By Laura Frykberg
New Zealand’s oldest news agency, the New Zealand Press Association, will close its doors before the year is out.
A meeting was called this evening where the management of the Fairfax and APN-owned company broke the news to staff.
Around 40 will lose their jobs.
The agency, which has supplied content to newspapers for more than 130 years, will be closed within four to six months.
Management requested staff remain tight-lipped but one of its journalists, Kent Atkinson, spoke out, blaming shareholders.
“My personal interpretation is Fairfax no longer wanted to be part of the operation and once they decided that, APN decided they didn’t want to stick around and pay all the costs of getting rid of it,” he said.
Founded in 1879, the company sends out 1000 pieces of information a day.
Contributing to that is political journalist Maggie Tait.
“There are about 40 staff at NZPA and none of them are happy,” she said.
Asked if her job is safe, Ms Tait replied, “I think you can understand from my answer that they’re not."
The union representing staff says in a tough job market the mood of those staff is unlikely to change.
The combination of a recession and a news industry that is already doing it tough is going to make it difficult,” says EPMU national secretary Andrew Little.
But most of all it’s a sad day for what has become an institution.
As former NZPA employee Kip Brook acknowledges, “It’s been quite a powerful organisation for New Zealand."
“It was the hub for all New Zealand news for such a long time.”
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