Rewired: How Competition Ended 125 Years of Cooperative National News Coverage in New Zealand

Abstract

'NZPA' is a tagline that appears at the end of numerous stories in New Zealand's daily and weekend newspapers. Its presence is so ubiquitous that it goes largely unnoticed. Also largely unnoticed has been the fundamental change to the structure of New Zealand's national press agency introduced in January 2006. It was a change that was a reflection of the effect of ownership on what New Zealanders read and, potentially, on the quality of New Zealand's democracy. This article canvasses the events that led to the decision to end a cooperative exchange of news, the mainstay of the New Zealand Press Association since its inception. The article presents empirical research on the initial effects of that restructuring on New Zealand newspaper content.