New Zealand's national news agency closes after 131 years

Aug 31, 2011, 8:49 GMT

Wellington - The New Zealand Press Association (NZPA) sent out its final story and switched off its computers Wednesday, ending 131 years of supplying news to the country's newspapers.

The national news agency, founded in 1880, closed after its two biggest owners - APN News and Media Ltd and Fairfax Media Ltd, both Australian companies - stopped funding it to launch competing news-gathering services for their own newspaper chains.

Founded as a cooperative with members supplying news from their regions, which was distributed to all, NZPA had 74 subscribing newspapers at its peak.

In its heyday in the 1970s, it had correspondents in Australia, Asia, London and Washington. It has struggled with financial difficulties in recent years, and at the end when it had 26 surviving member papers, its only foreign office was in Sydney, Australia.

Its demise began in 2005 when Fairfax Media spearheaded the dismantling of the cooperative arrangement and NZPA staff began gathering and reporting their own stories for all shareholders and sale to third parties.

Media commentators said the agency was never given the resources needed to develop into a viable stand-alone business, and the end had long been seen as inevitable.

Editor Kevin Norquay said two-thirds of NZPA's 42 staff had found jobs with other media outlets.

All put their names to the last transmission, which read: '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.'