NZPA closes, three new wires fill gap

The New Zealand Press Association ceased operations following the withdrawal of its two competing major shareholders, Australian-owned newspaper publishers Fairfax Media and APN. Their move hastened a decline as the agency struggled with reorganisations in media ownership and technological changes affecting news media worldwide.

Three new wires are filling the void – APN News & Media’s APNZ, its main rival Fairfax New Zealand’s FNZN, and a new Australian Associated Press service, NZN. 

Founded in 1880 as the United Press Association, the cooperative adopted the name NZPA in 1942. Together with the AAP, in 1947 it became a minority owner of Reuters alongside Britain’s Press Association and Newspaper Proprietors’ Association. As part of the deal, some Australian and New Zealand journalists became Reuters correspondents, especially in the Pacific area. NZPA correspondents in London worked out of Reuters’ headquarters, then at 85 Fleet Street.

At its birth the New Zealand wire had 26 subscribing newspapers, rising to a peak of 74 by the end of World War I. But in recent years its client base had fallen back to 26.

The NZPA’s final story, signed off by all of its journalists, read:

Wellington, Aug 31 NZPA - This is the final message from the New Zealand Press Association.

Since 1880 there have been hundreds of thousands of stories and hundreds of millions of words recording our country's development and daily doings.

We now sign off.

It has been a pleasure and a privilege.

ENDS ■