It has been three years since premium was launched. Photo / Kiri Gillespie
It has been three years since premium was launched. Photo / Kiri Gillespie
To mark the third birthday of our digital subscription service, we're offering a special deal for potential new members.
It's been three years since NZME, publisher of the Bay of Plenty Times and NZ Herald, took the ambitious step of asking readers to pay for access to our best journalism by buying a Herald Premium digital subscription.
Today, as we celebrate the third anniversary, NZ Herald premium continues to grow beyond expectations - thanks to the support of you, our audience.
More than 140,000 people are now paying to read our expert reporting and commentary on national, business, sport and political issues, along with engaging and informative entertainment and lifestyle features, and stories from leading global publishers like the New York Times and Financial Times.
To mark Premium's third birthday, we're offering new members $3 subscriptions for three months, or $99 for the first year. Click here for more details.
Five-, six- or seven-day subscribers to the Bay of Plenty Times and NZ Herald print editions are entitled to full digital access; go to nzherald.co.nz/activate to activate your Premium subscriptions.
For our loyal readers who already have subscriptions, you can help us celebrate by going in the draw to win one of three prizes of $3000 cash. See all the details here.
A Premium subscription helps Kiwis make sense of the fast-paced, ever-changing news cycle, from analysis of current events to in-depth investigations and absorbing features, to opinion pieces you won't find anywhere else - on any device. Plus, gold-standard stories from international publishers such as the New York Times and the Financial Times to broaden your perspective even further.
Our award-winning newsroom continues to produce some of the biggest and most important stories from around Aoteaora.
Among the exclusive Premium stories we've published recently was the story of 11-year-old Charlie Ford's fight for a "miracle drug" to ease the symptoms of cystic fibrosis - a life-threatening, debilitating genetic condition. Through tears, his father Glenn Ford said it was "really cruel" Charlie had been dealt the card of cystic fibrosis. Without Trikafta, "his life will just be cut short," Glenn said. The drug is not publicly funded in New Zealand and costs about $330,000 per year.
For two years New Zealanders have been navigating through the fog of a global pandemic that's been affecting our lives personally as well as professionally. During this time the number of Kiwis struggling with poor mental wellbeing has risen sharply, leading NZME to launch Great Minds, a major editorial project examining the state of our mental health. The series features in-depth investigations as well as personal stories such as that of Frankie Perry who hoped telling her story would prevent others from experiencing what she had gone through. Frankie felt her anxiety levels increase when returning to school after the March 2020 lockdown and her anxiety led to a hospital admission before she sought mental health support available through youth service Whetū Marewa.
Frankie Perry, 16, shared her story as part of the Great Minds project. Photo / Andrew Warner
In one of a number of property reports we shared the story of Tauranga's Tony Cranson who, perched on a brown La-Z-Boy chair in the lounge of his modest unit, defied the typical image of a successful property investor. But the 73-year-old former firefighter owned 17 houses. He bought his first rental propoerty with the $3000 he had left when his marriage ended, along with a loan.
Tony Cranson who owns 17 properties. Photo / NZME
We looked back at the grounding of the Rena on the 10th anniversary of the disaster - New Zealand's worst maritime environmental disaster and the world's second costliest ship salvage. We also broke the news the Rena captain Mauro Balomaga was now teaching maritime students how to pilot ships, a decade after he was sentenced to seven months' jail for his role in the grounding of the cargo ship.
And it's not just first-class journalism that Herald Premium delivers.
A Premium subscription also lets you have your say by commenting on selected articles and participating in live Q&As with experts on the hottest topics of the day, whether that's about skills shortages or how to ask for a pay rise.
Join gang experts, Herald journalist Jared Savage and sociologist Jarrod Gilbert, when they host a Q&A about gangs and crime on Monday, May 2.
Subscribers also get access to exclusive newsletters, including our Premium News Briefing that tells you everything you need to know for the day by the time you've made your first coffee, and our weekly Opinion newsletter that rounds up the mood among our columnists and commenters.
