NZ News now website and magazine

LONDON - It has provided news and information to New Zealanders in Britain since 1927, but after 79 years the weekly New Zealand News UK newspaper has ceased publication.

It is another newspaper that has fallen foul of the internet with the company opting for a daily updated internet site to bring news to the estimated 100,000 New Zealanders in Britain.

In addition, a monthly subscription magazine called New Zealand Inspired has been launched, targeting both expatriates and potential migrants, to explore New Zealand-related issues in more depth.

The publishers said the magazine was a "more appropriate medium to highlight and celebrate New Zealand achievements on a global scale".

New Zealand News UK managing director Janine Brinsdon said the decision to stop printing the newspaper was "not taken lightly" considering the level of loyalty it had.

But it was felt it had limited potential with readers unwilling to wait a week for news that could be accessed online at any time.

"We recognise the legacy of a brand that's been around for 80 years. But as a company, we have a responsibility to keep it relative and current and to protect the value it has for readers and advertisers for the next 80 years," she said.

"The market is demanding more information and more intimacy with our readers and we could never do that through an uncontrolled free distribution channel."

In the final edition, editor Ellie van Baaren acknowledged the speed with which news could travel around the world and noted that getting news from New Zealand was considerably easier than when the newspaper was launched.

Hokitika-born journalist Dr Angus Harrop, who was working on the Daily Mail in London in 1927, started it after several expatriates complained about the lack of news from home. Cable news from Reuters and clippings sent from New Zealand via sea made up the content.

During World War II it provided an invaluable link with New Zealand soldiers serving abroad.

It struggled in the 1960s but was rescued by Colonel Jim Smail in 1966, and following his death in 1995, his son Derek took it over.

Derek Smail sold the newspaper in 2001 and a new company was formed to run it. Additional publications have been added and last year Recruitment UK, a quarterly magazine for Antipodeans heading to Britain, was bought.

- NZPA