Initially, This would not be a full time position but would provide a reasonable income for the right candidate.

Interested applicants can request further information by emailing hr@throngmedia.com

The study is in response to the general public’s lamenting of news standards and aims to bring greater accountability and awareness and ultimately a better news service.

3 News took ten wins over One News who took eight; with 13 being awarded as a tie.

Mistakes by One News included showing CCTV footage of the original Haiti earthquake but telling viewers it was of the 6.1 aftershock eight days later, and saying a rescued Haitian child was four months old when it really was sixteen months.

On Friday, to support their “breaking news” item, One News told viewers they learnt about the hadda beetle infestation in the past hour, however the story featured an interview with Auckland City Councilor Greg Boyle which was filmed at 4:30pm.  Further, the beetles had been discovered in the previous week.

One News featured three news items in their top five stories during January that had already been reported elsewhere at least ten days earlier.

Despite taking the win, 3 News still had their share of mistakes including incorrectly calculating the tax on $10 for minimum wage earners to be approximately 40%.

For the complete report, including lists of number of live crosses, number of breaking stories, mistakes, controversies, exemplary and silly reporting and old stories dressed up as new ones, visit: http://www.throng.co.nz/january-news-summary-2010

From 8am – 12pm, visitors to Throng will be redirected to a message regarding the protest with no areas of the site being accessible.  Access to the website will return to normal from midday.

This new law, which was passed by the previous Labour government and is now being endorsed by the current National government, assumes guilt upon accusation and without any normal due process will result in repeat infringers having their internet connections disconnected.

This protest is not an endorsement of copyright infringement or illegal downloads but a stand against our basic human right to be innocent until proven guilty.  The law has serious ramifications for business and could easily be used by one party to successfully disconnect a competitor using malicious allegations with no opportunity for redress by the accused and no penalties for false allegations.

For more information regarding this protest and the BlackOut campaign, please visit www.CreativeFreedom.org.nz

Bloggers will have access to resources from television networks and production companies from their respective countries but will also be expected to gather additional news and resources to assist them with preparing posts.

We require writers who can add the some or all of the following: up-to-date news, spoilers, reviews, features and recaps/calculating points for our online games. Bloggers will be expected to add at least 5 posts per week with a minimum of 250 words each.

Knowledge of Drupal, SEO and interviewing an advantage. Basic HTML and image editing a requirement as is living in the country you’ll be writing for. Australian and Canadian east coast residents are preferred.

Bloggers will be paid per post with further incentives on reaching traffic goals.

How to apply

Please send 1 short writing sample relating to television in the country you wish to blog for and links to any additional online writing to regan@throngmedia.com

It’s been a huge year for Shortland Street. The show celebrated its 16th season with its critically acclaimed serial killer storyline drawing to a close over a thrilling three nights. Temuera Morrison returned at Dr Hone Ropata for a six week stint. Craig and Justine played detectives to try and bring down ruthless drug company Scott Spear. We said goodbye to Toni, Craig, Guy and Justine. The Whitetails gang, their violence and criminal activities have been drawing in Keiran, Ethan, Libby and Tania. Chris Warner was toppled as CEO by Callum. Ethan and Brooke are slowly weaving their web of lies in Ferndale.

Viewers gave the show an average rating of 7.8/10, up from 7.6/10 last year. 19% scored the season a perfect 10.

“Shortland Street 2008 has been great year jam-packed with awesome storylines which have kept us on the edge of our seats! Congratulations to the writers for another wonderful year of Shortland Street! World class now.”

“I have MS so Shortland Street is something to look forward to each day. Thank you.”

“It just keeps getting better, even my partner has mentioned that it is so much better story line wise and acting wise, and he doesn’t usually watch it.”

“My secret pleasure!”

Alice Piper took out the favourite female character as well as Toni Potter winning favorite female actress but fans aren’t too keen on her relationship with newcomer Ethan Pierce.

Special mention must go to Alice: could anyone have a worse year? From being kidnapped and operated on by a psycho, getting pregnant and not knowing who the father was, being hounded by the media, nearly becoming an alcoholic, getting engaged then breaking up and then her partner being murdered, having a premature baby which died and then hooking up with the newest villain in town but her lesbian best friend is in love with her… Phew, could we just give Alice a little break next year?

