Rowan Dixon is an accomplished rider as well as editor and publisher; Sunday host Miriama Kamo; Prime Minister Christopher Luxon at a stand-up press conference at Parliament. Photos / Glenn Taylor, TVNZ, Mark Mitchell
Midweek Media Insider: New research reveals New Zealanders continue to engage strongly in news and trust local sources, despite a rapidly changing media landscape; TVNZ rebuilds its Sunday night schedule; But first, two specialist print titles are the latest victims of a tough economy and changing audience demands.
Two long-running New Zealand print titles – a 65-year-old magazine aimed at the equestrian set and a Catholic newspaper with origins in the 1800s – have been halted.
The monthly New Zealand Horse & Pony magazine and fortnightly NZ Catholic newspaper are the latest print titles to have fallen victim to rising costs and falling revenue – as their audiences also battle a cost-of-living crisis which has reduced spending on discretionary items.
Horse & Pony is placing its print edition in hibernation after 65 years, its subscribers are being advised this week.
Editor Rowan Dixon did not wish to comment until after she had advised readers in a mailout this week but it is understood a range of options are being considered to maintain the brand digitally – it has its own website, horseandponymag.com – and potentially returning to a print edition in the future.
The specialist magazine targeting the lucrative equestrian lifestyle set is no longer taking subscription orders on its website.
The magazine, which had a retail cover price of $10.50, had an audited readership of 41,000 in 2021 while the brand has a strong social media following, with 26,000 Facebook fans and more than 3200 Instagram followers.
In a piece she wrote for the magazine in 2016, Dixon outlined the publication’s origins in May 1959.
“Its predecessor was a publication called – charmingly – Tally-Ho, which began in 1947 and was initially published quarterly but moved to a monthly in March 1953,” said Dixon.
“But six years later, Tally-Ho was faltering, and a Wellington-based publisher, ABD Clark Ltd, along with editor Mrs J. Bertram, took up the challenge of providing a monthly magazine ‘for the amateur riders of New Zealand’ and launched New Zealand Horse & Pony.
“The magazine’s aims, as published in its very first issue, were: ‘To provide accurate news and lively views to all readers interested in horse or pony events both here and overseas, and to provide a regular journal in which readers can express their opinions on topics of interest to horse people.
“‘Our main objective... is to provide greater enjoyment for all those who ride, and to safeguard the welfare of the horse...’”
Another specialist print title is also pivoting to a digital future.
National Catholic newspaper NZ Catholic will stop publishing at the end of the month.
“NZ Catholic and its predecessors, the Tablet from Dunedin and the Zealandia have been part of our Catholic print media since 1873,” Auckland Bishop Stephen Lowe said in a letter to subscribers and supporters.
A new monthly digital publication was being developed.
NZ Catholic started in 1996.
The bishop said the rate of change in the media industry had accelerated in recent years.
“We have seen dramatic changes in the media landscape with audiences moving away from print and the TV news towards digital, social and video news, entertainment and networking platforms.
“Like all other newspapers, NZ Catholic has been impacted by falling circulation numbers, subscribers and advertisers.”
NZ Catholic now had fewer than 1000 subscribers, he said, and had reached the point where it was no longer sustainable to publish a printed newspaper.
“It is my sad duty to inform you that the issue published on June 30 will be NZ Catholic’s last printed fortnightly edition.”
The pending changes for New Zealand Horse & Pony and NZ Catholic will be devastating for their owners and staff, not to mention the loyal readers who continue to enjoy the tactile experience of print. But there are also opportunities digitally, especially if a loyal and lucrative audience can be maintained.
The print titles are victims of a rapidly changing landscape which has seen almost every commercial media company slashing costs, people, titles and shows. In the case of Newshub, an entire newsroom is closing.
Several community newspapers and magazine titles have fallen victim this year including NZ Life & Leisure, The Wairoa Star, Hauraki Herald and the Kāpiti Observer.
Other titles have been saved by new owners.
After an uncertain couple of months, NZ Doctor and Pharmacy Today have been sold by publishing firm The Health Media to Australasian health data infrastructure company Group Healthcare Ltd, and their immediate futures look assured.
And East Auckland businesswoman Bo Burns bought the Howick and Pakuranga Times and is building a new business model. She reports strong commercial interest in a revamped title.
“It’s four weeks Friday since I bought it, first edition coming out tomorrow, sold out until July. Crazy times, but super exciting,” she told Media Insider last week.
TVNZ’s Sunday night ratings took an immediate dip in the week after the Sunday current affairs show closed, Nielsen figures show.
The state broadcaster will be aiming to rebuild those ratings as its new 7.30pm offering launches this week.
Sunday’s final episode, on May 12, lured 501,700 viewers (all audiences, age 5+) and was a consistently high ratings performer for the state broadcaster over the years.
The 2022 documentary Web of Chaos, which screened at 7.30pm on the following Sunday, drew 277,000 viewers.
