The ''Cook Islands News'' is a daily newspaper published in

Rarotonga Rarotonga is the largest and most populous of the Cook Islands. The island is volcanic, with an area of , and is home to almost 75% of the country's population, with 10,898 of a total population of 15,040. The Parliament of the Cook Islands, Coo ...

in the

Cook Islands The Cook Islands is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of 15 islands whose total land area is approximately . The Cook Islands' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) covers of ocean. Avarua is its ...

. It is the national newspaper of the Cook Islands. Its print version is published daily from Monday to Saturday. Originally government-owned, it was privatized in 1989.

Editing

From 2014 to 2018 the ''News'' was edited by Cameron Scott. In March 2019 it appointed Jonathan Milne, former editor of the

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

Sunday Star-Times The ''Sunday Star-Times'' is a New Zealand newspaper published each weekend in Auckland. It covers both national and international news, and is a member of the New Zealand Press Association and Newspaper Publishers Association of New Zealand. ...

'', as editor. In July 2020 Milne returned to New Zealand to become editor of '' Newsroom Pro''. On 28 August 2020 Rashneel Kumar was appointed editor and Katrina Tanirau associate editor.

Controversy

The ''News'' history has seen frequent clashes with politicians over regulation, with journalists being banned from the Cook Islands Parliament for "unfair" coverage. In 2001 senior journalist Jason Brown was banned from covering Parliament for two weeks following a complaint that his coverage was unfair to and misrepresented Deputy Prime Minister Norman George. In June 2020 politicians attempted to ban journalist Rashneel Kumar from reporting on Parliament for reporting on their travel allowances, but ultimately decided against it. However, Speaker

Niki Rattle Niki Rattle (born 1951) was Speaker of the Cook Islands Parliament from 22 May 2012 to 15 February 2021. Rattle was born in Manihiki. She is a Registered Nurse. Before her appointment she served as Secretary of the Cook Islands Red Cross for ...

warned that she would be quick to ban any journalist who reported unfairly on Parliament in the future.

References

Newspapers published in the Cook Islands News media in the Cook Islands Companies of the Cook Islands Newspapers established in 1945 {{CookIslands-stub