Editorial: Never a dull moment

Opinion

This is the 280th edition of the Herald on Sunday - and my last as editor. Some people will be relieved about this. Mike Hosking, perhaps. He's not the paper's biggest fan.

Charlotte Dawson has not really been a happy camper, either. She has always thought, wrongly, we have had it in for her and she takes particular offence at anything written by our irrepressible gossip columnist Rachel Glucina.

Thankfully, Hosking and Dawson aren't the norm. In five years, we've grown our readership to more than 370,000, become the third-biggest newspaper in New Zealand, and won every major newspaper award.

In an age when it's easy to write off newspapers (and journalists can be the biggest doomsayers of all) the Herald on Sunday's success should be ample proof that a masthead will succeed when it listens to its readers and adapts its content accordingly.

The Herald on Sunday has been shaped by its readers. The newspaper of today is a completely different beast to the one we launched in October 2004.

It took a while to find our feet - a good couple of years, at least. We all came from different newsrooms and articles and issues that worked well at those newspapers did not fare so well at the new masthead. Over the years we've become known as the property paper, the car crash paper, the Tony Veitch paper, the All Blacks paper and the Millie Elder paper. We don't mind any of this.

We've always tried to adapt to what our readers want - and buy. Selling the paper is of utmost importance, and to achieve that it's not always what might be considered the best, traditional journalism that makes the front page.

The front page has to excite, titillate and capture your interest within three seconds - we rely much more heavily on retail sales than a daily newspaper with its larger subscriber base. Of everything we do, the front page is always the most frequently discussed aspect of the HoS. (Except when we stuff up the crossword grid - then all hell breaks loose.)

The worst thing we can do is be boring. A good guideline is National Radio. If its media commentators start tut-tutting about one of our stories, it usually means we're on the right track. National Radio staff have no concept of working in a commercial market.

The point is, if we don't sell the newspaper, we won't have a product or pages to present the work of some of New Zealand's best journalists and columnists.

I'm particularly proud that our staff and contributors have won every major press award over the past five years - newspaper of the year, best weekly newspaper, best reporter, best junior reporter, best sports section, best overall newspaper section, best news photograph, and best columnist.

Our advertising, marketing, printing and distribution departments also feature strongly in their industry awards and have just as much passion for the product. The launch of the HoS - with the millions of dollars invested by owners APN - has always been a collaborative effort.

On Friday, the latest readership and circulation numbers were released. We have maintained our big lead over the Sunday Star-Times and Sunday News in the top half of the North Island and in Auckland. And the first six weeks of 2010 have seen some of our best sales ever.

That's not to say we're sitting back smugly. This market can move swiftly. More change is inevitable.

I've overseen my fair share of balls-ups - too many to share here but they're well documented. I'd like to think we've got better though, and more consistent. We've tried to do it with a can-do attitude and in an environment of fun, and always with you, the reader, in mind.

Every week, we make a big effort to ensure we have everyday people in the paper - whether it's when we're fighting on your behalf, or relating your own personal stories and experiences. Names make news.

I'm off to the mothership - the NZ Herald - and a return to daily journalism after 11 years in the Sunday market. I leave the Herald on Sunday in the hands of a wonderful, hard-working and talented staff and a loyal readership.

Thank you to all of our readers (including you, Mike Hosking) and advertisers for supporting us and sticking with us - now and into the future.

- Shayne Currie, editor