Publishing
A lifeboat to keep news afloat?
Last week the great and good of New Zealand’s news media urged MPs to back a law change to make Google and Facebook pay them for their news. They say the income could be critical to the survival of… Audio
MPs urged to take sides in media vs big tech tussle
Media bosses warned MPs this week journalism is in jeopardy here if they don't back a Bill making offshore tech giants pay for news carried on Facebook and Google. It's based on laws already in place… Audio
Todd Scott - taking a punt at NBR
It’s more than a decade since Todd Scott staked everything to buy the business news weekly where he worked, the National Business Review. Since then NBR’s gone online-only, axed ads entirely and the… Audio
Murdoch's real life succession becomes reality
After seven decades up to his neck in media - and having a profound and world wide influence on them - now nonagenarian mega mogul Rupert Murdoch’s starting up the succession plan for his empire. Or… Audio
Current and future state of Stuff
Three years ago Sinead Boucher took over the country’s biggest publisher of news from Aussie owners who gave it away “like a set of steak knives.” In the absence of big backers and the government… Audio
More high-level editorial change at Stuff
The country’s biggest news publisher Stuff has proposed a further restructuring of editorial and managerial jobs at the company. Some senior editors will have to re-apply for new roles - including a…
Coming up
Stuff takes paywall plunge
After putting almost all its news online for free for a quarter of a century, Stuff launched subscription-based websites this weekend for its biggest daily papers - The Press, Waikato Times and The… Audio
Stuff to put up first paywalls for news
The country’s biggest publisher of news will soon begin charging readers of three titles for news online for the first time. Stuff is launching subscription-based websites for The Dominion Post, The… Audio
Print and paper problems for publishers
‘Not worth the paper it’s printed on' is a common jibe at sub-standard journalism - but paper’s worth a lot these days and one of our biggest printing plants has closed citing shortages offshore. How… Audio
Publisher's employee denies stealing bestseller manuscripts
Filippo Bernardini, 29, is accused of posing as literary editors and agents to steal hundreds of authors' unpublished work.
Bold business journalism play pays off with sale
New Zealand Herald publisher NZME has shaken up the business news scene with an agreement to buy subscription-based service BusinessDesk. It rewards a bold moved by the founder 13 years ago - and also…
Coming up
Veteran tech reporter warns against tech titans' overreach
Rory Cellan-Jones is a former BBC technology correspondent and author of 'Always On: Hope and Fear in the Social Smartphone Era.' The 63-year-old recently left the BBC after a 40-year association with… Audio
Meta’s moves to boost our media underwhelms observers
Facebook - freshly rebadged as ‘Meta’ - gives local news media content huge extra reach, but it covers none of the cost of creating it while snaring the bulk of the digital ad revenue it… Audio
Nicola Legat on Covid-19's effect on publishing
The lockdown in August and the lockdown dragging on in Auckland has seen people turn to books for an escape This despite bookshops unable to sell books during level 4, and only post them to online… Audio
Directory inquiries: Does the Yellow Pages have a future?
Once a billion-dollar business, its critics claim the country’s most widely circulated publication is a redundant and wasteful throwback to pre-digital times. But now under new management, the Yellow… Video, Audio
Katie Kerr and publishing in the margins
The country's cottage industry of small press publishers is bigger than you might imagine. And it's also thriving. The proof is in a new book on art publishing in Aotearoa called Dwelling in the… Audio, Gallery
NZME pulls racist article and bans Bassett
An article published in the Northland Age newspaper on Tuesday and on the New Zealand Herald website has been withdrawn after it was condemned as racist - and publisher NZME says it won't publish Dr…
Coming up
Facebook refriends Australia after face-off over news
Last week Facebook turned off Australian users’ access to news over a looming law change to make them pay to distribute it. This week news is back in their feeds after a face-off with the government… Audio
Arts with Mark Amery
This week in the arts with Mark Amery we pay tribute to Lyttleton artist Bill Hammond, look at a small book about small book publishing in New Zealand and an exhibition that focuses on the smallest… Audio, Gallery
Substack - the platform that boomed under Covid-19
US news media took a beating from Covid-19 in 2020. Kiwi journalist and entrepreneur Hamish McKenzie runs a publishing platform-Substack - that boomed in 2020, giving journalists important audiences… Audio