Stuff Ltd is proposing to cut 18 jobs from its regional newspapers in Taranaki, Manawatū, Wairarapa, Nelson, Timaru, and Southland. If the cuts go ahead, many districts will be left with just two reporters, and whole regions with a single photographer.
The proposal cuts four reporters, four visual journalists, five print producers, a designer, and four other newsroom roles. All but one of the regional print producers would go. They are the last people to check for mistakes before the paper goes to print. The roving regional reporter team would be halved to two, and those left would start writing for Neighbourly News, Stuff’s new hyper-local feed, which relies heavily on AI.
Stuff says rising print and delivery costs, along with falling newspaper advertising, are behind the cuts. The proposal doesn’t touch the number of pages or print days, only the number of people. Less than a week after announcing it, Stuff began advertising for copywriters to write sponsored content for the same papers.
Southland Times reporter and E tū member Louisa Steyl says the cuts would make it impossible to do the job properly.
“If these cuts go ahead, The Southland Times will be left with three reporters to cover 34,000 square kilometres.
“It would be logistically impossible for us to meet people in person, sit at their kitchen tables, and build the trust required to tell brave stories that impact the people living in this region.
“The cuts impact journalists who are deeply passionate about the work they do, often helping Southlanders find justice or celebrate wins.
“There is a deep moral injury in having to tell people we can’t cover their stories – stories that are important to them – because we don’t have the resources we once did. Our readers and our reporters deserve better.”
In Palmerston North, Manawatū Standard visual journalist and E tū member Warwick Smith says Stuff has tried this before, and it didn’t work.
“Reducing visual journalists from two to one at the Manawatū Standard is untenable. This was tried three years ago and proved unworkable.
“I was the visual journalist left to work solo for six months after a management decision to put in a hiring freeze. After six months of often working 12-hour days, I was exhausted and on the brink of resigning.
“Relief finally arrived when a second visual journalist was hired, replacing the one who’d left six months earlier to work for The Post in Wellington.”
Warwick says the paper’s patch is huge.
“The Manawatū Standard covers news from Whanganui to Taihape, Dannevirke to Eketāhuna in the east, and down to Ōtaki in the south. Palmerston North alone has more than 90,000 people.
“Reducing the number of reporters in the newsroom doesn’t reduce the work for visual journalists. News isn’t created in the newsroom between 8am and 4.30pm. It happens out there, and it can be unpredictable, uncontrollable, and unexpected. In those situations, the one expectation is that the visual journalist will be there to get the image.”
E tū Assistant National Secretary Mat Danaher says Stuff’s reasoning doesn’t stack up.
“These papers would keep the names their communities trust, with hardly anyone left to write them. Stuff is filling the gaps with a Neighbourly feed built on AI and recycled press releases. That’s not local news.
“A Facebook group can tell you there’s a pothole. A reporter asks why it’s been there for six months, what the council promised, and who made the call. Local journalists sit in the courtroom and the council chamber, and they’re on the scene when a flood hits. When the nearest reporter is three hours away, that work stops.
“Stuff’s newspapers already have no reporters in Otago, Tauranga, or the East Coast. These cuts would make those black spots even bigger.
“Our members know the industry is under pressure, and they want to work with Stuff on a real plan. Cutting people isn’t one. Keeping the name on the masthead means nothing if there’s no one left to write the paper.”