The Trust & the history of newspapers in New Zealand

In 2018, Ian F. Grant, ONZM published Lasting Impressions: the Story of New Zealand's Newspapers, 1840-1920, the first comprehensive history of New Zealand newspapers published since Guy Scholefield's Newspapers in New Zealand was published in 1958. The New Zealand Review of Books described Lasting Impressions as "a compelling, often delightful read, and a truly magnificent addition to the scholarship of journalism here". 

In 2024, Grant published his latest book on the history of newspaper publishing in New Zealand, Pressing On: The Story of New Zealand’s Newspapers, 1921-2000.  In it Grant chronicles the eighty years to 2000, a period of rapid change in the industry.  It covers the period before New Zealand’s first newspaper website was established at the Christchurch Press in 1995.

Pressing On was launched at the National Library of New Zealand on 30 May 2024. Sir Hugh Rennie   gave the opening remarks at the launch.  A subsequent blog written by Rennie tells us even more about newspapers in New Zealand – a topic of particular interest to The Preserving Local History and  Educational Trust. The National Library is a Strategic Partner of the Trust.

Rennie notes that no-one knows how many New Zealand newspapers have existed. One list names almost 1,700. A number are missing from that list, many of which have been tracked down by the relentless sleuthing of Grant and are now in Pressing On. 

The Preserving Local History and Educational Trust is helping to provide more clarity about the history of New Zealand's newspapers. Its Adviser and researcher is Dr Ross Harvey, who authored the authoritative Union List of Newspapers … in New Zealand, published by the National Library of New Zealand in 1987. Some newspapers published in New Zealand were short-lived and exist in only a single issue or a handful of issues. No issues of other newspapers have ever been located. The Trust is seeking your assistance to track down hard-to-find newspapers. It has published several of Ross’s Desiderata lists on its website and is seeking any information you may have about the titles in these lists. The Trust will use this information to ensure that the newspaper titles it digitises and provides access to are as complete as possible, and to check the preservation status of a title. And as its database becomes more complete the Trust will also share this information with the National Library and other research institutions, and make it publicly available. 

Words the Trust has frequently used in our fundraising applications is that newspapers are the first rough draft of history, and Rennie uses the phrase in his address.  He also observes why, in 180 years of New Zealand newspapers, it is so important that we know the history of our press - how our newspapers were created, what they did, who was involved, and what became of each paper.  To understand their “rough drafts” we need to know how, where and from whom they came.  And so, this book is not just a history - Grant’s two volumes inform us about the power of that history.  Our knowledge is built on the accretion of what is now more than 180 years of New Zealand newspapers, and he asks which ones do we trust?

Because New Zealand's major metropolitan newspapers have been preserved on microfilm (and are thus at less risk of loss or decay) the Trust’s focus is very much on community or "local" newspapers – those that serve (or served) smaller communities, or suburbs of metropolitan areas.  In the Trust's first blog I note that much of Aotearoa’s history is documented in local community newspapers. They contain so much rich content about everyday New Zealanders: revealing the people, places, events, organisations, businesses, societies, iwi, and hapu that make up a village, small town, rohe, or region.  

I often comment that community newspapers in particular contain the stories and information that you will not find on Google, and in an interview on Radio New Zealand’s MediaWatch on 23 June 2024 Grant also states just how important those community papers are, and comments that the business model was always about deriving sufficient advertising revenue to cover costs.  There were pressures in this regard from radio and TV long before the Internet, which are discussed in Pressing On.  The modern drive from major publishers to strip local news reporting from their publications as a cost-saving measure is short-sighted in the context of doing everything electronically.

Will there be a third volume?  Grant has collected a wealth of information for the period 2000-2020, but because of the quantity of material  (volume two is a sizable tome in its own right) Grant will not write volume three.  However, he intends to present his research material up to 2020 to the Alexander Turnbull Library.  He hopes that in a few years it will be discovered for someone else to take on (and that he will be around to contribute!).  

In closing the interview, the interviewer cites esteemed journalist Colin James, CNZM who described Grant’s two books as monumental in both senses … of itself a very impressive and huge body of work, but also perhaps marking something that is coming to an end. In response, Grant notes that newspapers are that important element of democracy that ensure people know what’s going on.  The sourcing of news electronically means they will never cover local news in the way it needs to be covered … hundreds of things people need to know they will never learn this way …  social media groups established by publishers for communities simply have not delivered hard news that people need.  I hope local newspapers continue to be successful … I think they’re more likely to continue outside of large combines … locally owned, with a commitment to the local people, by people in that community.  

I agree!

We thank Ian Grant for such a wonderful contribution to the record of Aotearoa’s newspaper publishing history.  Clearly others agree: we offer Ian our greatest respect and heartiest congratulations for the King’s Birthday Honour award recently bestowed upon him, an ONZM for services to literature and historical preservation.  Ian is an inspiration to myself and my colleagues on The Preserving Local History and Educational Trust Board.

Andy Fenton, Board Chair and Trustee
June 2024

About The Preserving Local History and Educational Trust

The Preserving Local History and Educational Trust wishes to preserve the stories that have helped to shape our communities and our nation, and to make these accessible to all.

Our project is called Your Stories, and its goal is to digitise, and make available, all historic
newspapers published in New Zealand (from 1840 to 2000). This will ensure that the stories and histories from diverse communities across urban and rural New Zealand are preserved for current and future generations. The digitised images are then held with The Trust’s Strategic Partner, the National Library, to be stored in the National Digital Heritage Archive, and accessible via the Papers Past website. We have already preserved 200,000 pages from Otago, Marlborough, Central Plateau and NorthShore, Auckland. However, the only way to complete the project will be in partnership with generous benefactors, donors and sponsors.

We invite you to join us in enabling this project to be completed. This is an opportunity to make a very meaningful, one-off, intergenerational gift that will transform the lives of millions of people now, and in the future. Together, we can create an important gift for the future.

Our Trust would love you to promote our project wherever you can. Please download our poster to display.