Thanks to the demise of the Ferndale Strangler (Joey Henderson) who won the award last year, Kip Denton has gone from runner up to favourite male character.

Viewers had mixed thoughts on the introduction of the Whitetails gang. Some felt it provided “excellent forecasting of social issues in NZ” and praised the complexity of characters such as senior gang member Kingi. “The power of the programme in terms of its ability to link in with youth and older aged kids is quite an opportunity to remove barriers such as racism, inclusiveness, peer pressure etc, gender expectations.” However others felt the show was making “gang life appealing and something that people can get away with, punish them!!!” and felt “we are stuck with gang members in New Zealand so it would be good not to have them on Shortland Street, promotion for gangs, there are too many fools here already joining gangs.”

Fans on New Zealand’s TV community website Throng (throng.co.nz) and Shortland Street fansite StreetTalk (streetalk.co.nz) voted on 28 awards and results of winners and runners-up are as follows:

Favourite male character
Kip Denton
[Kieran Mitchell]

Favourite female character
Alice Piper
[Libby Jeffries]

Favourite male actor
Adam Rickitt
[Michael Galvin]

Favourite female actress
Toni Potter “It’s no wonder Alice (and Toni!) needed some time out from Ferndale this year, Toni’s acting was superb and so intense!”
[Fleur Saville]

Hottest male
Benjamin Mitchell “TK spent too much time clothed. TK should display that torso more often and talk less”
[Adam Rickitt]

Hottest female
Faye Smythe (third year in a row)
[Anna Jullienne]

Best dressed character
Libby Jeffries
[Brooke Freeman]

Worst dressed character
Luke Durville
[Kip Denton]

Best hair
Tania Jefferies
[Libby Jeffries]

Worst hair
James “Scotty” Scott
[Brooke Freeman]

Most missed character
Toni Warner
[Craig Valentine]

Favourite new character
Kingi Te Wake
[Morgan Braithwaite]

Most likely to make it in Hollywood
Adam Rickitt
[Benjamin Mitchell]

Character you’d most like to get rid of
Ethan Pierce
[Brooke Freeman]

Favourite couple
Libby and Kieran
[Tracey and Kip]

Worst couple
Alice and Ethan
[Brooke and Ethan]

Favourite major storyline
Serial killer ending
[Scott Spear mystery]

Favourite episode
Serial killer ending (Part 3)
[Justine Jones' fake death]

Favourite quote
“I am Joseph James Henderson. Gone but never forgotten” – Joey

Rate the 2008 season overall
7.8/10

Which non-dead character would you most like to bring back
Justine
[Tuesday]

Also notable:
Hone, Guy, Rachel, Nick, Waverly, Tane, Lionel and Angus.

Best thing to happen this year on the show
Serial killer ending
Scotty and Shanti’s wedding

Funniest moment
Libby fighting the gossip columnist in the bathroom at the new IV and calling her a “huckery mole”
The dinner party with Gerald’s eccentric parents

Also notable:
Gerald hiding in Riley’s shower
Gerald high on ecstasy
Libby’s speech to people with food allergies
Kip’s bare bum

“It seemed funnier this year… the lines the actors have make me chuckle!”
“I have really enjoyed Gerald’s lines…he cleverest part of Shortie at the moment and he delivers the lines with aplomb.”

Saddest moment
Toni’s death
[Alice's baby Kelly dying]

“Too many deaths this year – too many good characters leaving. Toni was awesome and it would have been great for her and Chris to finally sort things out. Also poor Alice too much grief – the baby could have lived.”

Most boring storyline
Shanti and Scotty
[Whitetails]

Biggest letdown
Craig’s death
[Toni's death]

One wish for the 2009 season
For Justine to return
[Kieran and Libby to get married]

Also notable:
For Joey to return – as a ghost, or a secret twin, or in flashbacks
For Maia and Alice to get together
Resolution of the Scott Spears saga
Less deaths
More love, joy, peace, babies and happiness

More viewer comments:

“It’s an amazing show! The best on TV by far! I would like to personal congratulate all of the cast and crew on creating an amazing show!”

