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Television news in New Zealand started in 1960 with the introduction of television. These bulletins were broadcast from New Zealand's four main cities (Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin) operating independently of each other due to technical constraints. The Wahine disaster in April 1968 highlighted the need for a nationwide news network; footage shot in Wellington could not be broadcast in other centres around the country at the same time, and the extra tropical cyclone which contributed to the disaster also grounded air traffic preventing the film being flown to other centres.

In October 1969 the nationwide TV network was completed. The first network news broadcast was live on 3 November 1969 at 7:35 pm, read by Dougal Stevenson. This bulletin was possible due to microwave links being established between the four main centres; the programme was called NZBC Network News. Initially, it was read by Philip Sherry, Dougal Stevenson or Bill Toft on a rotating roster.

Prior to the building of the Warkworth satellite communications station in 1971, international programmes could not be received live – the footage had to be flown into New Zealand and was often days old.

Angela D'Audney was the first female newsreader in New Zealand, from 1973. The Network News featured many other newsreaders until the NZBC was dissolved in 1975. The programme was then renamed simply News. The main bulletin was revamped in 1987. It was renamed Network News with Judy Bailey and Neil Billington initially co-presenting. Richard Long and Tony Ciprian alternately presented and produced sports news. Later that year Long took over from Billington as Network News news co-anchor, the beginning of a partnership that would continue for much of the next fifteen years. Ciprian moved to the new commercial channel TV3, the station's first sports news producer. He was with 3 News for almost 20 years.

From the 1970s, four regional news programmes were broadcast – one in each of the four main regions: Top Half (Auckland and the upper North Island), Today Tonight (Wellington and the lower North Island and originally the upper South Island), The Mainland Touch (Christchurch, Canterbury and later the upper South Island) and The South Tonight (Otago and Southland). Initially, these programmes ran for 20 minutes during the main news programme at 7 pm, between the sports and weather news. In 1988, the Network News was moved to 6 pm and regional news shows to 6:30 pm. On 11 April 1989 TVNZ launched a new nightly current affairs show, Holmes, which was presented by Paul Holmes. Holmes began screening at 6:30 pm and regional news shows were moved to 5:45 pm before the Network News bulletin before being axed at the end of 1990.

1989 saw the introduction of the first One News foreign correspondents – Liam Jeory in London and Susan Wood in Sydney. The 6:30 pm bulletin was reduced back to 30 minutes on weekdays.

In 1989, Network News was relaunched as One Network News; its renaming due to competition from new broadcasting station TV3's news programme 3 National News.

In 1995, the main bulletin was again extended from 30 to 60 minutes, screening from the now familiar 6:00 pm timeslot, followed by Holmes at 7 pm. The change coincided with the unveiling of a new studio set which was used until 2003. On 2 January 1995, the main One Network News bulletin was delayed for ten minutes after protesters occupied the studio angered the Māori-language bulletin Te Karere had being suspended over the Christmas and New Year period.[2]

On 11 August 1997, the early morning Telstra Business and Breakfast shows were first aired; Telstra Business was hosted by Michael Wilson; Breakfast hosted by Susan Wood and Mike Hosking.The end of 1997 saw the replacement of weekend news presenters Angela D'Audney and Tom Bradley with husband and wife Simon Dallow and Alison Mau. Bradley resigned, but D'Audney stayed as a backup presenter for other bulletins until her death in 2002.

In 1998, TVNZ signed 3 News anchor John Hawkesby to replace Richard Long from the start of 1999. But when Haweskby began presenting One Network News at 6 pm alongside Judy Bailey, there was a public outcry over the separation of Bailey and Long, that lead to Long reinstated as co-anchor at 6 pm three weeks later. Hawkesby later took TVNZ to court, a dispute that he subsequently won.

The programme was renamed again on 31 December 1999 to One News.

