GET READY TO BE SHAKEN-DOWN

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

Get ready to have the bite put on you to PAY for online news from the major newspaper organisations in both New Zealand and Australia.

No doubt you will be aware of the proposed huge shakeup coming, which will result in the major newspaper companies merging their operations in Australia.

Here in New Zealand, the resultant forced marriage of Fairfax and APN will result in one HUGE newspaper monopoly which will own every major daily newspaper in NZ except for one metropolitan daily (the Otago Daily Times) and one provincial daily (The Gisborne Herald). And that has got to be bad for consumers and also bad for democracy. No doubt the politicians will be salivating at the prospect of less scruitiny (driven by competition) of what they are up to.

But a side-effect of these mergers will be a high likelihood that you will have to PAY to access news stories on BOTH sides of The Ditch. In New Zealand, both APN and Fairfax have been talking about paywalls for a few years, but both sides have been too scared to be the first to go that way in case the competition decides to continue to provide free online access to news for a period of time and thereby grab a majority of the market share. However, with the two sides merged into one, there will be nothing to hold them back. And the same will apply across The Ditch in Australia.

You have been WARNED!!

[Crusader]

That's why we have you in the ground. As a compulsive news spammer in here, you will see to it that we can still see news articles without having to pay for them.

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

Ah, yes....I forgot....you get your news from that boofhead radio station, The Rock.

Mis-information for people with short attention-spans.

[Crusader]

Investigative Journalists are failing to cover what could be the biggest news item ever. What are they putting in the water in Christchurch? In a year without Richie McCaw, Dan Carter, Colin Slade and Tom Taylor, they are sitting top of the Super Rugby table! There has obviously been some tampering with the water supply in Christchurch that turns mere mortals into superhuman.

Forget about the Panama Papers scandal, this is massive and needs further investigation.

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

Who cares about Canterbury rugby? 

[nitpicker1]

Investigative Journalists are failing to cover what could be the biggest news item ever. What are they putting in the water in Christchurch? In a year without Richie McCaw, Dan Carter, Colin Slade and Tom Taylor, they are sitting top of the Super Rugby table! There has obviously been some tampering with the water supply in Christchurch that turns mere mortals into superhuman.

Forget about the Panama Papers scandal, this is massive and needs further investigation.

You are just SO RIGHT,  Crusader.  There has obviously been some tampering with the water supply in Christchurch. Who needs Richie MCawful and all those other guys when Canterbury has Ecan?

Yep, their water supply does need further investigation, we could be bottling it and selling it

See
..."Since 2012, ECan rules prohibited intensively farmed stock, such as dairy cattle, and stock grazing on irrigated land from all natural waterways.

North Canterbury Fish and Game chairman Trevor Isitt believed ECan's approach to controlling serious or repeated breaches of stock access had been "casual and permissive and at worst negligent".

"It is clear from these findings that ratepayer-funded ECan has failed to adequately protect our streams, rivers and lakes from the negative effects of heavy stock damage."

ECan claimed stock damage in waterways was its "top compliance priority", yet there was an obvious lack of funding and staff to carry out the work, he said. ..."

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/79897095/damning-report-slams-ecans-lack-of-action-over-cattle-in-waterways

[nitpicker1]

Get ready to have the bite put on you to PAY for online news from the major newspaper organisations in both New Zealand and Australia.

No doubt you will be aware of the proposed huge shakeup coming, which will result in the major newspaper companies merging their operations in Australia.

Here in New Zealand, the resultant forced marriage of Fairfax and APN will result in one HUGE newspaper monopoly which will own every major daily newspaper in NZ except for one metropolitan daily (the Otago Daily Times) and one provincial daily (The Gisborne Herald). And that has got to be bad for consumers and also bad for democracy. No doubt the politicians will be salivating at the prospect of less scruitiny (driven by competition) of what they are up to.

But a side-effect of these mergers will be a high likelihood that you will have to PAY to access news stories on BOTH sides of The Ditch. In New Zealand, both APN and Fairfax have been talking about paywalls for a few years, but both sides have been too scared to be the first to go that way in case the competition decides to continue to provide free online access to news for a period of time and thereby grab a majority of the market share. However, with the two sides merged into one, there will be nothing to hold them back. And the same will apply across The Ditch in Australia.

You have been WARNED!!

Who needs newspapers when we have Facebook Twitter and TradeMe etc?

That's where the news hounds get their scoops from, isn't it?

[ssweetpea]

I am interested what the Com Com has to say about this.

The Com Com has had plenty to say on supermarket monopolies and telecommunications industry so no doubt they will be having a close look at this as well or they should be.

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

The break-up of NZME begins.


from the Wairarapa Times-Age....

NZME to sell Wairarapa Times-Age

12:33PM - Thursday, June 09, 2016


The deal is expected to be completed by the end of June.

NZME Publishing has signed a conditional agreement to sell the Wairarapa Times-Age to locally-owned National Media Limited.

NZME, publisher of the New Zealand Herald, said the Wairarapa Times-Age was performing well and widely respected by the community.

The sale of the Wairarapa Times-Age is a stand-alone transaction and not part of the proposed merger with Fairfax Media NZ.

The deal is expected to be completed by the end of June. The Wairarapa Times Age website and social media pages will also transfer over to National Media Limited.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/wairarapa-times-age/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503414&objectid=11653497

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

from Fairfax NZ....

NZME sells Wairarapa Times-Age to
Masterton businessman Andrew Denholm

“Business as usual” as Masterton-based newspaper changes hands.

2:45PM - Thursday, 09 June 2016


The Wairarapa Times-Age is housed in one of Masterton's most recognisable buildings.

NATIONAL media company NZME is selling Masterton-based daily newspaper the Wairarapa Times-Age to a local businessman.

NZME, whose media operations include the New Zealand Herald and radio stations NewstalkZB and Radio Sport, has signed a conditional agreement to sell the Times-Age, Scoop media reported on Thursday.

The buyer is National Media Limited, owned by Andrew Denholm, the current Times-Age general manager.

Included in the agreement are the Wairarapa Midweek and TA Property papers, Scoop said.

The deal is expected to be complete by the end of June.

NZME chief executive Michael Boggs said the paper would be “in great hands.”

Denholm said he was thrilled with the result.

“While we will continue to improve the paper it is very much business as usual.”

__________________________________________________________________________

Related story:

 • Fairfax, NZME media merger approval sought

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/80896661

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

So now, instead of only two independent, daily newspapers in New Zealand, there will be three — the Otago Daily Times, The Gisborne Herald and the Wairarapa Times-Age. The end of the asset-stripping era by Aussie news media organisations is nigh.