“THIS IS THE BESTEST SHOW IN NEW ZEALAND (followed closely by Outragous Fortune)”

“Thank you for your hard work and for giving me something to look forward to in my evenings. Have a 6 year old son and he knows when Shortland Street is on it’s mummy time and not to disturb me for 30 minutes. Keep it going everynight – stop closing over Christmas period as we can’t wait so long for the next episode! Please make it one hour episodes the whole year long not only in winter time.”

“Keep up the great work, it’s nice to be reminded that the drama in my life is not as full on as Shorty’s, thanks guys. x”

See past winners of the Shortland Street Fan Awards: 2007 and 2006

For further information on these awards and viewer comments, contact us.

Fans of New Zealand’s longest running drama series are being invited to vote in more than 25 categories ranging from the hottest actor and actress and favourite episode to the best couple and who is most likely to make it in Hollywood.

Voting is open until the 28th of November with the winners being announced on Monday, December 1st, 2008. Preliminary results will be available to media on request on the 17th of November.

Over 20,000 votes were cast during the 2007 awards.

Have your say by voting today in the Shortland Street Fan Awards by going to NZ’s TV Watching Community website throng.co.nz.

In many areas the four bulletins were very similar but there were also some surprising differences. This summary focuses on overall comparisons between the bulletins and is the second of a series of releases comparing the news bulletins over this four week period.

How did the news bulletins compare for news, sport and weather coverage?

ONE News: 57% News, 27% Sport, 16% Weather
3 News: 65% News, 25% Sport, 10% Weather
PRIME: 59% News, 36% Sport, 4% Weather
TVNZ 7: 74% News, 15% Sport, 11% Weather

How often was breaking news used?

ONE News: 3 times (Marie Davis case, Sinking yacht, Whangamata crash
3 News: 2 times (Pizza delivery man abducted, Whangamata crash)
PRIME: 3 times (Bailey Kurariki released from jail, Marie Davis case, Whenuapai plane crash)
TVNZ 7: 0 times

Live crosses have become more common in recent times with some Throng commenters recently discussing if they are used too frequently:

ONE News: averaged 3.3/bulletin, maximum: 7 in a bulletin
3 News: averaged 2.6/bulletin, maximum: 6 in a bulletin
PRIME News: only 1 in the survey period
TVNZ 7: averaged 1.9/bulletin, maximum: 5 in a bulletin

With recent controversies over the in-bulletin promotions for other TV shows – such as the Deal or No Deal models’ dresses story, how many TV shows did the news bulletins mention or show clips of?

ONE News: Agenda (5 times), Breakfast, Hannah Montana, Reluctant Hero documentary, Sex and the City and South Park
3 News: 60 Minutes, Campbell Live, Home and Away (twice), Rove (twice), Kath & Kim and Prison Break
PRIME News: Flight of the Conchords, Oprah, Sky News, WWE Raw and Hannah Montana
TVNZ 7: Agenda (5 times), Close Up, The View and The Bachelor

Part one of the report regarding sports coverage can be found at http://www.throng.co.nz/throng/throng-special-report-new-zealands-evening-news-sports-coverage

Data collected from 21/4/2008 – 18/5/2008. Please contact us for further information.

In many areas the four bulletins were very similar but there were also some surprising differences.  This summary focusing on sports coverage marks the first of a series of releases comparing the news bulletins over this four week period. 

How long are the bulletins – really?

Once advertising, upcoming previews, promotions and news bulletin summaries were discounted, both ONE News and 3 News had similar bulletin lengths on average – 40:14 and 40:58 respectively.  TVNZ News at 8 on Freeview offered an average bulletin length of 49:49 – shorter than one might expect given the network is advertising-free.  PRIME’s half hour 5:30 bulletin averaged 20:34.

How long is the sports coverage?

Once upcoming previews, promotions and sports summaries were discounted, both ONE News and 3 News devoted a similar proportion of their bulletins to sports coverage on average – 27% and 25% respectively (average lengths of 10:53 and 10:05).  PRIME News gave a much higher proportion of sports news at 36% on average (7:28).  While TVNZ News at 8 was on average more than double the length of PRIME’s bulletin, it devoted less time on average to sport (averages of 7:21 and 15%).

TVNZ spokeswoman Megan Richards said “we do not deliberately schedule more or less sports news on News at Eight.  However as we spent more time covering other bulletin elements such as weather, business, world news and interviews than other bulletins it may seem that there is less sport on News at Eight”.

