Dominion Post, Press cancelled after computer problems

The boss of major newspaper group Fairfax Media has apologised to readers after a serious computer fault prevented many morning newspapers from going to print.

Today's print editions of The Dominion Post, The Press, The Southland Times and The Timaru Herald have not been published.

The Taranaki Daily News printed a modified edition using a different computer system.

Fairfax Media chief executive Allen Williams said it was bitterly disappointing not to be able to publish.

"We sincerely apologise to all our readers and advertisers who have been affected today.

"We take great pride in producing our titles and staff across New Zealand worked through the night to fix the problem but we ran out of time.

"The failure to produce these papers is unprecedented and we are doing all we can to get our system working again."

Mr Williams said it was unclear what impact the fault would have on the company's afternoon papers which include the Waikato Times, the Manawatu Standard and the Nelson Mail.

A statement on the Press website said the main production system for all papers in the Fairfax Media group in New Zealand failed at 4.15pm yesterday, the Press's editor Andrew Holden said in a statement.

The last time The Press was forced to cancel an edition of its paper was in 2009 due to a fire in the press hall of the paper's city-centre building, Mr Holden said.

Fairfax, which is Australian owned, owns a number of other New Zealand newspapers.

- NZPA