2003 saw a major shake up of TVNZ's news and current affairs programming with entering head Bill Ralston making sweeping changes to the formats of many programmes. A new state-of-the-art studio came into use for One News programmes, but many presenters were culled. The changes saw the end of Long and Bailey's 15-year partnership; from January 2004, the main 6 pm bulletin reverted to a single-headed broadcast with Judy Bailey as anchor. Jim Hickey, TVNZ's most popular weather presenter, and sports presenter April Bruce (née Ieremia) also left in 2003.[3][4] Hickey returned to One News in 2007.[5]

Close Up was launched in November 2004, when Paul Holmes, host of the Holmes programme, resigned following failed contract negotiations. Close Up followed the same format as Holmes, but was hosted by Susan Wood until her sudden resignation in 2006. Mark Sainsbury became the main host following her resignation.

In October 2005, TVNZ announced that it would not be renewing long-standing flagship broadcaster Judy Bailey's contract; some observers believe this was a direct reaction to the programme's market share decline in Auckland to 3 News. An emotional Bailey signed off for the final time at the end of the 6 pm One News bulletin on 23 December 2005. She was TVNZ's longest serving newsreader and had been reporting and presenting with both NZBC and TVNZ for 34 years. When the 6 pm edition of One News returned after the Christmas break of 2005–2006, it reverted to double-headed presentation with Wendy Petrie and Simon Dallow taking over from Bailey. The weekend 6 pm bulletin remained single-headed until September 2008, when popular presenter Peter Williams joined Bernadine Oliver-Kirby as co-anchor.

Sir Paul Holmes returned to TVNZ as the host on the new political programme Q+A in 2009. He hosted the programme until late 2012, when illness prevented him from continuing his duties. He died on 1 February 2013.

TVNZ celebrated One News' 40th birthday on 3 November 2009 with some archival footage available on their website. Later that year, Jennie Goodwin, David Beatson, Dougal Stevenson and Lindsay Perigo returned to read one Breakfast news segment each.

A Saturday edition of Breakfast, called Saturday Breakfast, was broadcast from 3 September 2011, hosted by Rawdon Christie and Toni Street, and ran until the end of 2012, when it and One News at 4:30 were cancelled for financial reasons.[6]

In September 2012 an announcement was made that TVNZ would discontinue Close Up at the end of 2012. The final Close Up programme screened on 30 November 2012 and in early 2013, an announcement was made of the replacement show, named Seven Sharp. The first show screened on 4 February 2013.

1 News has reporters and correspondents based around New Zealand and internationally, with bureaus in Australia, Europe, USA, and in the Pacific.

Former BBC meteorologist Daniel Corbett joined the weather team in September 2014. In December 2014, Jim Hickey left his position as head weather forecaster. Nearly a year later Karen Olsen left the weathercaster position, making her final broadcast on 16 November 2015.[7]

The programme was renamed 1 News in 2016, when TV One was renamed TVNZ 1.

During the COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand as part of cost-cutting measures, 1 News will revert to a single news presenter for its 6pm bulletin. Simon Dallow would remain on as the sole newsreader while Wendy Petrie would lose her role. Petrie would remain at TVNZ as a backup presenter across other 1 News programmes.

In 2020, 1 News was named as the most trusted news source during the COVID-19 pandemic.[8]

1 News Special episodes are often aired during international, one-off and breaking news events. For international breaking news stories, 1 News often airs a video feed from other news organisations. 1 News has aired specials for the following events:

During the COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand a 1 News Special was broadcast most days at 1pm. During the 1pm broadcast Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield would announce how many new cases of coronavirus were in New Zealand.

The following is a list of 1 News reporters.[21]

This list excludes reporters from 20/20, Q&A, Fair Go, Sunday, Te Karere, Marae Investigates, Breakfast and Seven Sharp. TVNZ has one of the largest news gathering teams in the country - based in New Zealand and in TVNZ bureaus around the world.

• List of New Zealand television personalities

• Official website