Steve Braunias will continue to MC the new, revived Press Club which has been saved by a new sponsor.
Steve Braunias will continue to MC the new, revived Press Club which has been saved by a new sponsor.
The infamous Wintec Press Club, canned earlier this week because of dwindling journalism numbers, has been saved.
The club, a free lunch for journalism students with guest speakers such as Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and musician Dave Dobbyn, was cancelled by Wintec's School of Media Arts.
Head of school Sam Cunnane said the Hamilton media school's budget remained the same but the $22,000-a-year event was cut to allow other networking functions to go ahead.
"We've made a decision to end Press Club and redistribute this budget to create new events to benefit media arts students from a wider range of programmes," Cunnane said.
"Through these events they can engage with industry professionals and prospective employers just as our journalism students have through Press Club."
However the three-times-a-year event has found a new sponsor to continue on, and will no longer be run by Wintec.
Former School of Media Arts editor in residence Steve Braunias said no sooner had the announcement been made, than offers of help came flooding in to keep Press Club going.
Braunias, who took over the Hamilton event in 2010 and turned it into the star-studded riverside lunch that is the modern-day Press Club, said a new sponsor had come forward and details would be revealed next week.
"Press Club is going to be revived. In exactly the same format. It's very exciting.
"Virtually no sooner had I dolefully announced that Press Club was over and Wintec had pulled the plug and thanking everybody, including Wintec, for years of fantastic support, than interested parties in Hamilton - very creative and very vital people - united in one mission.
"And their mission statement was 'We don't want Hamilton to be lame'."
Braunias will stay on as MC of the event, which will continue to run three times a year, and said it will still be aimed at engaging Wintec journalism students with prospective employers, and identities in the media and entertainment industry.
Whether it remains a free lunch is unclear but Braunias said it would be the same Press Club with a guest speaker and up to 100 invited attendees.
In the past Press Club has hosted television celebrities, politicians, editors, journalists, commentators, musicians, models, poets, Wintec alumni and public relations experts.
Mihi Forbes, Julian Wilcox and Annabelle Lee at the Wintec Press Club in 2015. Photo / Kelsy Carter
Press Club, set up by inaugural editor in residence Venetia Sherson in 2004, evolved from Media Bites, which was strictly aimed at putting senior journalists in front of students and attracted a swathe of Kiwi celebrities and industry stars under the direction of Steve Braunias.
Sherson kicked off the classroom session with industry guest speakers including veteran broadcasters John Campbell and Sean Plunket, and investigative journalists Jon Stevenson and Nicky Hager.
When Braunias took over he expanded the event to include guests from all over the country at the swanky riverside lunch at the Ferrybank lounge.
Awards were dished out for lifetime achievements, best reporter and even best dressed.
Cunnane said Press Club gave final-year Bachelor of Media Arts and National Diploma of Journalism students the opportunity to interact with people in the industry, future employers and some of the people they would be reporting on.
"We believe this was a key factor in securing jobs for a number of them," he said.
"Each Press Club was intended to provide them with something of a 'masterclass' in one form of journalism or another."
Sherson said she originally designed the programme to discuss topical issues in the media.
David Fisher, Tony Wall, Jared Savage, Toby Manhire and Giovanni Tiso at Wintec Press Club. Photo / Geoff Ridder
With sponsorship from the National Business Review and Ferrybank, Wintec widened Press Club to people in journalism.
"It was very focused on journalists talking to journalists and hearing journalists speak," she said.
There was a dress code and robust debate about media, stories and the way journalists worked, mixed with students "showing themselves off" to get a job interview.
"The value to students at that time was they could not only network with other journalists but there were potential employers there so they could also schmooze.
"People like [John Campbell] were just gold for the students because they idolised them."
Sherson said she understood why Press Club had been cut but said the value to Wintec was also immense.
"If you're looking at return on investment I would say it more than paid its way because it spread the word of Wintec way beyond the campus boundaries."
Cunnane said Wintec funding was being diverted to events related to the launch this year of two new degrees, a Bachelor of Communication and Bachelor of Design, together with a Bachelor of Contemporary Art and a Bachelor of Music and Performing Arts in 2019.
"Wintec's School of Media Arts made the decision to draw the Press Club to a close and launch four new events, one for each of these degrees," he said.
"This reflects our ongoing commitment to remain current with changes in industry, and to spend our budget to most effectively benefit all our media arts students."
The Spinoff editor Toby Manhire and New Zealand Herald managing editor Shayne Currie at Wintec Press Club in June 2017. Photo / Taylor Pascoie
Cunnane said when Press Club first began, 30-plus students studied journalism at Wintec, but the figure had dropped by more than two thirds.
He admitted there was negative feedback from staff, students and anyone affiliated with Press Club over the closure.
"Understandably, there was some disappointment which has been expressed, but in most cases this seems to have been matched by an understanding of the need to keep pace with changes in industry and put the funding into events for all media arts students."
