History
Founding
The ''ODT'' was founded by William H. Cutten and Julius (later Sir Julius) Vogel during the boom following the discovery of gold at the Tuapeka, the first of the Otago goldrushes. Co-founder Vogel had learnt the newspaper trade while working as a goldfields correspondent, journalist and editor in Victoria prior to immigrating to New Zealand. Vogel had arrived in Otago in early October 1861 at the age of 26 and soon took up employment at the ''Otago Colonist'', which was owned and edited by William Lambert. Within several weeks he left and joined its rival the weekly '' Otago Witness'' newspaper as editor and also became its co-owner when he purchased a half share in the business from Cutten. The business becoming Cullen and Vogel. Vogel convinced Cutten that due to the explosion due to the gold rush in population (from 12,691 in 1860 to over 29,000 by the end of 1861) now was the time to publish a daily newspaper. Originally styled ''The Otago Daily Times'', the ''ODT'' was first published on 15 November 1861, making itImpact of the telegraph
Vogel identified that the completion of telegraph lines as the country was opened up gave the daily ''ODT'' an advantage The completion of a telegraph line from Campbelltown later Bluff) to Dunedin in August 1862 in particular allowed the ''ODT'' to gain quicker access to international news as Bluff was the first New Zealand port of call for ships carrying English and Australian newspapers before travelling up the coast to Dunedin. Vogel arranged for summaries of the foreign news to be prepared by an employee of the Argus newspaper in Melbourne, put on a mail ship and then dispatched by telegraph to the ''ODT'' when it arrived in Bluff. When the telegraph line reached Hokitika, he also arranged for international news arriving upon a ship to also be dispatched from there. Originally, he reserved the information of the sole use of the ''ODT''. Once a telegraph line was opened across Cook Strait, Vogel made his telegrams available for sale to Wellington and soon after other North Island newspapers. This ability for a daily to more quickly convey the latest news to the public gave the ''ODT'' an advantage over a weekly newspaper. As a result, Cutten's and Vogel's own ''Otago Witness'' declined in importance and slowly became a digest of reprints from its daily sister and original material oriented towards country readers. The ''Otago Colonist'' which had previously been a weekly responded by becoming a daily in July 1862. Its owners launched in early January 1863 a new daily newspaper called the ''Daily Telegraph'' and reverted the ''Otago Colonist'' to a weekly with a change of name to the ''Weekly Colonist''. This made Dunedin the first New Zealand city to have two daily newspapers until both the ''Daily Telegraph'' and ''Weekly Colonist'' closed on 9 April 1864. Twelve weeks later the ''Otago Daily Mail'' was launched but it was not competitive and had closed by April 1865. In January 1863 the ''ODT'' halved its price to threepence (3d). In 1864 the ''ODT'' was successfully sued by the New Zealand Banking Corporation for libel after it had claimed that it was not a legally constituted joint stock bank. The bank was awarded £500 in damages which highlighted to Cutten, a man of a contented disposition, that as well as the pressures of producing a daily edition there was also sufficient financial risks. This was enough to induce him to sell his share in the newspaper to Vogel in November 1864. Vogel took on Farjeon as his junior partner in what became J. Vogel & Co. By early 1865 the business was struggling financially. With Vogel beginning his political career, the partners sold a majority shareholding in the business in March 1865 to a number of prominent Dunedin citizens on the condition that they were kept on as manager and editor respectively. The new owners formed a public company in 1860, the Otago Daily Times and Witness Newspapers Co. Ltd which was funded by issuing £6,000 worth of debentures at 10% offering interest. Vogel, John Bathgate, F.C. Simmons and James Rattray as directors. Farjeon retired as business manager in December 1867, and Campbell was appointed in his place.Ousting of Vogel
