RNZ's Carol Hirschfeld resigns after discrepancy in her account around meeting with Broadcasting Minister

March 27, 2018

Ms Hirschfeld changed her tune over a meeting with the Minister.

Carol Hirschfeld has resigned from her role as a senior manager at Radio NZ after admitting that her story around a meeting she had with Broadcasting Minister Clare Curran was incorrect.

Ms Hirschfeld spoke with the Minister at a Wellington cafe in December but said it was an accidental meeting. 

Her resignation comes after she informed chief executive Paul Thompson last Sunday that the meeting was actually pre-arranged.

"Ms Hirschfeld had earlier repeatedly assured Mr Thompson that the meeting was coincidental and that she and the Minister had talked after bumping into each other in a Wellington cafe," a statement from RNZ chair Richard Griffin and Mr Thompson says.

"I am very disappointed about what happened and it is important that I put the record straight about the circumstances of the meeting," Mr Thompson adds.

During last year's election campaign, Labour pledged to spend $38 million on public broadcasting including a digital TV channel to be run by Radio NZ called RNZ+.

Mr Thompson says he is assessing who should succeed Ms Hirschfeld and that RNZ's Head of News and Digital Glen Scanlon will take over for now.

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