NZ Truth

Last updated

NZ Truth
Format Tabloid
Editor Cameron Slater (2012–2014)
Founded1905
Political alignmentCentre-right
Ceased publication2013
Headquarters Auckland, New Zealand
Website truth.co.nz [ dead link ]

NZ Truth was a tabloid newspaper published weekly in New Zealand from 1905 to 2013.

Contents

History

NZ Truth was founded in 1905 by Australian John Norton in Wellington, as a New Zealand edition of his Sydney Truth , aiming a sensational blend of sex, crime and radical politics at mainly working class readers. [1] [2]

According to newspaper historian (and former NZ Truth journalist) Redmer Yska, English-born Norton was 'a combustible mix of tycoon, journalist, do-gooder and chronic, falldown pisshead.' [3] Norton was on hand on 24 June 1905 when the first copies of the 'Maoriland' edition rolled off the presses in Luke's Lane, an alley that still runs at right angles to Wellington's Courtenay Place. Inaugural editor, Australian Robert Merrick, claimed 40,000 readers by 1907, with circulation in 'every Miners', Gum Diggers' and Timber-Getter's camp'. [4] Three years later Frederick Dawson, a former editor of Norton's Queensland and West Australia editions of Truth took over. He would remain in the job until 1920. Norton meanwhile died of alcoholism, in 1916.[ citation needed ]

The leader writer (and, briefly, editor) from 1913 to 1922 was Robert Hogg, a Scottish-born journalist and socialist. [5] According to Yska. Hogg 'turned NZ Truth into a fiery and enthusiastic mouthpiece for revolutionary socialism'. That would change in 1922 when John Norton's son Ezra became the Sydney-based owner and proprietor, appointing a string of New Zealand-based editors. Under the populist Norton, the 'worker's paper' became the streamlined family-friendly 'national paper'. Norton's most successful editor was Australian Brian Connolly and over 16 years (1935 to 1951), he would return the paper to its working-class roots, albeit with a conservative streak.[ citation needed ]

In 1951, Norton sold out to a New Zealand consortium led by the paper's legal representative James Dunn and his former Scots College schoolmate Cliff Plimmer. Over the next few decades, the New Zealand owners would refashion NZ Truth into what Yska calls 'a shrill megaphone for a conservative establishment holding back political, social and cultural ties that increasingly threatened to sweep it away.' [6]

Over the decades, NZ Truth variously employed well-known New Zealand authors, including Robin Hyde in 1928. [7]

As in Australia, NZ Truth capitalised on unrestricted press coverage of divorce cases during its first half century, with court evidence of adultery cases given lengthy, invariably saucy treatment. In 1958, a Labour government passed a law restricting coverage to the bare bones of proceedings, removing a vital part of Truth's editorial 'bread and butter'. [8] In 1963, as revelations of a seamy British political scandal unfolded, audited circulation reached a peak of 240,000, and the weekly claimed a readership of a million Kiwis. But the advent of television in 1960, the decriminalisation of Sunday newspapers in 1963 and changing attitudes to sexual morality associated with the 'Swinging Sixties' were already shaking apart NZ Truth's world. By 1980, circulation stood at 150,000, but a move to Auckland headquarters in 1982 and a 'brighter' Truth and TV Extra failed. By the mid 1990s, circulation fell to 50,000, and in 2005, as the once proud and powerful weekly approached its centenary, plummeted to a once unthinkable 12,000.[ citation needed ]

Cameron Slater's involvement

At the end of October 2012, controversial right-wing blogger Cameron Slater was announced as the paper's new editor. He said in his new role he would be "kicking arse and sticking up for the little guy". His first issue was published that November. [9] As a result of his appointment, the paper's left-wing columnist Martyn "Bomber" Bradbury quit. Within six months of Slater's appointment it was announced the publication would cease production in July 2013, with Slater claiming it was "too far gone". [10]

Despite ceasing to publish a print version of the website, the publication continued to update its website until May 2014. [11]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob Semple</span> New Zealand politician (1873–1955)

Robert Semple was a union leader and later Minister of Public Works for the first Labour Government of New Zealand. He is also known for creating the Bob Semple tank.

<i>The Post</i> (New Zealand newspaper) Newspaper published in Wellington, New Zealand

The Post is a metropolitan daily newspaper published in Wellington, New Zealand. It is owned by media business Stuff Ltd, formerly the New Zealand branch of Australian media company Fairfax Media. Weekday issues are now in tabloid format, and its Saturday edition is in broadsheet format.

<i>The New Zealand Herald</i> Daily newspaper

The New Zealand Herald is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and considered a newspaper of record for New Zealand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mayor of Wellington</span> Elected head of Wellington City Council, New Zealand

The Mayor of Wellington is the head of the municipal government of the City of Wellington. The mayor presides over the Wellington City Council. The mayor is directly elected using the Single Transferable Vote method of proportional representation. The current mayor is Tory Whanau, elected in October 2022 for a three-year-term.

