North & South – June 2019

NORTH & SOUTH| JUNE 2019| 51

crackingjournalistwitha noseforhard

news.Thepaperregularlybreaksbigsto-

ries,includinglongdelaysforWestCoast

orthopaedicpatients,andconcernsabout

a $300millionChinesewaste-to-energy

plantplannedforWestport.It pridesitself

inholdingpeopletoaccount.“Democracy

diesindarkness,”Scanlonsays,quoting

theWashingtonPost.

Thepaperhasa mixoflocal,national

andinternationalnews.Italsohasa

copy-sharingrelationshipwithstate

broadcasterRNZ,fosteredbyRNZCEO

PaulThompson,andsimilartooneini-

tiatedbytheBBCtohelpresource-

stretchednewsrooms.Thereare 15 staff,

but family also pitches in. Scanlon’s

Scanlonhasbeena journalistatthe

WestportNewsfor 46 years.Sheandher

husbandKevin,whoownsthelocalhard-

warestore,boughtthefive-day-a-week

broadsheet 18 monthsagowhenit was

facingclosure.“We’refourth-generation

WestCoasters,”shesays,bywayofex-

planation.Thepapergoesintoabouthalf

thehomesinWestportandasfarawayas

Karamea96kmnorth,Punakaiki56km

southandinlandtoReefton.Apartfrom

Scanlon(whopreferstobecalleda chief

reporter,ratherthananeditor),thereare

twootherjournalists;onedeliversthe

Newsonherwayhome;theotherdoubles

asa novelist.

Scanlon is regarded by her peers as a

S

ineadBoucher,CEOofStuff,

wishesthenewownerswell.

Shesaysthedecisiontoclose

orsell 28 newspaperslastyear

wasnottakenlightly.Somewere“well

pastbeingprofitable”;otherswereinar-

easthatwereservicedbyStuff ’slarger

publicationsandnewssites.“Intheend,

wehavetohavea goodbusinessmodel

tosustainpublic-servicejournalism.The

growthofnewrevenuestreamsallows

ustounderpinournewsservice.”

Shesaysbignewsorganisationspro-

videthescaletoinvestigatebigstories

andholdpeopletoaccount.“Butthere

isalsoroominthemarketforhyper-

localnews,whichcommunitieswant

andneed.”She’dliketoseemorecollab-

orationbetweenthem.“Thethreatis

notcomingfromeachother,butfrom

multi-nationalplatforms.It’sinallour

intereststoprovideNewZealanders

witha newsservicetheycantrust.”

Bouchercan’tseea timewhennews

isnotStuff ’scoremission.“It’sembed-

dedinourDNA.”Nofurthernewspaper

closuresareplanned,shesays.Thatmay

beoptimistic.Atthetimeofthisinter-

view,Stuff ’snewowners,theAustralian

mediacompanyNine,waspreparing to

offload its New Zealand assets.

COMMUNITY

NEWSPAPERS

THATCOULD

LEESCANLON

WESTPORTNEWS

Newspapereditorsworkwellunder

pressure.Theyrewritepoorlywritten

stories,sootheangrysubscriberswhen

a crosswordclueismissing,andhold

the“neitherfearnorfavour”linewhen

anadvertiserthreatenstowithdraw

theirbusiness.Butwhenthepress

breaksdown– andthenearesthelpis

300kmaway– they’restumped.

On 12 March,LeeScanlon,the

co-ownerandeditoroftheWestport

News, wasproudoftheday’sedition.

“Theleadstorywasabouta newmay-

oralcandidate,a droughthadbeenoffi-

ciallydeclared(eventhoughtherain

hadstarted)anda localwoman’shemp

cookieshadbeenacceptedintoCount-

down.”Butthenthepressconkedout.

Shegavesubscribersa password(free)

togetthroughtheonlinepaywalland

assuredthemtheNews would be back

the following day.

Top:TheWestportNewsofficeisanoldgold-receiving

bankwithamassivesafeinthecentreofthebuildingand

athickconcretefloortodetertunnellingburglars.

Above:KevinandLeeScanlonwithgeneralmanagerVanessa

Neighbours (right), when they took over theNewsin August 2017.