Radio New Zealand's deputy chief executive has told the Employment Court that the company's former managing editor did not understand various financial matters.
Lynne Snowdon is challenging her dismissal from the public broadcaster in 2005. She took sick leave in 2003 and her employment was terminated two years later when she failed to return to work.
Deputy chief executive Ken Law told the court in Wellington on Tuesday that Ms Snowdon always claimed that Radio New Zealand's news operation was under-funded, but it used more resources than any other area of the business and had received substantial funding increases.
Mr Law said some staff were upset that the Government would not provide extra funding to Radio New Zealand, and Ms Snowdon was one of them.
He said comments from Ms Snowdon and her advisers also showed they have not understood some aspects of the company's financing.
The court was told that Lynne Snowdon failed to deliver on promised savings in the newsroom. Mr Law said that the purchase of new digital technology did not lead to a reduction in staff as Ms Snowdon said it would.
"While a number of jobs were disestablished as a consequence of the introduction of new technology, staff numbers elsewhere in news increased by more than that. Thus the scene was set for increasing costs in the newsroom," he said.
Earlier, Radio New Zealand's lawyer Michael Quigg opened the case for the defence, telling the court there was not a scintilla of evidence supporting accusations of fraud that Lynne Snowdon had made against the company.
Mr Quigg said Ms Snowdon was fuelled by her obsession and blindness to the facts of the case. He said she was unable, or unwilling, to operate within the budget given and instead argued that she did not have enough money to run the news operation.
Mr Quigg said Ms Snowdon has spent the last 13 years in an array of fanciful and damaging conspiracy theories to absolve herself of having to manage the news division within budget.
