In the 1970s at the South Waikato News in Tokoroa, Brian Burmester was a leading light in the New Zealand Community Newspaper Association of which Good Local Media owner David Mackenzie is now president.
Good Local Media’s publishing stable.
Roy Pilott
Burmester would frequently refer to the Warburtons, publishers of the Te Awamutu Courier. In the 70s the two newspapers were among the finest community publications in the country, and I was at the South Waikato News, in my hometown, all up for more than a decade.
I was saddened when Stuff shelved my beloved masthead earlier this year. Now NZME has announced it plans to do the same to the Courier.
Rivals or not – and the Courier has been a hostile one to the Te Awamutu News – I mourn the loss of any print publication. Te Awamutu has remained loyal to its Waipā Post – quietly buried after Covid – and Te Awamutu Courier for more than a century.
As NZME editor at large Shayne Currie wrote last week, the loss of 14 publications planned by the company was a body blow to local news coverage.
A little over a decade ago the major media companies made a bold call to put digital first – at the expense of presenting fresh news in print. Both stand by their decisions, though in more recent times have moved to pay wall systems to catch some of the revenue lost on paper sales. For print, the digital strategy brought with it a progressive stream of job losses and masthead extinctions.
I thought the digital model sped up the demise of many print products unnecessarily – but I do say the companies were bold, because standing still was not an economic option. They now enjoy huge digital audiences.
But the trickle down had been profound. Those Stuff and NZME papers which remain no longer monitor their district councils and are not a potpourri of news written in community newsrooms. It’s not unusual to see council media releases cut and pasted into news pages.
Your copy of The News may be free – but putting together a quality community newspaper is not. The News has continued to provide exclusive news content while shouldering huge cost rises.
The three Good Local community newspapers – Te Awamutu, Cambridge and King Country News – are keenly followed. I know, because I hear from readers when their paper is not delivered. We will continue to publish The News as long as readers and advertisers continue to support it.
The loss of the Courier should be a reminder to Waipā readers not to take their community newspaper for granted – not all communities can turn to an independent weekly in the way Te Awamutu can.
Putting The News together.