The end of the gold rush lead to Dunedin enduring a major economic downturn from 1868 to 1869. As Vogel became more and more involved in the politics. The other more commercially minded directors who were by now Rattray and W.D. Murison with Bathgate now the company secretary, aware of the need for the newspaper to earn sufficient income pay the interest on the debentures came to believe that Vogel's use of the newspaper to advocate on behalf of his political beliefs, was impacting on the business. Murison and Bathgate also had political interests which may have entered into the decision to dispense with Vogel's services in April 1868. The rest of the entire editorial staff were also soon let go. At an extraordinary general meeting of the company in July of that year Vogel made an unsuccessful attempt at retaining his position by offering to lease the company. His offer was rejected by 96 to nil. Using the offices of the ''Evening Star'' Vogel in partnership with others launched the ''New Zealand Sun'' on 16 November 1868 as a morning rival to the ''ODT'' but it lasted only until 20 March 1869. Following the departure of Vogel, the newspaper became an opponent of his political policies and thus once he became a member of the government it was anti-government from 1869 to 1876. One of the people sacked from the ''ODT'' in the purge of editorial staff in 1868 was George Bell who in January 1869 started the evening daily ''Evening Independent''. In June of that same year Bell purchased the ''Evening Star'' and merged the ''Evening Independent'' into it.Telegram libel case
Meanwhile, the editorship ''ODT'' was given to lawyer George Burnett Barton. Despite circulation falling from its high of 7,000 copies in 1862 and the departure of Vogel the ''ODT'' remained the province's dominant newspaper through the 1860s. Poor economic conditions in the early 1870s made things difficult for the ''ODT''. In 1871 it saw off a threat from the short lived daily ''The Southern League and Daily Advertiser'' which began publication in early July and which despite a name change to ''The Daily Advertiser and Southern League'' it had closed by 10 November 1871. Barton was not however a success, as a number of libel actions were taken against the newspaper, most notably a celebrated case which became known as the "Telegram Libel Case". In October 1870 Barton had published articles in the alleging that the Telegraph Department delayed news telegrams for the ''ODT'' until summaries had been given to pro-government newspaper in Wellington. The government took exception to these comments. Vogel was serving in a senior position in the government and there was suspicions that as Vogel's departure from the newspaper had been somewhat acrimonious, he still harboured a significant grudge: The government managed to locate evidence that identified that Barton was author of the articles and prosecuted him for libel. In the process of gathering evidence the government offered Otago Daily Times staff a 'pardon in advance' so they would not incriminate themselves in giving evidence against Barton. After he was committed for trial in January 1871, the case was dropped. Barton was not inclined to let matters rest and in March 1871, he launched a writ against Charles Lemon the head of the Telegraph Department, accusing him of a breach of the Telegraph Act (1865) over the so-called Stafford Timaru speech affair. In his writ Barton accused him of obtaining a copy of a report that a reporter had sent by telegraph on a speech by William Stafford in April 1870 and allowing it to be used for political purposes. Barton argued that the telegram was effectively the private property of ''ODT'', but his claim was rejected by the court. Following the conclusion of the case in 1871 Barton resigned and was succeeded as editor by William Murison. About two years previously J. G. Fraser had been appointed to the position of manager of the company. Murison held the editorship until 1877 when he was succeeded by George M Reed who only in turn held the position until 1878.Increasing competition
George Bell, the owner of the afternoon ''Evening Star'' made a direct foray into directly completing with the ''ODT'' by launching the ''Morning Star'' in December 1872, but while the combined circulation of the two newspapers was over 4,000 this was still less than that of the ''ODT''. In 1873 what eventually was to be called the Guardian Printing and Publishing Company was formed to purchase the ''Morning Star'' which they intended to rename the ''Daily News'', but by the time it appeared on 23 July 1873 it was called the ''Otago Guardian'' a new daily morning rival. It was edited by Robert Creighton, who had formerly been editor of the Auckland's ''Southern Cross''. Evening newspapers always had an advantage over the morning ''ODT'' as they had access to the latest news that had come in over the telegraph during the day. The telegraph office closed at midnight, which with the exception of local news, meant that the morning newspaper could only print the previous days national and international news. In January 1874 the Guardian