Kiwi news agency to close after 132 years
Source: Agencies |
August 30, 2011, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
WHEN New Zealand's homegrown news agency transmits its last story tomorrow, it will mark the end of a 132-year-old institution that has helped shape the identity of this remote nation.
The New Zealand Press Association is closing its doors on August 31, a victim of changing technology and media consolidation.
Two Australian media empires have bought up most of New Zealand's newspapers, and the papers in each chain share stories with each other, reducing their need for an outside news service.
News agencies such as NZPA typically sell their news services to newspapers, broadcasters and online providers rather than directly to readers. Like other such agencies, NZPA has tried to adapt in recent years by seeking new broadcast and online customers outside of its traditional base of the newspaper chains, which are also the agency's main owners under a cooperative model.
But in the end, the agency was simply squeezed out.
"It's a tough thing when any news agency disappears," said Bill Mitchell, the leader of entrepreneurial and international programs at the Poynter Institute for journalism in St Petersburg, Florida. "It means there's one less voice in providing a range of coverage."
The agency's tenure spanned coverage of New Zealand becoming the first self-governing nation in modern times to give women the vote in 1893 to the first ascent of Mount Everest in 1953 by one of its most famous citizens, the late Edmund Hillary, to the country's ban on United States nuclear ships in 1985.
In its heyday in the 1980s and 1990s, NZPA employed dozens of journalists, including correspondents in London, Sydney, Hong Kong and Washington DC. New Zealand newspapers also filed stories of national interest to the agency, which distributed them to other papers.
"It was a situation that worked well for 100 years," said Kevin Norquay, editor of the agency, whose staff has dwindled to 42.
The model began to break down, Norquay said, when newspapers consolidated and the Internet came to the fore. With newspaper chains able to make stories instantly available to a wide audience online, the agency's role became less clear. In 2005, most newspapers stopped filing stories to the agency.
The final blow came in April when Fairfax Media, an Australian-based group that owns more than 70 newspapers in New Zealand, decided to end its business relationship with NZPA and go it alone.
Paul Thompson, executive editor of Fairfax, said little will be lost. "NZPA was a key part of the industry for decades and a fantastic servant. But the situation changed."
Fairfax and rival APN, publisher of the New Zealand Herald, are adding staff to offset the agency's demise.
The New Zealand Press Association is closing its doors on August 31, a victim of changing technology and media consolidation.
Two Australian media empires have bought up most of New Zealand's newspapers, and the papers in each chain share stories with each other, reducing their need for an outside news service.
News agencies such as NZPA typically sell their news services to newspapers, broadcasters and online providers rather than directly to readers. Like other such agencies, NZPA has tried to adapt in recent years by seeking new broadcast and online customers outside of its traditional base of the newspaper chains, which are also the agency's main owners under a cooperative model.
But in the end, the agency was simply squeezed out.
"It's a tough thing when any news agency disappears," said Bill Mitchell, the leader of entrepreneurial and international programs at the Poynter Institute for journalism in St Petersburg, Florida. "It means there's one less voice in providing a range of coverage."
The agency's tenure spanned coverage of New Zealand becoming the first self-governing nation in modern times to give women the vote in 1893 to the first ascent of Mount Everest in 1953 by one of its most famous citizens, the late Edmund Hillary, to the country's ban on United States nuclear ships in 1985.
In its heyday in the 1980s and 1990s, NZPA employed dozens of journalists, including correspondents in London, Sydney, Hong Kong and Washington DC. New Zealand newspapers also filed stories of national interest to the agency, which distributed them to other papers.
"It was a situation that worked well for 100 years," said Kevin Norquay, editor of the agency, whose staff has dwindled to 42.
The model began to break down, Norquay said, when newspapers consolidated and the Internet came to the fore. With newspaper chains able to make stories instantly available to a wide audience online, the agency's role became less clear. In 2005, most newspapers stopped filing stories to the agency.
The final blow came in April when Fairfax Media, an Australian-based group that owns more than 70 newspapers in New Zealand, decided to end its business relationship with NZPA and go it alone.
Paul Thompson, executive editor of Fairfax, said little will be lost. "NZPA was a key part of the industry for decades and a fantastic servant. But the situation changed."
Fairfax and rival APN, publisher of the New Zealand Herald, are adding staff to offset the agency's demise.
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