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''The Press'' is a daily newspaper published in
Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...
, New Zealand owned by media business Stuff Ltd. First published in 1861, the newspaper is the largest circulating daily in the South Island and publishes Monday to Saturday. One community newspaper—''Northern Outlook''- is also published by ''The Press'' and is free. The newspaper has won the title of New Zealand Newspaper of the Year (in its circulation category) three times: in 2006, 2007 and 2012. It has also won the overall Newspaper of the Year title twice: in 2006 and 2007.


History

James FitzGerald came to Lyttelton on the ''
Charlotte Jane ''Charlotte Jane'' was one of the First Four Ships in 1850 to carry emigrants from England to the new colony of Canterbury, New Zealand, Canterbury in New Zealand. Maiden voyage The ''Charlotte Jane'' departed from England in 1848, bound for Sy ...
'' in December 1850, and was from January 1851 the first editor of the ''
Lyttelton Times The ''Lyttelton Times'' was the first newspaper in Canterbury, New Zealand, publishing the first edition in January 1851. It was established by the Canterbury Association as part of its planned settlement of Canterbury and developed into a libera ...
'',
Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...
's first newspaper. From 1853, he focussed on politics and withdrew from the ''Lyttelton Times''. After several years in England, he returned to Canterbury concerned about the proposed capital works programme of the provincial government, with his chief concern the proposed rail tunnel connecting
Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...
and Lyttelton, which he thought of as fiscally irresponsible, but supported by his old newspaper, the ''Lyttelton Times''. The newspaper's editor,
Crosbie Ward Crosbie Ward (10 February 1832 – 10 November 1867) was a 19th-century member of parliament in New Zealand. Early life Ward was born in Killinchy in County Down, Ireland, in 1832. His father was Rev. Henry Ward. His paternal grandfather was ...
, made an imputation of unknown content, and this spurred FitzGerald to set up ''The Press'' as a rival newspaper. FitzGerald had dinner with
John Watts-Russell John Charles Watts-Russell JP (1825 – 2 April 1875) was a 19th-century New Zealand politician, a member of the Canterbury Provincial Council and a member of the Legislative Council. He was supposedly the wealthiest of the early settlers, an ...
, who put up £500 on the condition that FitzGerald would be in charge of the new newspaper. Next, he enlisted the support of the Rev. John Raven, who organised many of the practical aspects, like organising a printer and a printing press. Other members of the early committee that organised ''The Press'' were Henry Porcher Lance (brother of
James Dupré Lance James Dupré Lance (28 January 1829 – 28 March 1897) was a 19th-century Member of Parliament from Canterbury, New Zealand. Biography Lance was born in Boulogne, France. He first came to New Zealand in 1856 to visit his brothers. He conte ...
), Henry Tancred, and Richard J. S. Harman; all of them were colonial gentry. ''The Press'' was first published on 25 May 1861 from a small cottage, making it the oldest surviving newspaper in the
South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...
of New Zealand. The cottage belonged to Raven on land known as Raven's paddock on the west side of Montreal Street, between Worcester and Gloucester Streets, opposite the present-day
Christchurch Art Gallery The Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, commonly known as the Christchurch Art Gallery, is the public art gallery of the city of Christchurch, New Zealand. It has its own substantial art collection and also presents a programme of New ...
. The first edition was a six-page tabloid and was sold for sixpence. The paper continued as a weekly. The public saw FitzGerald as the proprietor of ''The Press'', but the newspaper saw reason to publicly state that "it is not a fact that Mr FitzGerald has either pecuniary or official connexion" with it; he was however the driving force behind the paper. On 13 June 1863, the first part of Samuel Butler's ''
Erewhon ''Erewhon: or, Over the Range'' () is a novel by English writer Samuel Butler, first published anonymously in 1872, set in a fictional country discovered and explored by the protagonist. The book is a satire on Victorian society. The fir ...
'' appeared in ''The Press'' in an article signed with the pseudonym ''Cellarius'' (
q.v. } (right to left). , - , ''quo errat demonstrator'', , where the prover errs, , A pun on "quod erat demonstrandum" , - , ''quo fata ferunt'', , where the fates bear us to, , motto of Bermuda , - , ''quo non ascendam'' , , to what heights can I ...
) and headed "
Darwin among the Machines "Darwin among the Machines" is an article published in ''The Press'' newspaper on 13 June 1863 in Christchurch, New Zealand, which references the work of Charles Darwin in the title. Written by Samuel Butler but signed '' Cellarius'' (q.v.), the ...
." In 1905, ''The Press'' purchased a block of the Cathedral Square site for £4,000. The Board then purchased the right of way (Press Lane) and what was going to be the original Theatre Royal site from the Theatre Royal Syndicate for £5000. The Gothic part of the Press building (occupied by the company until 22 February 2011) was built starting in 1907 and the Press staff shifted into it in February 1909 from their Cashel Street premises. In the 1930s, ''The Press'' began to seek solutions to the slow delivery times of the newspaper to the
West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to: Geography Australia * Western Australia *Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia * West Coast, Tasmania **West Coast Range, mountain range in the region Canada * Britis ...
. Roads at the time were difficult, and the
New Zealand Railways Department The New Zealand Railways Department, NZR or NZGR (New Zealand Government Railways) and often known as the "Railways", was a government department charged with owning and maintaining New Zealand's railway infrastructure and operating the railway ...
was unwilling to reschedule any of its ordinary passenger trains to operate at the early morning times desired by ''The Press'' as patronage would have been uneconomic, and freight trains did not provide a desirable measure of swiftness. Accordingly, ''The Press'' was willing to subsidise the construction and operation of two small Leyland diesel
railbuses A railbus is a lightweight passenger railcar that shares many aspects of its construction with a bus, typically having a bus (original or modified) body and four wheels on a fixed base, instead of on bogies. Originally designed and developed ...
to carry the newspapers by rail at a desirable time. These little railbuses began service on 3 August 1936 and left Christchurch at 2:20 am, travelling down the Midland Line to reach
Greymouth Greymouth () (Māori: ''Māwhera'') is the largest town in the West Coast region in the South Island of New Zealand, and the seat of the Grey District Council. The population of the whole Grey District is , which accounts for % of the West Coas ...
at 6:40 am and then continue along the Ross Branch as far as
Hokitika Hokitika is a town in the West Coast region of New Zealand's South Island, south of Greymouth, and close to the mouth of the Hokitika River. It is the seat and largest town in the Westland District. The town's estimated population is as of ...
, arriving just before 8:00 am. This provided substantially quicker delivery of the newspaper than was previously possible. However, these railbuses were intended to only be a temporary measure and they were replaced by the much larger Vulcan railcars as soon as they arrived in New Zealand in the early 1940s. In 1995, ''The Press'' was the country's first news outlet that established a website for news. In 2000, Independent Newspapers Ltd (INL) launched its news website branded as
Stuff Stuff, stuffed, and stuffing may refer to: *Physical matter *General, unspecific things, or entities Arts, media, and entertainment Books *''Stuff'' (1997), a novel by Joseph Connolly (author), Joseph Connolly *''Stuff'' (2005), a book by Jere ...
and from then on, ''The Press'' and Stuff worked on online content collaboratively. In February 2011, ''The Press'' main building in central Christchurch was badly damaged in the
2011 Christchurch earthquake A major earthquake occurred in Christchurch on Tuesday 22 February 2011 at 12:51 p.m. local time (23:51 UTC, 21 February). The () earthquake struck the entire of the Canterbury region in the South Island, centred south-east ...
. All production was operated from their printing plant near Christchurch Airport until June 2012, when the central Christchurch building was partially rebuilt and upgraded. It was one of the first buildings in the Christchurch CBD to be rebuilt and operational. The paper format for the weekday editions changed from
broadsheet A broadsheet is the largest newspaper format and is characterized by long Vertical and horizontal, vertical pages, typically of . Other common newspaper formats include the smaller Berliner (format), Berliner and Tabloid (newspaper format), ta ...
to
compact Compact as used in politics may refer broadly to a pact or treaty; in more specific cases it may refer to: * Interstate compact * Blood compact, an ancient ritual of the Philippines * Compact government, a type of colonial rule utilized in British ...
in 2018, with only the Saturday edition retaining the larger format.


