New Zealand's only national news agency, NZPA, is set to close after more than 130 years.
The agency was established in 1880 and supplies stories for newspapers and other news outlets.
It has about 40 journalists and support staff, mostly based in Auckland and Wellington, as well as a small number of administration staff.
Staff were told at a meeting in Wellington on Wednesday that the board had decided the agency would close.
Media companies Fairfax and APN are majority owners and its main subscribers. It is understood that Fairfax is withdrawing.
A source within NZPA says there will be a formal consultation period until the end of April before it is wound down over a period of four to six months.
Former NZPA foreign correspondent Dave Barber, who worked for the agency for 20 years, says its closure spells the end of newspaper content with a strictly New Zealand and independent point of view.
Kent Atkinson, a senior journalist who has been with NZPA for 26 years, says the closure is not only a personal loss but a national one also.
"It's a shame - there's a human toll for the workers, but it's a national loss as well because it's our only national news agency."
Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union national secretary Andrew Little says Fairfax and APN are both withdrawing and NZPA can not survive without them.
Mr Little says NZPA is a credible and important news source - not just for local newspapers and other broadcast outlets, but for outlets worldwide.
"This has been a very difficult time for everyone and it is a very sad day."
Media researcher and former New Zealand Herald editor Gavin Ellis says NZPA has ensured that regional stories are published, as well as those from Parliament which are not headline news but are still important to the way the country is governed.
The agency began in February 1880 with a meeting of the first board of management of the United Press Association in Christchurch and was registered as a limited liability company in October that year.
In January 1942 the cooperative's name was changed to the New Zealand Press Association.
