''Breakfast'' (also referred to as ''1 News Breakfast'') is a New Zealand
morning news and talk show airing weekday mornings on
TVNZ 1
TVNZ 1 ( mi, Te Reo Tātaki Tahi) is the first national television channel owned and operated by the state-owned broadcaster Television New Zealand (TVNZ). It is the oldest television broadcaster in New Zealand, starting out from 1960 as indep ...
, produced by
1 News
''1 News'' (stylised as ''1News'') is the news division of New Zealand television network TVNZ. The service is broadcast live from TVNZ Centre in Auckland. The flagship news bulletin is the nightly 6 pm news hour, but ''1 News'' also has ...
. Debuting on 11 August 1997, it was the first of its
genre
Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...
in New Zealand. It contains a mixture of
breaking news
Breaking news, interchangeably termed late-breaking news and also known as a special report or special coverage or news flash, is a current issue that broadcasters feel warrants the interruption of scheduled programming or current news in orde ...
, news, sport, weather and feature items. Originally a two-hour programme, it was expanded to three hours in 2012. It is currently presented by
Jenny-May Clarkson, Matty Mclean, Chris Chang and Anna Burns-Francis.
History
''Breakfast'' began airing on 11 August 1997 on
TV One and was preceded by ''Telstra Business'', an early morning programme devoted to business and finance. The original presenters were
Susan Wood and
Mike Hosking
Michael Noel James Hosking IV is a New Zealand television and radio broadcaster who has worked for Radio New Zealand and TVNZ and from 2008 has been the weekday breakfast host on Newstalk ZB with "The Mike Hosking Breakfast". He is a supporter ...
, with Liz Gunn as newsreader and Michael Wilson as presenter of ''Telstra Business''.
Before ''Breakfast'' came along, breakfast television was introduced to
Channel 2 in November 1989 with an early morning news service called ''Breakfast News'' with Tom Bradley as anchor and Penelope Barr as weather presenter. ''Breakfast News'' – which consisted of overnight stories, a business news summary and weather forecasts – aired on Channel 2 initially as a half hour bulletin at 7am with a five-minute news and weather update at 8am.
In 1990, the format of ''Breakfast News'' was changed to five-minute bulletins at 7am, 7.30am, 8am and 8.30am (during Channel 2's early morning programming for children) with former ''Top Half'' presenter
John Hawkesby
John Langley Hawkesby (born 1947) is a former news presenter for ONE News and THREE News in New Zealand.
Hawkesby attended Auckland Grammar School in 1964. His started his broadcasting career in 1972 when he researched and presented Radio Ne ...
taking over as anchor. By August, John Hawkesby replaced
Lindsay Perigo as co-anchor of the late night edition of ''
One Network News'' and ''Breakfast News'' was axed by TVNZ.
When ''Breakfast'' began, its dominance was virtually unchallenged by the other networks until 2007, when
TV3 launched ''
Sunrise
Sunrise (or sunup) is the moment when the upper rim of the Sun appears on the horizon in the morning. The term can also refer to the entire process of the solar disk crossing the horizon and its accompanying atmospheric effects.
Terminology
A ...
''. ''Sunrise'' struggled against ''Breakfast'' in the ratings until ''Sunrise'' went off air because of financial issues in April 2010, leaving ''Breakfast'' as the only morning news and talk show in New Zealand, until TV3 launched their second attempt at a morning news programme, ''
Firstline'', in 2011.
Following Hosking's tenure, ''Breakfast'' was dominated by host
Paul Henry's outspoken nature for serval years, until he resigned following a series of on-air racist comments in October 2010. Years later, Henry's
self-titled breakfast show on TV3 caused a significant increase in ''Breakfast''
's competition from 2015. This resulted in ''Breakfasts relaunch in September 2016, with a new presenting line-up led by
Hilary Barry
Hilary Ann Barry (née Pankhurst, born 4 December 1969) is a New Zealand journalist and television personality who co-hosts '' Seven Sharp'' with Jeremy Wells on TVNZ 1. She was a newsreader on TV3 for many years and until 2016, presented the 6 ...
and
Jack Tame
Jack Renfrey Tame (born March 1987) is a television and radio journalist and presenter. He is the host of TVNZ’s political show Q+A, and a presenter at Newstalk ZB''.
Early life
Tame was born in Christchurch, New Zealand, the son of Golden Ba ...
.
Barry was moved to ''
Seven Sharp'' from 2018, and was replaced on ''Breakfast'' by
Hayley Holt. Holt resigned from the
Green Party
A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence.
Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...
, who she had represented at the
2017 New Zealand general election
The 2017 New Zealand general election took place on Saturday 23 September 2017 to determine the membership of the 52nd New Zealand Parliament. The previous parliament was elected on 20 September 2014 and was officially dissolved on 22 August 20 ...
, in order to take up the position.
Tame remained on ''Breakfast'' until 2019, when he became the presenter of ''
Q+A'' and was replaced by veteran New Zealand broadcaster
John Campbell, who had recently joined TVNZ.
