TVNZ accused of self-promotion as Ryan Fox's Open win waits 17 minutes
Tuesday, 21 July 2026
New Zealand golf star Ryan Fox won the British Open on Monday, but if you were watching TVNZ last night you might not have known that until about 17 minutes into the coverage.
In one of the greatest achievements in New Zealand sport, and certainly the biggest Kiwi sports story of 2026 thus far, Fox sunk a birdie putt on the last hole to win by one stroke after a neck-and-neck battle with clubhouse leader Cameron Young.
After a passing mention in the headlines, there were multiple segments and live crosses covering the FIFA World Cup from all angles before any mention of Fox’s win on the state broadcaster’s 1News at 6.
These included retrospectives on the All Whites’ relatively brief tenure at the cup, which ended several weeks ago, segments on fans packing out downtown bars, and a desk chat with Breakfast host Chris Chang.
There was also a lengthy segment on the addition of a half-time show in the final featuring footage of K-pop stars BTS, and ‘80s icon Madonna.
Before turning to Fox, there was specific mention of the success of the World Cup as a streaming event on TVNZ+, with the broadcaster having secured exclusive rights to stream the games live.
This included an interview with TVNZ chief executive Jodi O’Donnell.
“The audience numbers are quite exceptional. One in four New Zealanders have watched the tournament so far. We don’t have numbers from this morning yet, but up until this morning, we have had 20 million streams,” O’Donnell said.
The broadcast noted the event was “the launchpad for TVNZ’s pay-per-view platform” and hinted further events could be on the way.
“I don’t have anything specific to announce today, but I will say, watch this space,” O’Donnell added.
On Tuesday, TVNZ confirmed it obtained the free-to-view and pay rights for FIFA World Cup 2030.
Back with the 6pm news hour, and when they did turn to Fox before the first ad break, TVNZ spent around 40 seconds recapping his win. They returned to him for a lengthier segment later in the broadcast too.
Stuff film and television writer James Croot praised TVNZ’s World Cup coverage overall, but critiqued the decision to wait so long to get to Fox.
“We had to wait more than 15 minutes for a report on the incredible achievement by Kiwi Ryan Fox in winning the British Golf Open, while TVNZ recapped the match between Spain and Argentina, and the entire World Cup, in what bordered on blatant self-promotion and congratulations that they’d secured the rights.
“It was an extremely poor editorial decision.”
University of Auckland Honorary Research Fellow, and former NZ Herald Editor, Gavin Ellis, said the broadcast felt a little like self-promotion.
“They were basically patting themselves on the back for 17 minutes,” Ellis told Stuff.
“I thought it was excessive and unjustified. Yes, it is a story, and the fact that they were very successful in launching their paid streaming service is also newsworthy. But 17 minutes of it? No.”
There was widespread discussion of the decision on social media, with pundits describing the move as ‘curious’ and even ‘gobsmacking’.
Media commentator and The Spinoff founder Duncan Grieve said TVNZ was managing conflicting priorities between covering the biggest sporting event in the world, the local angle, and launching a new product in a very challenging media market.
“It's very, very difficult to make a call on that,” Grieve told Stuff.
“My own instinct would be to lead with the World Cup, but lead with a relatively short summary of it, cut to a much more substantial Ryan Fox package because that's the local angle, and then return to the summary … And honestly, yeah, talk about the business consequences for TVNZ. It's a really interesting story. If I had time, I'd have written it myself.”
Stuff approached TVNZ asking about the editorial decision making last night and it responded: “We don't have any comment about last night's bulletin.”
What do you think? Was Ryan Fox’s win sidelined by the state broadcaster or was it a fair call? Let us know in the comments. If you’re using the Stuff app on iOS you’ll need to view Stuff.co.nz on a browser to view and post comments.