Sinead Overbyre, Sherry Zhang and Van Mei of the Pantographic Punch.
Sinead Overbyre, Sherry Zhang and Van Mei of the Pantographic Punch.
New Zealand’s leading arts media website is going into “hiatus” following a struggle for funding. Artists and writers have been left saddened and devastated by the “heartbreaking” move.
The Pantograph Punch, which has been covering the arts and culture sectors for 14 years, said today it would go into hiatusfrom the end of March, with no timeframe on when it might return.
It is the latest blow for the media industry - the specialist arts media industry, in particular - following last week’s announcement of Newshub’s pending closure, with the loss of 300 jobs, and layoffs and cutbacks at various other firms.
“It’s a sad day. Sad days for media, TBH,” the Pantograph Punch director Van Mei said.
“Without sacrificing the financial wellbeing of our staff and writers, our operations just aren’t sustainably funded... all of these issues were happening that were actually beyond us as individuals to be able to solve.
“It was painting a bad picture in terms of us continually extending beyond our means.”
The homepage of The Pantograph Punch.
Mei said the Pantograph Punch sat at the intersection of two sectors in crisis - the arts and media - and was “falling through the cracks in those funding spheres”.
Established in 2010, the Pantograph Punch is a registered charity, funded through grants, reader donations, partnerships, an online shop and other income streams.
It receives about $120,000 a year from Creative New Zealand while NZ on Air - through the now-expiring Public Interest Journalism Fund and other project funds - has also supported the operation.
The Pantograph Punch director Van Mei.
Donations from readers in 2023 totalled about $10,000, said Mei.
The website employs five staff and two contractors; most of the staff are part-time. They all work from home.
According to online audience measuring site Similarweb, the Pantograph Punch site attracted 109,000 visits in November, and more than 100,000 over the December-January period.
Mei said it was difficult to say how much funding would be needed to sustain the operation.
When they applied for CNZ funding in 2020, they asked for $300,000 a year and received about $120,000.
“That was us shooting for the moon... in terms of the way writing and editing have been undervalued.
“Writing is something that we really value as a paid skill. So we’re not going to skimp on our writers; we’re not going to skimp on our salaries.”
The Pantograph Punch announced its pending hiatus on social media today, prompting an outpouring of support and sadness.
Author Pip Adam wrote on X: “This is heartbreaking news. @pantographpunch is one of our most important platforms. I feel incredibly sad - it is a massive loss to arts communities.”
Playwright and journalist Sam Brooks wrote: “I have plenty of thoughts about the Pantograph Punch going on hiatus, which I’ll put into writing soon, but it’s the end of an era of arts writing and journalism in Aotearoa. It was such a massive platform for so many brilliant writers and such a valuable resource for audiences.”
The line-up of contributors on its website has dozens of names including Tom Denize, Emele Ugavule, Eliana Gray, Gabriella Brayne, Elise Sadlier, Andi Buchanan and Sacha Judd.
Arts publishing had been in crisis for some time, Mei said.
“Protecting ourselves and our legacy is the priority and making sure that we have a platform to build back from in future,” Mei said.
“I think it is a break for us. I’ve really burned out trying to fix systemic issues on it as an individual as have many of our staff and board. We’re kind of at the limits of our energy.
“I think for everyone, it might just be down to pursuing creative endeavours and continuing various kaupapa elsewhere.
“Probably right now, it won’t be finding alternative sources of revenue. We’re focused on wrapping up right now. But we have been having conversations with the Ministry [of Culture and Heritage], we have a lot of archival work to restore to our website and to make sure that that’s publicly accessible.
“There’ll be bits and bobs behind the scenes, but I can’t really say anything yet in terms of what that reopening will look like.”
Mei is especially proud of the website’s work in supporting Palestine - and “standing against genocide” - and for its efforts as a Te Tiriti organisation, offering a supportive and safe platform for hundreds of writers.
The Pantograph Punch says on its website that arts criticism has a “precarious existence and threatened future”.
“It’s pivotal for the examination of life in Aotearoa (how we live, the price of our groceries, what we as a society value), but sits at the intersection of multiple areas – education, creativity and critical thinking – that have long been underfunded and devalued, and hit hard by the impacts of Covid-19 and austerity cuts.
“This has made the existence of platforms tough to sustain, with so many journals like ours dependent on the blood, sweat and tears of volunteer labour to get by.”
It said it wanted to make its content freely available to everyone, and therefore “you’ll never be bombarded with advertisements, or have great essays hidden behind a paywall”.
It said it was also a website that nourished critical and diverse voices “in a publishing and media landscape, here and the world over, that has long been dominated by a certain type of voice (cough cough) and has systematically excluded the voices of others”.
According to a financial plan for 2023 - and referring specifically to reader donations - it said raising $15,000 would “keep our lights on” and sustain staff at current levels; raising $25,000 “keeps us growing” and raising $40,000 “keeps us dreaming”.
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.
