Community newspaper and magazine publishers say a sudden move to stop them delivering print editions during the Covid-19 lockdown will leave many of New Zealand’s poorer and more vulnerable people without local news at a time when it's badly needed.
Photo: screenshot
The Ministry of Culture and Heritage has told publishers non-daily print media is not an essential service during the lockdown, effectively shutting down magazines like The Listener and North & South and community papers across the country.
Regional papers that deliver daily are exempt, while some larger weekly papers like The Sunday Star-Times, The Weekend Herald, and the Herald On Sunday are also continuing to print.
In a submission on the decision, PrintNZ general manager Ruth Cobb said New Zealand’s daily papers are all subscription-based, with limited circulation, and often fail to provide news that’s relevant to specific regions.
“This will leave some areas of the country unserviced by printed news in areas where the subscription based papers are not run daily.
“The most affected are the vulnerable, particularly elderly and lower socio-economic families, who do not have access to the internet and cannot afford a daily subscription. In many cases this will leave them isolated at a time when this is least needed.”
The ban on non-daily news delivery is part of the government's effort to limit physical contact to stop the spread of Covid-19.
The Otago Daily Times' front page reassures readers over deliveries. Photo: RNZ Mediawatch
Major paper publisher Stuff and NZME have been assuring readers their deliveries are safe.
The Otago Daily Times told readers today "the newspaper is telling delivery workers to wash their hands before and after their delivery runs, but that wearing gloves is their choice."
"World Health Organisation guidelines also say the risk of catching the virus that causes Covid19 from a delivery like a newspaper is low," the paper said.
Print NZ's Cobb argues community newspaper delivery can be contactless and safe too.
“It is no different to the postal service continuing to deliver,” she said.
Sinead Boucher, chief executive of Stuff Photo: Supplied
Stuff chief executive Sinead Boucher told The Spinoff she shares Cobb’s concerns about people not getting local news.
“In this situation, people really need to know, not just the national story, but the regional or community one,” she said.
Stuff closed most of its local and rural papers in 2018. Only a few titles - such as Kaikoura Star - were bought by new owners and remain in print.
James Frankham, owner of NZ Geographic publisher Kowhai Media, says current affairs magazines have an important role to play during the Covid-19 crisis.
NZ Geographic has provided in-depth coverage of breaking news like the Whakaari eruption and the March 15 mosque shootings, and was in the process of producing a Covid-19 feature.
“The type of journalism that NZ Geographic and other news and current affairs magazines produce is content that is not produced by the daily media for many reasons, and it is of no lesser value,” he says.
The editor of New Zealand Geographic magazine James Frankham Photo: supplied
Frankham says the ruling will quickly impact the viability of subscription-based magazines.
That could have unexpected flow-on effects. For instance, NZ Geographic is used by many schools as an electronic resource, making it important for remote learning during the lockdown, he says.
Magazine publishers are also raising concern that the delivery ban raises a potential discrepancy in what is labelled an essential service.
Prime minister Jacinda Ardern this week said that all industries that supply supermarkets will be able to continue operating.
“Any suppliers that are supplying supermarkets are allowed to continue as an essential business, and magazines supply supermarkets and yet, we don’t,” Frankham says.
The delivery ban comes as many of New Zealand’s commercial media companies are struggling to stay afloat.
Despite huge boosts in readership and viewership during the Covid-19 crisis, advertising revenue has declined sharply. Reliable sources of income - like the travel and property industries - have been suspended.
Earlier this week, New Zealand Herald publisher NZME asked all its staff to take 15 days of annual leave or apply for voluntary redundancy. Stuff has also asked staff to use up any excess leave.
Community publishers face a similar threat.
Cobb worries that some community papers won’t be able to get back up-and-running if they’re ordered to stop circulating.
“They have a unique advertiser base and if that advertiser base moves away from them and finds alternatives it may be difficult to get them back. It definitely threatens some small New Zealand businesses that are providing a very valuable service.”
If she's right, this government decision could be hastening the demise of local news in several parts of New Zealand.
The question is whether the benefit to public health - if any - justifies that cost.
