NZME proposes to close 14 of these local North Island papers. Photo: NZME
NZME, the publisher of the New Zealand Herald and other newspapers in the North Island, has told staff it proposes to close 14 "community print publications".
That would mean killing off almost all of its remaining free weekly local newspapers, from the Hauraki-Coromandel Post and Katikati Advertiser in the north, down to the Kāpiti News north of Wellington.
"We know this will be tough news for our team and our local communities," NZME chief executive Michael Boggs told staff in a statement.
"Our community publications play a hugely important role as a key source of local news and as a platform for local advertisers. However, due to the changing media landscape and substantial increase in costs, our communities network is sadly no longer profitable.
"They have suffered from a decline in advertising revenue and increasing costs to the point where it is no longer profitable.
"It's vital we continue to operate a sustainable media business and do what we can to invest in areas that are going to grow and put NZME into a good position well into the future."
The chief executive's announcement was reported on the Herald website almost immediately in the Media Insider column - written by NZME editor at large Shayne Currie - who also said it is expected the titles will be closed before Christmas, with just over 30 job losses.
The company's regional dailies which have paying subscribers - the Northern Advocate, Whanganui Chronicle, Bay of Plenty Times, Hawke's Bay Today, Gisborne Herald and Rotorua Daily News - are not affected.
There was no hint of this week's announcement in NZME's most recent documents.
"Throughout the year NZME expanded on its regional and community portfolio, acquiring the print and digital assets of the Gisborne Herald and SunMedia in Tauranga. Both acquisitions complement our strong stable of local mastheads and high performing digital platforms," its most recent annual result statement said.
NZME community newspapers' weekly audience was 223,000 in 2023, the statement said.
"Print continues to be a critical part of our business, delivering an important source of news for our readers and a high-quality advertising channel for our clients," it added.
But it could be the end of the line for Te Awamutu Courier - in print for more than a century.
"For the paper doing their jobs properly its going to have a big impact on the communities - in some cases they are not backed up by a daily paper in our own region. For some people it might be the only paper they get," Te Awamutu Courier editor Dean Taylor told RNZ's Charlotte Cook.
Also slated for closure under this proposal are the Taupō & Tūrangi Herald and Te Puke Times.
Stratford Press in Taranaki, Whanganui Midweek and Bush Telegraph based in Pahiatua could also close - along with the Manawatū Guardian in Palmerston North and Levin's Horowhenua Chronicle.
The Hawke's Bay is set to lose the Napier Courier, Hastings Leader and Waipukarau-based CHB Mail.
"In some regions, these titles are the only source of local news, covering their local councils and other public bodies," Currie said.
But rival media company Stuff says it continues to publish in a number of the affected areas.
"Our reporting and advertising teams ... are committed to their local communities and will ensure ongoing strong coverage of the regions impacted by the closure of NZME's community newspapers," managing director of masthead publishing Joanna Norris said, citing the Manawatū Standard, Taranaki Daily News, Waikato Times and Wairarapa Times-Age.
Norris told Mediawatch Stuff now publishes 19 community papers and eight regional dailies in the North and South Islands.
However, Stuff closed down or sold off 28 free community and rural papers back in 2018 during its ultimately unsuccessful bid to merge with NZME.
End of an era in Horowhenua?
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The weekly Horowhenua Mail was shut by Stuff in October 2022.
The region still has the Horowhenua Chronicle, established in Levin in 1893.
In its heyday it was a six-days-a-week broadsheet paper commanding a cover price.
NZME turned it into a free twice-weekly community paper in 2008, which went to just once a week on Fridays when Covid struck in 2020.
It still had an office, an editor and a reporter in Levin, but now it also is on the list of NZME's proposed closures.
One local reader is investigative reporter Aaron Smale, who lives in Levin and began his career at the Chronicle 25 years ago.
"Very highly regarded photographers who went on to great things overseas had got their start at the Levin Chronicle, as it was called then," Smale told Mediawatch.
"Many other journalists went through those small newspapers. They are great apprenticeships, because you got all sorts of things chucked at you. You got so many opportunities that you didn't really realise at the time," Smale, whose reporting exposed the scale of abuse in state care, said.
"You don't know what you've lost until it's not there.
"Recently, I rang up a contact from my time at the Chronicle. She still had the goods - stuff that was valuable. You might not see somebody for 10 or 20 years, but if you've built that relationship with somebody at some point in your career, you never know when that's going to be of value down the track. The experience that you gain, it puts you in good stead." .