''The Star'' is a newspaper published in

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. It was published daily from 1868 to 1991. It became the ''Christchurch Star-Sun'' in June 1935 after merging with a rival newspaper, ''The Sun'', and at the time it ceased daily publication in 1991 it was known as ''The Christchurch Star''. It later became a free newspaper, published twice a week (on Wednesdays and Fridays) until 2016, then once a week (on Thursdays) since 2016.

History

The ''Star'' was first published on 14 May 1868 as the evening edition of the ''

Lyttelton Times The ''Lyttelton Times'' was the first newspaper in Canterbury, New Zealand, publishing the first edition in January 1851. It was established by the Canterbury Association as part of its planned settlement of Canterbury and developed into a libera ...

''. In April 2013 the ''Star'' was sold by APN New Zealand Media (owners of ''

The New Zealand Herald ''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. It has the largest newspaper circulation of all newspapers ...

'') to Mainland Media. Mainland Media was owned by Pier and Charlotte Smulders, and chaired by Nick Smith, the director of the Dunedin–based media company Allied Press. Smith had previously worked as an advertising cadet for ''The Star'' in 1965. In August 2018,

Allied Press Allied Press is an independent New Zealand media and publishing company based in Dunedin. The company's main asset is the ''Otago Daily Times'', New Zealand's oldest daily newspaper. Allied Press has a number of other daily and community news ...

acquired ''The Star'' owners

Star Media A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...

and its stable of community newspapers, magazines, digital platforms, and events. Following the acquisition, Charlotte Smulders remained the company's magazine publisher. Allied Press' acquisition of Star Media allowed the subsidiary to offer package buys combining the

Canterbury Region Canterbury ( mi, Waitaha) is a region of New Zealand, located in the central-eastern South Island. The region covers an area of , making it the largest region in the country by area. It is home to a population of The region in its current fo ...

with other

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

markets.

Controversies

In 1991 ''The Star'' featured in the film ''

JFK John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...

'', with the claim that the 23 November 1963 edition of the ''Star'', shown in the film, had published details of

Lee Harvey Oswald Lee Harvey Oswald (October 18, 1939 – November 24, 1963) was a U.S. Marine veteran who assassinated John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, on November 22, 1963. Oswald was placed in juvenile detention at the age of 12 fo ...

's which the ''Star'' could only have had access to if they were pre-packaged before the assassination. The paper's chief reporter later said that this was simply wrong, as Oswald had been arrested at around 10 am New Zealand time, and the ''Star'' was not published until early to mid-afternoon New Zealand time. With access to US wire services that had photographs and biographical details from Oswald's prior defection to and return from the Soviet Union, a front page was drawn up in the time available. In 2020 ''The Star'' faced criticism for advertising propaganda defending the

Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victoriou ...

’s policies such as their systematic detention of Uighur Muslims in the Xinjiang province of China. ''The Star ''defended their continued publication of these advertisements, as it sees them as expressions of “free speech”. In response,

University of Canterbury The University of Canterbury ( mi, Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was ...

political scientist

Anne-Marie Brady Anne-Marie Sharon Brady (born 1966) is a New Zealand academic and Professor of Political Science at the University of Canterbury. She specialises in Chinese domestic and foreign politics, Antarctic and Arctic politics, Pacific politics, and ...

raised concerns that these advertisements were not making clear distinctions between opinion and fact.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Star, The (Christchurch) Allied Press Star Christchurch Publications established in 1868 Mass media in Christchurch 1868 establishments in New Zealand