Between 23 March and 8 May 2020, the show was hosted by two rotating teams of three presenters due to the public health regulations around the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
. Campbell hosted with
Pippa Wetzell and Melissa Stokes on Mondays and Tuesdays, with
Jenny-May Clarkson (the show's regular newsreader), Hadyn Jones and Anna Burns-Francis taking over for the remaining episodes. Holt remained in self-isolation due to her pregnancy, while Matty McLean temporarily moved to present the weather for ''
1 News
''1 News'' (stylised as ''1News'') is the news division of New Zealand television network TVNZ. The service is broadcast live from TVNZ Centre in Auckland. The flagship news bulletin is the nightly 6 pm news hour, but ''1 News'' also has ...
'' at 6pm. From 11 May the regular daily presenters returned, with Clarkson continuing as a main co-presenter until 2 June in Holt's absence. Holt left the show permanently in August, with Clarkson taking over her role.
Indira Stewart subsequently joined the team as newsreader. During Auckland's lockdown period between 18 August and 12 November 2021, the two presenting teams were Campbell, Stewart and Stokes, and Clarkson, McLean and Jenny Suo.
On 31 January 2022, a new look for ''Breakfast'' was unveiled. This included a new
augmented reality studio set and new graphics. McLean and Stewart's presenting roles were also increased.
Campbell left the show in April to become TVNZ's special correspondent, and was briefly replaced by
Kamahl Santamaria, who had previously presented for
Al Jazeera English for 16 years.
In May 2022, ''Breakfast'' became the focus of media attention when Santamaria resigned from TVNZ after a month at the station. Santamaria's departure was initially described to his colleagues and the media as a "family emergency" or "personal matter", though the day after his resignation was announced it emerged that a female colleague had made a complaint against him over inappropriate behaviour. After further allegations of harassment against Santamaria during his time at Al Jazeera were reported, a review of TVNZ's hiring process was undertaken. Upon the review's completion in July 2022, TVNZ's head of news and current affairs, Paul Yurisich, who had hired Santamaria without thorough consultation, also resigned from his position.
In January 2023,
TVNZ announced that New York Correspondent Anna Burns-Francis and sports presenter and former midday presenter Chris Chang would join the team in 2023 after the announcement that Indira Stewart was leaving to become a in-depth multimedia reporter for
1 News
''1 News'' (stylised as ''1News'') is the news division of New Zealand television network TVNZ. The service is broadcast live from TVNZ Centre in Auckland. The flagship news bulletin is the nightly 6 pm news hour, but ''1 News'' also has ...
. However, she would present the midday bulletin on Fridays with Chang presenting Monday to Thursday.
Presenters
News anchor
*
Neil Waka
Neil Waka is a New Zealand broadcaster and journalist. He has been in broadcasting for 25 years, beginning in radio as a news and current affairs journalist before moving into Television. Waka helped establish and was the first presenter in New ...
(2002)
*
Peter Williams (2003–2016)
*
Alison Mau
Alison Mau () (born 14 February 1965), known professionally as Ali Mau, is an Australian-born New Zealand journalist and broadcaster. She is a former television news anchor, former co-host of the TVNZ current affairs show ''Seven Sharp'', forme ...
(2008–2010)
*
Rawdon Christie (2011–2012)
* Nadine Chalmers-Ross (2012–2015)
* Melissa Stokes (2015–2016)
*
Daniel Faitaua (2016–2019)
*
Jenny-May Clarkson (2019–2020)
* Indira Stewart (2020–2022)
Weather anchor
*
Tāmati Coffey
Tamati Gerald Coffey (born 19 September 1979) is a list Member of the New Zealand Parliament for the New Zealand Labour Party. Prior to entering Parliament, he was most notably an award-winning broadcaster fronting many shows over a decade, for ...
(2007–2012)
* Sam Wallace (2012–2016)
* Matty McLean (2017–2021)
Reporters
Breakfast reporters appear in live crosses throughout the three hour broadcast, and during news bulletins.
''Saturday Breakfast''
On 3 September 2011, TVNZ launched ''Saturday Breakfast'', which aired between 7 am and 9 am each Saturday. The programme was axed at the end of 2012 due to low viewership.
Format
Short news and sports updates are presented every half hour (6am, 6.30am, 7am, 7.30am, 8am and 8.30am) and followed by a weather forecast. Mostly, the programme has interviews with newsmakers or
TVNZ reporters on the important headlines of the day. The first hour of the programme, from 6am, is usually devoted to news coverage and the rest of the programme has entertainment or special interest segments.
Awards
In 2014, TVNZ was awarded a Bravo award by the
New Zealand Skeptics for coverage of the "dangers of
Miracle Mineral Solution
Miracle Mineral Supplement, often referred to as Miracle Mineral Solution, Master Mineral Solution, MMS or the CD protocol, is a branded name for an aqueous solution of chlorine dioxide, an industrial bleaching agent, that has been falsely p ...
." And for their comment that MMS "is not a miracle cure for anything".
References
{{New Zealand television news
New Zealand television news shows
1990s New Zealand television series
2000s New Zealand television series
2010s New Zealand television series
2020s New Zealand television series
1997 New Zealand television series debuts
TVNZ 1 original programming
Breakfast television in New Zealand
New Zealand television talk shows
TVNZ original programming