Stuff chief executive Sinead Boucher. Photo: RNZ/Nick Monro
Stuff owner and publisher Sinead Boucher says there's been excitement, a few "first night" nerves and some sadness as it prepares for its first 6pm TV news bulletin this evening.
TV Three's Newshub signed off for the last time last night.
Its successor ThreeNews launches tonight, produced by multimedia organisation Stuff, which RNZ will be liveblogging reaction to from 5.30pm onwards.
Boucher said there had been mixed emotions in the newsroom this week.
"There's a lot of excitement, definitely some nerves but also an awareness that this is the final week for the Newshub team. Just as we're embarking on something new, something amazing is coming to an end."
Boucher said the past week had seen people working in two camps, still working at NewsHub and coming to Stuff for training and rehearsals.
Stuff wanted to honour Newshub's journalistic legacy, while proving the nay-sayers wrong.
"There's pressure to do a really good job, because Newshub has been an incredible organisation and we want to honour the quality and gutsy journalism they were known for which is also important to us.
"[But] there's been no shortage of the old Statlers and Waldorfs from the Muppets, [those who are] willing to have a crack before they've even seen it," she added.
"So we've tried to ignore that as much as possible and just focus on something that's going to be really high quality, both in its production values and its journalism."
Newshub staff - including anchors Mike McRoberts and Samantha Hayes, rear centre - gather outside the newsroom in Auckland for a last team photo on 4 July, before the final 6pm bulletin airs. Photo: RNZ
Boucher said it had only been 80 days since Stuff announced it would take over and run the bulletin for Three's owner Warner Brothers Discovery.
Since then there had been on-air training for reporters and visual journalists, and the design of new graphics and a virtual news set. "There's been a lot of finessing but it's been really great, it looks amazing."
Boucher said the demise of Newshub was "really sad".
"It's an organisation from the early days of TV3 starting up, that has been fantastic at news, it's broken a lot of stories, it's always had that sense of doing things, being bold and getting out there and doing things.
"It's produced some incredible journalists and we're really proud that a lot of them are coming over to Stuff, and we're looking forward to that."
Staff were feeling some pressure with their first 6pm TV news bulletin tonight, she admitted, but it was "good pressure" because they wanted to do a good job.
"Some of that pressure on us is not to drop the ball on what's been an incredible organisation, an incredible show and to bring our own personality and values and commitment to that, too."