The New Zealand Press Association (NZPA) was a

news agency A news agency is an organization that gathers news reports and sells them to subscribing news organizations, such as newspapers, magazines and All-news radio, radio and News broadcasting, television Broadcasting, broadcasters. A news agency ma ...

that existed from 1879 to 2011 and provided national and international news to the media of

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 ...

. The largest news agency in the country, it was founded as the United Press Association in 1879, and became the New Zealand Press Association in 1942. Following

Fairfax New Zealand Stuff Limited (previously Fairfax New Zealand) is a privately held news media company operating in New Zealand. It operates Stuff, the country's largest news website, and owns nine daily newspapers, including New Zealand's second and third-hig ...

's withdrawal from NZPA in April 2011, NZPA told staff that it would be wound up over the next four to six months, and ceased operation on 31 August 2011. NZPA was superseded by three new services, all Australian-owned: APNZ (on-going),

News (on-going as Stuff), and

NZ Newswire Australian Associated Press Ltd (AAP) is an Australian news agency. It was founded in 1935 by Keith Murdoch. AAP employs around 90 journalists who work in bureaus in all states and territories of Australia except the Northern Territory. It als ...

(folded in April 2018).

History

Daily and Sunday newspapers owned by APN News & Media, Fairfax New Zealand,

Allied Press Allied Press is an independent New Zealand media and publishing company based in Dunedin. The company's main asset is the ''Otago Daily Times'', New Zealand's oldest daily newspaper. Allied Press has a number of other daily and community news ...

Ashburton Guardian The ''Ashburton Guardian'' is a tri-weekly newspaper published in Ashburton, New Zealand according to the Audit Bureau of Circulation in New Zealand it has a readership of approximately 11,000 and a circulation of 5,554. It was founded in 1879 a ...

The Gisborne Herald ''The Gisborne Herald'' is the daily evening newspaper for Gisborne and environs. It was one of only four independently owned daily newspapers in New Zealand but was bought by NZME in 2024. History Established in 1874 as the ''Poverty Bay Her ...

, The Wairoa Star Ltd, Whakatane Beacon and the Westport News were members of NZPA. Until January 2006, member newspapers were obliged by contract to supply their home town news copy to NZPA. Sub-editing was done at NZPA's

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

headquarters and the copy then redistributed to all members. NZPA's own journalists also contributed to the national news wire, which by 2005 consisted of approximately 50 per cent each of copy contributed by the member newspapers and the other half by NZPA's own staff. In 2005 NZPA announced that the 125-year-old news-sharing model would cease in January 2006, leaving NZPA responsible for news gathering and production of the national wire. This resulted in NZPA owning outright the intellectual property to the national news wire which it was then free to sell to all other media on a commercial basis. At the same time NZPA established news services other than the text-based newswire, including photo-news and graphics services as well as providing news, features and other information in page ready format. The NZPA newsroom (based in Wellington) sent out approximately 1000 different pieces of information every 24 hours, compiled from the resources of its employees, overseas wire services and other sources such as the NZ Stock Exchange. The NZPA employed approximately 40 journalists, based in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

(2 staff),

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

(4 staff),

Parliament of New Zealand The New Zealand Parliament () is the unicameral legislature of New Zealand, consisting of the Sovereign and the New Zealand House of Representatives. The King is usually represented by his governor-general. Before 1951, there was an upper ch ...

(5 staff) and at the head office in Wellington. From January 2006 staff concentrated on news gathering, where they previously focused on sub-editing. As well as full-time staff, there were national networks of both correspondents and photographers. NZPA operated business, national and a sports desk which also covered racing and employed a rural reporter. NZPA managed external newsfeeds from

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...

, Australian Associated Press and

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

and sub-edited the items for a New Zealand audience before distributing them on to member newspapers. NZPA also provided these services with reciprocal rights to its content for sale overseas though practically little content was directly used. NZPA operated a content sales division providing NZPA authored content on a commercial basis to corporate and government clients. It also operated a media release distribution service circulating media releases to media on behalf of clients domestically and also across the world through Asianet, a consortium of press agencies. The closure of NZPA came when Fairfax pulled out of the media co-operative. Fairfax's decision was released on 6 April 2011 and talks with staff about shutting down NZPA started immediately after Fairfax's announcement.

Succession

It was superseded by three new services, all Australian-owned. APNZ was formed by

APN News & Media ARN Media Ltd., formerly Here, There & Everywhere and APN News & Media, is an Australian media company. Divisions include broadcast radio and Out-of-home advertising. The company previously had assets in New Zealand, and previously owned Adsh ...

and started service on 1 September 2011. APNZ creates content for over 50 newspapers and their websites, and largely works with all the APN newspapers, the ''Otago Daily Times'' and independent publications. Fairfax New Zealand News (FNZN) services

print media outlets.

Australian Associated Press Australian Associated Press Ltd (AAP) is an Australian news agency. It was founded in 1935 by Keith Murdoch. AAP employs around 90 journalists who work in bureaus in all states and territories of Australia except the Northern Territory. It al ...

(AAP) started NZ Newswire (NZN) on 5 September 2011, but closed it on 27 April 2018.

References

External links

New Zealand Press Association
{{Authority control News agencies based in New Zealand 1879 establishments in New Zealand 2011 disestablishments in New Zealand

History

Succession

References

Further reading

External links