<i>Otago Daily Times</i> Daily newspaper published in Dunedin, New Zealand

The Otago Daily Times (ODT) is a newspaper published by Allied Press Ltd in Dunedin, New Zealand. The ODT is one of the country's four main daily newspapers, serving the southern South Island with a circulation of around 26,000 and a combined print and digital annual audience of 304,000. Founded in 1861 it is New Zealand's oldest surviving daily newspaper – Christchurch's The Press, six months older, was a weekly paper until March 1863.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capital punishment in New Zealand</span>

Capital punishment – the process of sentencing convicted offenders to death for the most serious crimes and carrying out that sentence, as ordered by a legal system – first appeared in New Zealand in a codified form when New Zealand became a British colony in 1840. It was first carried out with a public hanging in Victoria Street, Auckland in 1842, while the last execution occurred in 1957 at Mount Eden Prison, also in Auckland. In total, 85 people have been lawfully executed in New Zealand.

<i>The Press</i> New Zealand newspaper

The Press is a daily newspaper published in Christchurch, New Zealand, owned by media business Stuff Ltd. First published in 1861, the newspaper is the largest circulating daily in the South Island and publishes Monday to Saturday. One community newspaper—Northern Outlook—is also published by The Press and is free.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Hislop (mayor)</span> New Zealand politician, lawyer, and diplomat

Thomas Charles Atkinson Hislop (29 November 1888 – 21 June 1965) was a New Zealand politician, lawyer, and diplomat. He served as the mayor of Wellington from 1931 to 1944.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexander Hogg</span> New Zealand politician

Alexander Wilson Hogg was a member of parliament for Masterton, in the North Island of New Zealand.

The Maoriland Worker, later called The Standard, was a leading New Zealand labour journal of the early 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Cleary</span>

Henry William Cleary was the sixth Roman Catholic Bishop of Auckland, from 1910 to 1929.

Arthur Beauchamp was a Member of Parliament from New Zealand. He is remembered as the father of Harold Beauchamp, who rose to fame as chairman of the Bank of New Zealand and was the father of writer Katherine Mansfield.

The Otago Witness was a prominent illustrated weekly newspaper in the early years of the European settlement of New Zealand, produced in Dunedin, the provincial capital of Otago. Published weekly, it existed from 1851 to 1932. The introduction of the Otago Daily Times, followed by other daily newspapers in its circulation area, led it to focus on serving a rural readership in the lower South Island, where poor road access prevented newspapers being delivered daily. It also provided an outlet for local fiction writers. It is notable as the first newspaper to use illustrations and photographs and was the first New Zealand newspaper to provide a correspondence column for children, which was known as "Dot's Little Folk". Together with the Auckland-based Weekly News and the Wellington-based New Zealand Free Lance it was one of the most significant illustrated weekly New Zealand newspapers in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

The New Zealand Tablet was a weekly Catholic periodical published in Dunedin from 1873 to 1996.

Anthony John Brunt is a New Zealand journalist, activist and politician. He was the founder and leader of the environmentalist Values Party in the 1970s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Olive Smuts-Kennedy</span> Activist and local politician

Olive Evelyn Smuts-Kennedy was an activist and local politician in Wellington, New Zealand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ros Noonan</span>

Rosslyn Joy Noonan is a New Zealand politician and trade unionist. She was an organiser for several trade unions and the Labour Party and served for a time in local government. Later she served as New Zealand's Human Rights Commissioner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Glover (cartoonist)</span> English born cartoonist

Thomas Ellis Glover (1891–1938) was a prolific cartoonist and caricaturist who worked in New Zealand and Australia. He began his professional career in 1911 as a cartoonist and court-reporter for the Wellington-based New Zealand Truth. After serving in France during World War I, Glover returned to Wellington and established himself as a respected and popular illustrator and cartoonist for The Free Lance and Truth newspapers, his work often dealing with political themes. In late 1922 Glover left New Zealand and settled in Melbourne, having accepted a job as cartoonist for the Sydney-based Bulletin magazine. In Australia he became widely-known for his political cartoons and insightful caricatures. In early 1928 Glover took up a position as the feature cartoonist for The Sun newspaper in Sydney. He died suddenly at his desk in September 1938, aged 47.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1879 Wellington City mayoral by-election</span>

The 1879 Wellington mayoral by-election was part of the New Zealand local elections held that same year to decide who would take the office of Mayor of Wellington.

References

  1. ↑ Yska, Redmer (2010). Truth: The rise and fall of the people's paper. Nelson: Craig Potton Publishing. ISBN   9781877517303.
  2. ↑ "New Zealand and Pacific Newspapers and Magazines (University of Auckland newspaper holdings on microfilm)". Archived from the original on 14 May 2006.
  3. ↑ Yska, 2010, p. 15
  4. ↑ Yska, 2010, p. 19
  5. ↑ Gustafson, Barry (1980). Labour's Path to Political Independence. Auckland: Auckland University Press. p. 158. ISBN   0-19-647986-X.
  6. ↑ Yska, 2010, p. 144
  7. ↑ "Robin Hyde (Iris Wilkinson), 1906–1939". New Zealand Electronic Text Centre . Victoria University of Wellington. 2007.
  8. ↑ Yska, 2010, p. 125
  9. ↑ "Cameron Slater takes helm of Truth". 3 News NZ. 31 October 2012. Archived from the original on 16 October 2013. Retrieved 31 October 2012.
  10. ↑ "NZ Truth to cease publishing after 125 years – reports". The New Zealand Herald . 17 June 2013. Retrieved 23 February 2024– via New Zealand Press Association.
  11. ↑ "Archive of Truth website". 23 December 2014. Archived from the original on 23 December 2014.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.