“We expect a repeated documentary to perform at this level, given audiences have already had a chance to view,” said a TVNZ spokeswoman.
“Repeats don’t often perform at the same level as premiere content, or a series finale, as was the case with the last episode of Sunday. We will have new local content in that slot soon with NZ’s Best Homes with Phil Spencer premiering Sunday, June 9.
“Sunday has performed consistently with audiences over the years. Unfortunately, audiences don’t necessarily correlate to revenue, and in the current climate the overall operating costs associated with Sunday were too high for us to continue.”
While some media platforms are struggling and others are pivoting, reports of the death of news appear to have been grossly exaggerated, with new research showing a vast majority of New Zealanders continue to access local news – and trust it in similarly strong numbers.
Ninety-three per cent of New Zealanders access news at least once a day, and 57 per cent check it even more regularly, according to a News Publishers Association (NPA) survey of 1520 people conducted by The Research Agency (TRA) between April 29 and May 10.
New Zealanders use, on average, just under three news sources. The most popular news sources are TV stations (59 per cent), social media (46 per cent), radio stations (40 per cent), metro mastheads – digital and print (38 per cent); and search engines (38 per cent).
The research, released today, shows 80 per cent of New Zealanders trust the news provided by local media outlets and that this trust extends to search and social media if the local news source is shown.
The NPA is using the new research to highlight the value of news to Kiwis and to push its case that Google, Meta and other global tech companies who benefit from it should be required to pay a fair price for that content.
“It is a further reason for the Government to proceed with the Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill, which is intended to bring tech companies to the negotiating table,” said NPA public affairs director Andrew Holden.
The bill hangs in the balance, with new Media and Communications Minister Paul Goldsmith considering the Government’s position after a parliamentary select committee reported back last week, advising that it should not be passed.
However, Goldsmith has acknowledged some confusion on the part of National’s MPs on the committee, which led to the recommendation not to progress the bill. He said no decisions had been made.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon told Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking yesterday that he was waiting to hear back from Goldsmith. Luxon said he had gone from being negative about the proposed bill, originally tabled by the previous Labour Government but now substantially updated, to neutral.
The new research today might also perhaps ease some worries in the boardrooms and c-suites of media companies around trust in news.
While there is undoubtedly work to be done - from fixing grammatical and spelling errors through to perceived bias and clearly differentiating opinion, analysis and news reporting - the new research shows trust in news in New Zealand is much higher than a previous academic survey has highlighted.
According to today’s NPA/TRA survey, more than 80 per cent of respondents trust local news outlets - 88 per cent trust radio stations and regional news mastheads (print and online) equally; 87 per cent trust TV; 85 per cent trust metro news mastheads (print and online); 81 per cent trust search engines; 60 per cent trust online video sites and 48 per cent trust news on social media.
It is a healthier result than a recent and widely reported AUT survey.
In that academic study, 33 per cent of people “strongly” or “tend to” agree that they “trust the news most of the time”.
Another recently released report – by the Ministry for Culture and Heritage (MCH) – also showed trust in media was stronger than what the AUT survey suggested.
The MCH released the report on the state of New Zealand media, some of which drew on a specially commissioned media consumption survey of more than 2000 people.
A suite of questions in the survey is focused on audience trust and revealed 57 per cent of respondents agree (strongly agree or somewhat agree) that “news reporting is trustworthy”.
Of course, all three pieces of research are entirely different surveys with different methodologies, questions and timings.
The AUT survey, conducted by Horizon Research Ltd in February, was of 1033 people (18 years old or over).
The MCH media consumption survey, commissioned by Angus and Associates and conducted using the Dynata panel last August, was of 2016 people (18 years old or over).
The NPA/TRN survey was of 1520 people (18 years or older) in April and May.
All three surveys were conducted online.
Official digital audience numbers also show that news websites continue to enjoy massive reach. Stuff (with a monthly unique audience of 2.15 million) and the NZ Herald (with a monthly unique audience of 1.96 million) are way out in front of most other New Zealand websites in general (aside from Facebook and Google).
The RNZ and Newshub websites also record monthly unique audiences of more than one million.
“Much is made of declining trust in media as measured in other studies, but this shows that New Zealanders have a connection to their local newsrooms, they understand how important it is to have journalists on the ground reporting about their community – in good times and bad – and they want to see that work reflected in search and social media,” said Holden.
He said the research underlined the media industry’s argument that local news, created by New Zealand journalists, was of significant value to international tech companies who use the content.
“In this debate, it can be hard to pin down the actual value of journalism. A study done in Switzerland 18 months ago, by FehrAdvice, provided insights into that community, but the NPA wanted to understand how Kiwis access news, how often, and how important was it to them that the source of the information was a local newsroom.
“This research clearly shows that New Zealanders want to stay informed and that local journalism is a vital component of that. The researchers explained that the high trust level is not surprising, given people respond more positively when they are asked about local newsrooms rather than a generic ‘media’.”
Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand’s most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor and has a small shareholding in NZME.
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