Media Insider: NZME proposes closing 14 community newspapers, with the loss of about 30 jobs

NZME is proposing to close its 14 community titles. The Weekend Sun, Waikato Herald and Coast & Country would not be affected, the company said.

NZ Herald publisher NZME is proposing to close 14 community newspapers, with the loss of about 30 jobs – a body blow for local news in many New Zealand regions and the latest bombshell in a year of major media cuts and closures.

The titles, all in the North Island, are no longer profitable in the face of a changing media landscape and rising costs, NZME said today.

They include mastheads such as the Te Awamutu Courier, whose origins stretch back more than 100 years.

The 13 other titles proposed for closure are Hauraki-Coromandel Post, Katikati Advertiser, Te Puke Times, Taupō & Tūrangi Herald, Napier Courier, Hastings Leader, CHB Mail in Hawke’s Bay, Stratford Press, Bush Telegraph in Tararua, Whanganui Midweek, Manawatū Guardian, Horowhenua Chronicle and Kāpiti News.

NZME is proposing to close 14 community newspaper titles, including these six in the central North Island.

In some regions, these titles are the only source of local news, covering their local councils and other public bodies.

It is expected the titles will be closed before Christmas, with just over 30 job losses across editorial, sales and operations teams.

The proposed closures come amid a tough economic environment, a downturn in advertising and as the Government wavers on its plans to introduce the Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill, in the wake of threats from tech giant Google.

Over the past year, hundreds of jobs have been lost as the media industry has sought what it calls an even playing field to compete with the international tech giants.

In an announcement today, NZME said it had presented a proposal to staff to close the papers, on the basis they were no longer profitable.

Media and Communications Minister Paul Goldsmith. Photo / Mark Mitchell

NZME chief executive Michael Boggs said the announcement was “tough news for our team and our local communities”.

“This is not the kind of news I want to share with everyone today,” Boggs told staff in an email.

“We highly value our awesome teams across our community publications – each of them plays an important role in their communities, whether it’s in providing local news to audiences or supporting local advertisers, and our focus is on supporting them.”

He said NZME – which earlier this week announced it was lowering its earnings guidance for financial year 2024 – had performed well but was not immune to “the impacts of a weaker market”.

“Unfortunately, our community publication network has suffered from a decline in advertising revenue and increasing costs to the point where it is no longer profitable. On top of this, we have seen a 45-55% cost increase in distribution of our print products driven by factors out of our control.

“As we know, our community publications do not have a subscriber base. They are provided free of charge and funded purely through local print advertising, which is in decline overall. With our communities having no sustainable digital pathway we have had to make the tough decision to propose to close most of our communities’ network.”

NZME chief executive Michael Boggs. Photo / Michael Craig

The proposed closures will come as a body blow to those regions where most of the newspapers are published each week. The papers, with local news and personalities, also have their stories published digitally, and they have a strong social media presence.

Only two of the company’s community titles, the Waikato Herald – which is published as an insert with the NZ Herald – and the recently acquired The Weekend Sun in Bay of Plenty, which has a strong digital presence through the SunLive website, would remain operating under the proposal.

Rural publication Coast & Country News is also unaffected.

According to NZME’s website, the Te Awamutu Courier’s origins stretch back to 1911, when it began as the Waipā Post. The paper – which is distributed free every Thursday to homes in Te Awamutu and surrounding rural areas, including the villages of Kihikihi, Pirongia, Ōhaupō and Kāwhia – changed its masthead in 1936.

Today's edition of the Te Awamutu Courier.

NZME’s NZ Herald and its paid regional newspapers – Northland Age, The Northern Advocate, Bay of Plenty Times, Rotorua Daily Post, The Gisborne Herald, Hawke’s Bay Today and Whanganui Chronicle – are not impacted.

“We continue to be committed to delivering a strong print portfolio across our regional dailies and the NZ Herald, alongside our newspaper-inserted magazines,” Boggs told staff.

“Print continues to be a critical part of our business, delivering an important source of news for our readers and a high-quality advertising channel for our clients. It’s vital we continue to operate a sustainable media business and do what we can to invest in areas that are going to grow and put NZME into a good position well into the future.”

Media’s tough year

The proposed closures are the latest to hit New Zealand media.

Warner Bros Discovery’s Newshub shut down in July, with the loss of hundreds of jobs, and TVNZ has been making consistent cuts, with the latest proposal to axe 50 roles across its operation. By the end of the year, the state broadcaster’s staff numbers are expected to total about 550 – almost 200 fewer than two years ago.

MediaWorks closed Today FM last year and it, Stuff and NZME have all been making operational cuts this year. Stuff has also closed several community titles.

A string of independent operators, including Crux and a number of magazines, have also been cut back or closed entirely.

A glimmer of hope?

Wairoa Star saviours: Tātau Tātau o Te Wairoa Trust chief executive Lewis Ratapu (left) and Tātau Tātau Commercial chief executive Aayden Clarke.

There might be a glimmer of hope for some regions after what unfolded in Wairoa earlier this year.

One of New Zealand’s oldest community newspapers, the Wairoa Star, was closed in May, but it has since been resurrected.

The 103-year-old Wairoa Star newspaper – which was owned by a consortium including NZME and The Gisborne Herald – was later bought by local iwi and kāhui representative group Tātau Tātau o Te Wairoa through its commercial entity.

Tātau Tātau Commercial chief executive Aayden Clarke told Media Insider in September that the closure of the Star in May “came as a bit of a shock to the community, for Tātau Tātau and even personally for me – I used to be a paper boy when I think I was 11 years old”.

“It’s a huge pillar of our communications across the region.

“There would have been some hell of a tough times for this newspaper over the past century – people coming back from war, tough economic times and things like that. Why would we let it fold on our watch? We’ve got to do the very best we can to make it survive, but also so we can get our communications out.”

It remains to be seen whether any similar white knights will make a similar move on any of the 14 titles proposed for closure by NZME.

“We’ve not yet explored selling publications,” an NZME spokeswoman said. “We wanted to speak with our teams first before deciding the way forward, as this is still in proposal stage.”

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.