those platforms, and our focus will now be on making sure we continue to offer a wide range of vibrant content that fulfils our charter requirements to reach audiences of all ages.”
Tahi was established in 2021 and followed a disastrous separate attempt by RNZ in 2020 to turn Concert FM’s nationwide FM frequencies into a music-based network for young listeners. The idea was killed by fervent public and political opposition.
Between 2013 and 2018, RNZ also operated a digital youth-focused website called The Wireless. This was eventually folded back into RNZ’s website.
Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand’s most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor and has a small shareholding in NZME.