THE RESIGNATION of TVNZ Political Editor Maiki Sherman was, officially, a personal decision. Sherman said that, after days of public scrutiny and comment, her position had become 'untenable'.
Unofficially though, it has the unmistakable scent of a political hit job—one carried out not through a single coordinated conspiracy, but through a loose, opportunistic network of right-wing actors who share the same target and the same ideological instincts. In this case, the target was a high-profile Maori journalist whose reporting style and political framing were never going to be tolerated by those who believe the public broadcaster should reflect their worldview.
To be clear, there is no evidence of a smoke-filled room where right wing bloggers, lobbyists, and politicians plotted Sherman’s downfall. But New Zealand politics has never needed formal conspiracies to produce coordinated outcomes. What we have instead is a shadow ecosystem—an informal alliance of partisan bloggers, pressure groups, and sympathetic politicians—who amplify each other’s narratives, feed off each other’s outrage, and collectively generate enough noise to destabilise individuals they perceive as ideological threats. Sherman appears to be the latest casualty of this ecosystem.
This is the conclusion that Green MP Steve Abel has also arrived at. He commented on X: '…don't be distracted by the slur but pay attention to who is behind the witch-hunt to get rid of her. Something is rotten in the State of New Zealand, and it is right wing politicians targeting journalists and the public media, because who controls the media controls the mind, and they know too well that six months out from an election that is too close to call. If they can get rid of the senior political editor for TVNZ, it is to their advantage. The targeting of Maiki Sherman had the taint of a witch hunt from the get-go. Nicola Willis lined up with a far right blogger to explicitly break Chatham House rules and reveal a cherry-picked detail of an interaction between Sherman and Lloyd Burr, a fellow journalist, that happened at a booze-up in her own office.'
The pattern is familiar. First comes the blog-driven outrage, often framed as 'concern' about bias or professionalism. In this case, blogger Ani O’Brien played a conspicuous role, pushing the idea that Sherman’s reporting was compromised or politically slanted. O'Brien is the General Manager of the right-wing agitprop group The Campaign Company. It was founded by Jordan Williams of the Taxpayers Union.
In 2025 The Campaign Company was hired by the Sensible Sentencing Trust to orchestrate a campaign against the Green Party, aimed at discrediting and ridiculing its views on prison reform. Bryce Edwards of the Democracy Project noted: 'The entire episode had a strong whiff of the “Dirty Politics” era – anonymous smear campaigns and unscrupulous political hit-jobs conducted at arm’s length from the politicians who benefit.'
It was Ani O'Brien who was also central to driving a smear campaign against Green MP Benjamin Doyle, which eventually drove him out of Parliament. The allegations, made by O'Brien and repeated by others, were proven to be entirely without foundation.
O'Brien is also on the council of the right wing Free Speech Union, widely considered to be a Zionist front group. In 2024 O'Brien joined fellow Zionists Juliet Moses and David Cumin in an attempt to smear Green Party co-leader Chloe Swarbrick as 'anti-Semitic' for opposing Israel's genocidal assault on Gaza.
O’Brien’s commentary on Maiki Sherman, predictably, was picked up and circulated by the usual constellation of right-wing social media accounts. The framing was simple: Sherman was not just wrong, but untrustworthy and she lacked integrity. O'Brien, in her column, made no mention of the racist slur that Lloyd Burr directed at Sherman.
Then comes the amplification from groups like the Taxpayers’ Union. For years, the Union has operated as a de facto political messaging arm for the right, using its platform to attack public institutions, public servants, and public broadcasters. Its interventions are always framed as 'accountability', but the targets are remarkably consistent: anyone who challenges the ideological preferences of the political right. Sherman’s reporting, especially on issues involving Maori politics, public spending, or the coalition’s internal tensions, made her an obvious target.
Finally, the political wing entered the picture. The ACT Party, which has long cultivated a symbiotic relationship with both the Taxpayers’ Union and right-leaning online commentators, seized on the narrative. ACT MP's have repeatedly accused public broadcasters of left-wing bias, despite offering little evidence beyond their own ideological discomfort. When Sherman became the subject of online attacks, ACT figures were quick to echo the criticisms, reinforcing the idea that she was part of a broader problem within TVNZ. The message was unmistakable: journalists who do not align with ACT’s worldview should expect scrutiny, pressure, and political consequences. Not uncoincidentally, ACT leader, David Seymour, has also attacked Radio New Zealand for hiring a left-leaning journalist, John Campbell, to co-host its flagship breakfast show, Morning Report.
Individually, none of these actions prove coordination. But collectively, they form a pattern—a pattern that has become increasingly common in New Zealand politics. A blogger lights the match, a lobby group fans the flames, and a political party pours accelerant on the fire. The result is a manufactured scandal, a public pile-on, and a journalist left isolated, undermined, and ultimately pushed out.
Labour MP Willie Jackson says Sherman was 'hounded' out of her job simply for responding to racist abuse directed at her during an argument that occurred well over a year ago:
'… Maiki gets ripped to pieces particularly by the right wing with comparisons of her being made to sex deviant and monster Jimmy Saville and Adolf Hitler, that’s how crazy and bloody ridiculous this has become. We had Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour going after her and the Platform's Sean Plunket consistently berating and condemning her. The attacks on a political editor in this country were unprecedented. '
Sherman’s resignation must also be understood within the broader context of a media environment under extraordinary strain. TVNZ is bleeding staff, funding, and institutional confidence. Public broadcasting is being reshaped by a government that has made no secret of its hostility toward what it perceives as 'liberal elites' in the media. In such an environment, journalists who become the focus of political attacks are left with little protection. Management, fearful of further controversy, often opts for silence. Colleagues, worried about their own job security, keep their heads down. The result is a chilling effect that extends far beyond any single resignation. In the case of Maiki Sherman, Willie Jackson says that 'TVNZ let her down so badly, deciding obviously with pressure from this government, that her position was untenable.'
What makes Sherman’s case particularly troubling is the racial dimension. Maori journalists have long faced disproportionate scrutiny, accusations of bias, and targeted harassment. When a Maori political editor becomes the subject of a right-wing pressure campaign, it is impossible to ignore the historical and structural forces at play. The attacks on Sherman were not just about her reporting—they were about who is allowed to hold power in the media, whose perspectives are considered legitimate, and whose presence is treated as inherently political.
The shadow network that contributed to Sherman’s departure thrives on plausible deniability. Each actor can claim independence. Each can insist they were merely 'raising concerns'. Each can point to the others and say, 'We didn’t coordinate.' And technically, they may be right. But the effect is indistinguishable from coordination. The ecosystem functions as a single organism, even if its parts never meet.
Sherman’s resignation is not just a loss for TVNZ. It is a warning that New Zealand’s media environment is becoming increasingly hostile to journalists who challenge the political right. It's a warning that public broadcasters are vulnerable to orchestrated pressure campaigns. And it's a warning that the country’s democratic discourse is being shaped not by open debate, but by shadow networks that operate in the grey zones of influence.
If this is the new normal, then the cost will not just be borne by journalists like Maiki Sherman. It will be borne by the public, who deserve a media landscape free from intimidation, manipulation, and ideological sabotage.
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