3 News presents independent coverage of the latest news from around New Zealand and the world every night at 6pm, but with the integration of our website into the busy newsroom we are now a 24 hour newsdesk.

2009 has seen a focus on breaking news first. By cutting into programming, streaming live and updating rapidly from 3news.co.nz – New Zealand’s leading news programme has been first on stories such as the David Bain and Clayton Weatherston verdicts, the Air New Zealand crash and the death of Michael Jackson.

The use of social networking sites such as Twitter has also allowed us to provide rapidly updating coverage of events as they occurred – the final day of the Bain trial was a great example as hundreds of people followed our live updates from within the court room.

Other initiatives include our first ever web-only programme for the Mt Albert by-election – hosted by John Campbell and featuring our political editor Duncan Garner and the introduction of live chats to streaming video of the stories that unite New Zealand. In particular, the funeral of Len Snee was streamed live on the site and allowed family and friends to pay testament to the officer killed by Napier gunman Jan Molenaar.

Seasoned journalists Mike McRoberts and Hilary Barry anchor a team of award-winning journalists to present the weekday news. 3 Sport follows with the most comprehensive coverage of the latest news from the sporting world.

Carolyn Robinson and Alistair Wilkinson team up to present the weekend edition of 3 News.