North & South – June 2019

NORTH&SOUTH| JUNE 2019 | 49

tiesnolongerhavea localwatchdogto

holdpowertoaccount.Ina just-released

reportintoBritain’sdecliningpress,Brit-

isheconomistandformerjournalist

DameFrancesCairncrosssaysthecol-

lapseposes“athreattothelong-term

sustainabilityofdemocracy”.Shelays

theblamesquarelyatthefeetofthegiant

onlinesearchenginesandsocialmedia

platformsGoogleandFacebook,which

havecreated“distortionsinthemarket”

bytakingmuchoftheadvertisingreve-

nuethatusedtosubsidisereporting.

She’scalledfornewcodesofconductto

rebalancetherelationshipbetweenpub-

lishersandonlineplatforms.

Certainly,thearrivaloftheinternet

causeda majordisruptionfornewspa-

pers,whichoncehada monopolyon

theiraudiencesandhadadaptedto

competewithradioandTV.According

totheReutersInstitutefortheStudyof

Journalism,morethansevenoutof 10

people(nineoutof 10 aged18-24)now

gettheirnewsonline.Most(64%)re-

ceivebreakingnewsfromsocialmedia

platforms,whichhaveupliftedthatcon-

tent(free)fromtraditionalmediasites.

However,somesaymediacompanies

mustsharetheblamefortheirownde-

mise.Theyreckonnewspapersmadea

tragicmistakewhentheydevalued

newsbyprovidingit freeontheinter-

net.Theyalsosaycorporateowners,

whohadconditionedshareholdersto

expectprofitmarginsofupto30%,

weretoogreedyandmovedtooquickly

toslashnewsroomstaff,whileturning

a blindeyetotheirreaders’needs.

O

newhoagreesisAndrew

Denholm,whothreeyears

agoboughttheWairarapa

Times-Age, a dailypaper

basedinMasterton,witha paidcircula-

tionof5164.Denholm,45,whohasa

commercedegreefromMasseyUniver-

sityandhasworkedforaccountancy

giantsErnst& Young(EY)andDeloittes,

wasthenewspaper’sgeneralmanager

forfiveyearswhenitwasownedby

APN(nowNZME).

Hepesteredtheowners“adozen

times”tosellittohim,believingthe

businesswasweigheddownbyunnec-

essaryheadofficecosts,especiallyin-

flatedsalaries.Whentheyagreed,he

appliedhisaccountant’seyetothebot-

tomline,butremainedcommittedtothe

paper’scorebusiness– localnews.

TheWairarapa Times-Age employs an

PublisherAndrewDenholmandsonRileyatWebstarinMasterton,wherethe

Wairarapa Times-Age is printed. He bought the daily paper three years ago.

Thenews,says

Denholm,is focused

oncourt(“Everyone

wantsto knowabout

thebad guys”),the

council(“How is

ourmoney being

spent?”)and local

sport.“Conversely,

Fairfaxhasunwound

those things.”

editor,fivegeneralreporters,a sports

reporteranda journalistwholooksafter

WairarapaMidweek, deliveredfreeto

everyhouse.Thenewsisfocusedon

court(“Everyonewantstoknowabout

thebadguys”),thecouncil(“Howis our

moneybeingspent?”)andlocalsport.

“Conversely,”Denholmsays,“Fairfax

hasunwoundthosethings.Theytook

outalltheirlocalcontentandgotridof

theirlocalsportsreporters.”Reporters

ontheTimes-Ageattendeverycouncil

meeting.“Webelieveit isthebusiness

ofnewspapersandintheinterestsofthe

communityweservice.”

Denholmisalsooutofsyncwiththe

current thinking that digital comes first.