Motto

The motto on the masthead – "Nihil utile quod non-honestum" translates to "Nothing is useful that is not honest." Like ''
The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...
'' in Australia, the newspaper's masthead features the Royal Arms.


Ownership

The early ownership, beyond the newspaper having been financed by Watts-Russell, is unclear. In February 1862, an attempt was made to form a company and formalise the ownership of the paper. A deed of association for "The Proprietors of The Press" was drafted, and it lists the five members of the previous committee (Watts-Russell, Raven, Lance, Tancred, and Harman), plus five new members:
Alfred Richard Creyke Alfred Richard Creyke JP (1 September 1831 – 30 November 1892) was a 19th-century Member of Parliament in Canterbury, New Zealand. He was a significant landholder in Canterbury. Of English descent, he spent just over ten years in the colony be ...
,
John Hall John Hall may refer to: Academics * John Hall (NYU President) (fl. c. 1890), American academic * John A. Hall (born 1949), sociology professor at McGill University, Montreal * John F. Hall (born 1951), professor of classics at Brigham Young Unive ...
, Joseph Brittan, Isaac Cookson, and James Somerville Turnbull. Surprisingly, the deed was not executed, but four-month later, FitzGerald, who had no funds, was the sole owner "through the liberality of the proprietors", as he called it later. FitzGerald lost control of the newspaper ownership in 1868 and the Press Company was incorporated as the owner. That company was dissolved in 1890 and
George Stead George Gatonby Stead (17 August 1841 – 29 April 1908) was a notable New Zealand grain merchant, racehorse owner and breeder, and businessman. Early life Stead was born in 1841 in London, England to George Stead and Mary Gatonby. In 1849 th ...
bought the assets. Stead established the Christchurch Press Company and became its chairman. The Christchurch Press Company was sold to Independent Newspapers Ltd in 1987, and INL in turn was bought by Fairfax New Zealand in 2003. The Australian parent company,
Fairfax Media Fairfax Media was a media company in Australia and New Zealand, with investments in newspaper, magazines, radio and digital properties. The company was founded by John Fairfax as John Fairfax and Sons, who purchased ''The Sydney Morning Herald' ...
, merged with Nine Entertainment Co. in December 2018.


Editors

The following have been editors of ''The Press'':


Awards and nominations


Awards and nominations for journalists employed by ''The Press''


Notes


References

* * *


External links

*
The Press
at Papers Past (archive from 1861 to 1979) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Press, The Newspapers published in New Zealand Newspapers established in 1861 Stuff (company) Mass media in Christchurch History of Christchurch 1861 establishments in New Zealand