Richards also commented on TV ONE’s figures saying “One News bases its sport content on two basic principles:  is it newsworthy, and are the pictures strong enough to sustain interest for New Zealanders.  That’s how we judge how much time in our bulletin is devoted to sport.”

TV3′s publicist Stephanie Taylor said “3 News takes its responsibility to the public very seriously, and this remains true when it comes to sports coverage.  Our sports reporters and presenters are passionate about sport, and are dedicated to keeping our viewers up-to-date on the latest sports news and results both locally and internationally.  We ensure that our reporters and presenters cover sports that they are enthused by, for example Hamish McKay as Rugby Editor and Shaun Summerfield with motor sport.”

PRIME’s Richard Sutherland said “we have no hard and fast rules about how much of each bulletin is “news” and how much is “sport”.  Everything is based on editorial decisions made on the day on what is most important.  For us, what counts is a story’s news value, whether it’s crime, politics, rugby, football or tiddlywinks.  For example, you may have noticed tonight’s bulletin led with a sports story (All Black captain out for much of the Tri-nations through injury), because in the judgment of the EP, that was the most significant and newsworthy story of the day.”

Weeknight versus weekend coverage

Sports coverage on all bulletins was slightly higher on the weekends than during the week. One PRIME News weekend bulletin devoted 48% to sport (average of 43%) while the other news bulletins did not give much over a third of their show to sport on the weekends.

Top sports

Rugby followed by rugby league were the two sports with the most coverage by each bulletin taking up an average of 43-46% the sports bulletin time.  TVNZ News at 8 gave the most coverage to netball – Richards commented that this was not deliberate however many trans-Tasman netball league matches finish in time for their broadcast.

Note that while Olympics coverage may seem lower on ONE News than 3 News, during the survey period ONE News ran a number of Olympic “news” stories such as the Olympic team uniform launch and the Olympic torch relay which were classified as news, rather than sport. 

3 News gave more coverage to motorsport than any of the other news bulletins.  Taylor says “as TV3 is the home of motorsport with the A1GP and V8 Supercars we do make a deliberate effort to keep our viewers informed”.

Top sports on ONE News:

1 Rugby    29%
2 Rugby League    17%
3 Soccer    12%
4 Cricket    10%
5 Netball    8%
6 Motorsport    6%
7 Golf     4%
8 Athletics    2%
9 Swimming    2%
10 Olympics    2%

Top sports on 3 News:

1 Rugby    26%
2 Rugby League    17%
3 Cricket    12%
4 Soccer    12%
5 Motorsport    9%
6 Olympics    5%
7 Netball    5%
8 Golf     3%
9 Tennis    2%
10 General    2%

Top sports on PRIME News:

1 Rugby    25%
2 Rugby League    21%
3 Soccer    16%
4 Cricket    13%
5 Golf     7%
6 Netball    5%
7 Motorsport    5%
8 Tennis    2%
9 Athletics    1%
10 Basketball    1%

Top sports on TVNZ News at 8:

1 Rugby    28%
2 Rugby League    16%
3 Netball    11%
4 Soccer    10%
5 Cricket    9%
6 Motorsport    8%
7 Athletics    3%
8 Cycling    2%
9 Olympics    2%
10 Golf            2%

Throng is a network of TV community websites launched in New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the UK.  The New Zealand site is viewed by over 125,000 people a month and features a mix of official press releases, video clips, viewer commentary and feedback, polls, episode summaries and more. 

Data collected from 21/4/2008 – 18/5/2008.

For further information, contact Regan Cunliffe on (021) 2999 364 or by email regan@throngmedia.com

Fans on NZ’s TV community website Throng (throng.co.nz) and Shortland Street fansite StreetTalk (streettalk.co.nz) overwhelmingly praised this year’s season of the show, saying it was the best season yet and one which rivetted a nation. Many admitted they only began watching the show when receptionist Claire was found dead in a rubbish skip at the start of the serial killer storyline and are now completely hooked. More than one in five respondents gave the 15th season of the show a perfect 10/10.

Read more…

These questions and more will be answered in the 2007 Shortland Street Fan Awards!   Last year over 10,000 votes poured in from young and old fans alike on New Zealand’s longest running drama.

Have your say by voting today in the Shortland Street Fan Awards by going to NZ’s TV Watching Community website throng.co.nz.