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It was a proud moment for Mahurangi Matters when it was named Community Newspaper of the Year at the prestigious Voyager Media Awards on May 24.
The judges said the paper exemplified the sort of local issues coverage that made community newspapers important. They singled out our coverage of the Dome landfill for special mention, as well commending the paper for its strong mix of local government coverage, opinion, sport and celebratory pieces on pillars of the community, “making the paper an overall rich and satisfying read”.
It was a thrill to accept the award on behalf of the diligent, hardworking team that produces and delivers your fortnightly paper, although this year’s awards were set against a gloomy backdrop. Many recipients paid tribute to axed shows such as Fair Go and Sunday, and the massive job losses that will accompany the closure of Newshub on July 5.
The fact that traditional media is under siege from tech giants such as Meta/Facebook shouldn’t be news to anyone who hasn’t been living under a rock for the past decade or so. The tech barons who pay no tax in NZ gain massive advertising revenue by using news stories, without paying a cent to the newsrooms that produce those stories. Newspapers around the world are closing while governments fail to get to grips with the seriousness of this situation.
In 2021, Australia passed a first-of-its-kind law to force social media companies to share a portion of the profits they make from news content with news organisations. The law brought in almost $150 million in its first year. Canada followed suit and California looks to be fashioning similar legislation. A news bargaining bill in NZ, first drafted under the Labour Government, was not supported by National’s poorly informed Minister of Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media Melissa Lee. Luckily, she was barely in the job long enough for the ink to dry on her business cards, when she was replaced by Paul Goldsmith. Goldsmith attended the Voyager awards, where he could not have failed to sense the despair in the room. For him, the stopwatch is ticking – many small independent papers just like Mahurangi Matters have already closed, with others hanging on by their fingernails. If Goldsmith fails to act soon, then who will provide the reliable and balanced coverage of stories such as the Auckland Anniversary floods and their aftermath, the Dome landfill, the growth around Warkworth, the expansion of solar farms and the wastewater pipeline through Warkworth? Not Facebook, that’s for sure.
Mahurangi Matters extends a special thanks to our advertisers, who make what we do possible. Many of these businesses have been supporting the paper for decades. It can’t be stressed enough that if readers enjoy the paper and want it to continue, then supporting these businesses, who support this paper, is crucial.