Printing and Publishing Company began publishing the weekly ''Southern Mercury'' which was edited by Vincent Pyke. By the mid-1870s the ''Otago Guardian'' was struggling against the ''ODT''. Following the resignation of its manager Captain Baldwin in 1875 George Fenwick took up the position. Soon recognizing after several months in the position that it was impossible to make headway against the ''ODT'' and thus stem the losses that the business was incurring Fenwick recommended to the directors of the company that they sell both the ''Otago Guardian'' and the ''Southern Mercury'' if possible, and, if not, to cease the publication. Taking his advice, a new owner was found in April 1876 the form of George McCullagh Reed who had moved to Dunedin earlier in that same year and, possibly with financial assistance from his former partner in the '' Auckland Star'', Henry Brett, established in partnership with George Jones a new paper, a third iteration of the ''Evening News'', for the purpose of supporting the threatened provincial system. When deciding to purchase the publications Reed believed that he could redeem the newspaper's fortunes by the sheer force and power of bis writing and editing. Against his better judgment, Fenwick was influenced by Reed's conviction, and stayed on in his position and also became a partner. Later that year Fenwick also became a partner in the ''Evening News'' which was later closed in 1878.Takeover by Fenwick and Reed
Despite Reed and Fenwick's best efforts the finances of the ''Otago Guardian'' continued to deteriorate and it took little more than a year's experience for Reed by 1877 to come to share Fenwick's view that Dunedin was not able to support two daily morning newspapers, theirs and the ''Otago Daily Times''. Fenwick had a brainstorm and staggered Reed when he proposed that they should endeavour to obtain the ownership, via a reverse takeover of the much larger and more prosperous ''ODT'' and the ''Otago Witness''. Thus by amalgamating their publications with their older-established more successful rivals, they could transform the two concerns into a lucrative business. The directors of their rivals were adamantly opposed and it was necessary for Fenwick and Reed by using W. H. Reynolds as secret negotiator and by raising and offer £30,000 before they gained control. As soon as Reed and Fenwick assumed control of the ''ODT'' and ''Otago Witness'', the staff of the rival publications were merged and the ''Otago Guardian'' and the ''Southern Mercury'' ceased publication. Reed took on the editorship of both the ''ODT'' and ''Otago Witness'' while Silas Spragg from the ''Otago Guardian'' became the chief reporter of the ''ODT''.Staff depart to start a rival newspaper
The amalgamation of the various newspapers necessarily involved some reduction in the number of the employees, and it was the intention of Reed and Fenwick to endeavour to equalise matters by selecting their permanent employees in fair proportions from the respective staffs of the former rivals. However the former ''ODT'' employees took up the position that unless they were all retained, they would not accept a job under the new owners. This condition the owners declined to accede to, and the result was that the "''ODT'' employees started an opposition paper, the ''Morning Herald'' which was launched in December 1877 aggressively priced at one penny, as against threepence being charged for the ''ODT''. The men had many sympathisers and the former directors of the Times Company and their friends gave the new venture all the help they possibly could. The rival soon had a circulation of compatible with that of the ''ODT''. In 1878 out of a combined population of 32,792 for the city and suburbs the average daily circulation of the ''ODT'' (which varied between 2,500 and 4,000) was about the same as the 10.7% of the ''Daily Morning Herald'' (approximately 3,000), well short of the 22.3% of afternoon ''Evening Star'', the 17.8% of the ''Evening Tribune'' while the weekly ''Otago Witness'' was 20% and another weekly, the ''Penny Post'' was 6.1%. The ''Saturday Advertiser'' is believed to have reached around 20% of the total population.Sold back into public ownership
The loss of circulation and thus revenue to the ''Morning Herald'', coupled with the collapse in 1878 of the City of Glasgow Bank leading to a withdrawal of British funds which impacted on Otago runholders and weakened a struggling economy had a serious financial impact on the business. Reed and Fenwick had also assumed a considerable debt to buy their rival. In desperation Fenwick urged Reed to take the prudent course and protect themselves to the floating of the business as aImpact of World War I
