Forever dubbed a hard-to-reach audience, Kiwi rangatahi have no problems engaging with Re: News. Multimedia journalist Zoe Madden-Smith says it’s because they know what the audience wants: social-first content that speaks to their reality.
It’s no secret that 2024 was an incredible tough time for the media industry in Aotearoa.
Against a backdrop of journalism jobs being cut and news programmes axed, a restructure at parent company TVNZ saw two-thirds of Re: News staff go. But despite the challenges, the platform has endured through the dedication of its team and its rangatahi audience.
Multimedia journalist Zoe Madden-Smith joined the team as a freelancer in 2019, later becoming full-time. For her, the work never gets old, fuelling her every time she puts on her investigative hat.
“I quite like taking something that might be misunderstood, or maybe not as sexy, and digging deeper into it. The satisfaction comes when you can present what you’ve uncovered to an audience that might know nothing about it.”
Madden-Smith gets to do just that for her Re: audience, investigating chronic fatigue syndrome, dental care, urinary tract infections and period poverty. She’s also done stories on snoring etiquette, Tinder dates and sex toys.
Her investigative work helped put Re: on the national stage, earning Madden-Smith Video Journalist of the Year at the 2025 Voyager Awards.
Write for the like-minded
Her winning portfolio included video stories on eczema and topical steroid withdrawal, ADHD and postnatal depression.
“I was, and still am, so stoked,” she says. “I think I’m the first – if not one of the first – females to win Video Journalist of the Year.”
Re: has form with this award – colleague Baz Macdonald won it in 2023 and was nominated again in 2024. Re: also took out Best News, Current Affairs or Specialist Publication in both of those years.
Being recognised across the industry for winning one of the Supreme Awards at the Voyagers is a big deal, she adds.
With the judges praising its success in reaching the hard-to-reach under-35 demographic, Madden-Smith, herself part of that age group, says many young audiences follow Re: because it speaks to their reality.
“Re: had a priority on hiring young journalists. I was 22 when I started, and many of my colleagues were also in their early 20s when they joined. We’ve all been pretty young,” she says.
“You can’t teach someone how to think like a young person. You just literally need to be young.
“A lot of my stories come from yarning with friends,” she adds. “I think about what they would want to read and watch – and usually, it’s what I enjoy too. Writing for an audience that’s literally you is awesome.”
Rethinking news
In 2017, parent company TVNZ established Re: as a “social media experiment” to reach under-engaged 15 to 30-year-olds, says Madden-Smith.
“TVNZ were already connecting well with tamariki through traditional TV, and they had the over-30s covered with the 6pm news, Breakfast and their online news platforms. But that core rangatahi group was difficult to reach, so Re: was launched to fill that gap.”
Re: started with video-only content, mainly shared on social media with a focus on Facebook. “The way we presented news with a social-first approach made young people go, ‘Whoa, here’s a platform that’s just giving me what I need to know.’
“I think Gen Z gets a bad rap – people often see us as shallow or not very engaged. But oh my gosh, we are so engaged. I was shocked when I did vox pops near the universities – everyone was so informed and politically active, too,” she says.
Ahead of the 2023 General Election, former head of content at Re: Anna Harcourt created a TikTok series breaking down New Zealand politics in 60 seconds, helping viewers better understand current events. Re: also hosted a Young Voters Debate, where politicians from the six major parties discussed key issues affecting young people, such as rising living costs and a tough rental market.
By reaching rangatahi on their phones and meeting them where they are, Re: stops the scroll for young Kiwis. And the results are clear, says Madden-Smith.
“Re: had about 6,000 Instagram followers when I first joined, and now it’s almost hitting 100K.”
Collaboration over challenge
However, with the highs came the lows. TVNZ’s major business restructure last year cut the Re: team from 12 to four.
The shakeup is bittersweet. “I feel a lot of mamae [pain, hurt] for my colleagues who lost their jobs, but some real positives have come out of the restructure as well,” says Madden-Smith.
One of the silver linings, is stronger collaboration within the company, she says.
“One cool thing that’s happened is that we’re now doing a lot more sharing across TVNZ. Before, Re: mostly made stories just for Re:. But now, with a smaller team in the newsroom, it’s become pretty common for our stories to end up on Breakfast.”
Increased collaboration has created opportunities, too. She’s currently being trained in voiceover for stories on TV1’s 6pm news bulletin.
Nurture the next generation
Being part of a smaller team, she’s had more opportunities to take on every part of the production – reporting, shooting, directing and editing on her own.
“I think it’s amazing that the team trusts me with thousands of dollars’ worth of gear – just sending me out on my own to shoot, make mistakes and not see it as a waste of time or resources but as part of the learning process.”
Madden-Smith is committed to carrying that culture forward.
“Being able to train people on my team is really cool. It’s that idea of tuakana-teina – when someone new comes in, you get to mentor and support them. I love that,” she says.
“That’s how we sustain ourselves: by nurturing the next generation, just like my colleagues did for me.”
This story comes from NZ Marketing magazine issue 84, Sept-Nov 2025. Why not subscribe? Get four issues a year for just $50 (including delivery) if you autorenew.
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