Prior to the commencement of the First World War the cost of imported newsprint, was £12 a ton (landed). As the war progressed freight cost began to increase and contracts became more onerous which forced the ''ODT'' to increase its price to 1½d, the first price increase since 1881. Even after the end of the war the landed cost of newsprint continued to climb, reaching at its peak £60 a ton which forced the newspaper to increase in price on 8 March 1920 to 2d a copy.Amalgamation
As has been seen most of its Dunedin opposition papers were short lived, with only the ''Evening Star'' surviving until it merged with the ''ODT'' in 1975 forming a new company, Allied Press, and the ODT moved to the Evening Star Building (now the Allied Press Building) in Stuart Street in June 1977. The ''Evening Star'' ceased publication in November 1979 because its readership was declining. As a result, the Allied Press, now publishes the ''ODT'' and several smaller papers throughout New Zealand, including the ''Greymouth Star'' and the former ''The Lakes District and Central Otago News''. On 5 January 1998 the ''ODT'' published for the first time on a new Goss InternationalInto the 21st century
On 16 March 2016, the newspaper launched a metered paywall on its website limiting readers to between 15 and 20 free articles per month before having to pay a NZ$27 monthly subscription. While '' The Spinoff'' claimed that this made the ''Otago Daily Times'' the first major news publisher in New Zealand to implement a paywall, StopPress stated that the ''ODT'' was following the lead of other domestic news publications including the '' Ashburton Guardian'', the '' Gisborne Herald'', and the '' National Business Review''. The ''ODT'' did not implement its paywall until September 2022, with new subscribers being charged NZ$15 a month while print subscribers were able to access online content for free.Milestones
*1861 – 15 November: first edition. *1881 – price dropped to one penny. *1898 – first linotype machines installed. They were supplied by the English Linotype Company following a visit by Fenwick in 1897 the United States and Britain to investigate suitable machines. *1900 – firstPolicies and personages
While having politically conservative views during Fenwick's long tenure, the ''ODT'' was active in many campaigns for social reform, none more important than the exposure of sweat shop following the sermon by Presbyterian minister Rutherford Waddell in October 1888 "On the sin of cheapness", against sweat-shop labour in the clothing industry. The cause was taken up by George Fenwick in a series of articles written by the newspaper's chief reporter Silas Spragg (1852–1935) and published in January 1889 which described working conditions in Dunedin. In response to newspaper's articles which stirred many of the local community into action, a royal commission on sweating was established in 1890. Its conclusions and recommendations formed the basis of many of the country's social reforms of the following decade. In 1894, the newspaper attacked conditions in Dunedin's slaughter-houses, which resulted in a poll in April 1895 which approved the establishment of public abattoirs. During Fenwick's editorship the newspaper also supported funding of the University of Otago, a women's hospital ward, the expansion of the University of Otago Medical School, and the Hocken Library. Sid Scales was a cartoonist for the ''ODT'' for 30 years until his retirement in 1981. Queenstown artist Garrick Tremain was then the principal cartoonist until he stopped working for the paper in the wake of the 2019 measles cartoon controversy (see below).Controversy
In December 2019, the ''Otago Daily Times'' was heavily criticized for publishing a cartoon by the Queenstown–based cartoonist and painter Garrick Tremain which seemed to mock a measles outbreak inEditors
*1861–68 Sir Julius Vogel *1868–71 George Burnett Barton *1871–77 William Murison *1877–78 George McCullagh Reed *1878–83 James Ashcroft *1883–90 Richard Twopeny *1890–1909 Sir George Fenwick *1909–46 Sir James Hutchinson *1946–61 John Rowley Moffett *1961–76 Allan Aubin *1976–88 Keith Eunson *1988–97 Geoff Adams *1997–2007 Robin Charteris *2007–2015 Murray Kirkness *2015–2023 Barry Stewart *June 2023– Paul McIntyreRegular supplements
The ''Otago Daily Times'' is delivered with the following regular inserted tabloid supplements: * ''World Focus'' (international news and commentary, Mondays) * ''Sport'' (Community newspapers
The following sister publications of the ''ODT'' are weeklyReferences
Further reading
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