Stuff is a

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 ...

news media The news media or news industry are forms of mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public. These include news agencies, print media (newspapers, news magazines), broadcast news (radio and television), and th ...

website owned by newspaper conglomerate Stuff Ltd (formerly called Fairfax). It is the most popular news website in New Zealand, with a monthly unique audience of more than 2 million. Stuff was founded in 2000, and publishes breaking news, weather, sport, politics, video, entertainment, business and life and style content from Stuff Ltd's newspapers, which include New Zealand's second- and third-highest circulation daily newspapers, ''The Dominion Post'' and ''

The Press ''The Press'' is a daily newspaper published in Christchurch, New Zealand owned by media business Stuff Ltd. First published in 1861, the newspaper is the largest circulating daily in the South Island and publishes Monday to Saturday. One comm ...

'', and the highest circulation weekly, ''

Sunday Star-Times The ''Sunday Star-Times'' is a New Zealand newspaper published each weekend in Auckland. It covers both national and international news, and is a member of the New Zealand Press Association and Newspaper Publishers Association of New Zealand. ...

'', as well as international news wire services. Stuff has won numerous awards at the

Newspaper Publishers' Association awards The New Zealand Newspaper Publishers’ Association awards are annual New Zealand media awards recognising excellence in the news print media. The first awards were held in 1974 giving out awards for news photography and have expanded to include ...

including 'Best News Website or App' in 2014 and 2019, and 'Website of the Year' in 2013 and 2018.

History

The former New Zealand media company Independent Newspapers Ltd (INL), owned by News Corp Australia, launched Stuff on 27 June 2000 at a cybercafe in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

, after announcing its intention to go online more than a year earlier. The development of Stuff was supported by Don Higgins, Corporate Development Manager and Mark Wierzbicki, founding Internet Business Manager. Advertising agency

Saatchi & Saatchi Saatchi & Saatchi is a British multinational communications and advertising agency network with 114 offices in 76 countries and over 6,500 staff. It was founded in 1970 and is currently headquartered in London. The parent company of the agency gr ...

conceived the name "Stuff", and INL had to buy the domain name from a

cyber squatter Cybersquatting (also known as domain squatting) is the practice of registering, trafficking in, or using an Domain name, Internet domain name, with a bad faith intent to profit from the Goodwill (accounting), goodwill of a trademark belonging to so ...

. In its first month, the site had 120,000 unique visitors. At the time, Wierzbicki described the name as a copywriter's dream, although he conceded that "it's not without risk, especially if we stuff up." The start up was built by a group of engineers from a few tech companies in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

led by founding CTO and engineering manager Will Everitt and project manager Bill Alp and used a software platform from News Corp Australia's

news.com.au news.com.au is an Australian website owned by News Corp Australia. It had 9.6 million unique readers in April 2019 and covers national and international news, lifestyle, travel, entertainment, technology, finance, and sport. Staff The organiza ...

. On 30 June 2003, INL sold its publishing assets including ''The Dominion Post'', ''The Press'', and the Stuff website to

Fairfax Media Fairfax Media was a media company in Australia and New Zealand, with investments in newspaper, magazines, radio and digital properties. The company was founded by John Fairfax as John Fairfax and Sons, who purchased ''The Sydney Morning Herald' ...

. Fairfax upgraded the website in December 2006, and again on 4 March 2009, adding the ability for visitors to personalise the homepage. The first mobile phone news service from Stuff began in 2003, in a partnership with

Vodafone New Zealand Vodafone New Zealand Limited is a New Zealand telecommunications company. It was a subsidiary of the London-listed company Vodafone Plc until 31 July 2019, when its sale to a consortium comprising Infratil Limited and Brookfield Asset Manageme ...

. On 21 April 2009, Stuff launched a dedicated mobile site. Stuff

On 1 February 2018, the parent company of Stuff changed its name from Fairfax New Zealand Limited to

Stuff Limited Stuff Ltd (previously Fairfax New Zealand) is a privately held news media company operating in New Zealand. It operates Stuff (website), Stuff, the country's largest news website, and owns nine daily newspapers, including New Zealand's second ...

. In December 2018 Fairfax Media merged into

Nine Entertainment Co Nine Entertainment (registered as Nine Entertainment Co. Pty Ltd) is an Australian publicly listed media company with holdings in radio and television broadcasting, newspaper publications and digital media. It uses Nine as its corporate brandi ...

. On 25 May 2020, Nine Entertainment sold Stuff and its holdings including the Stuff website to Stuff's CEO

Sinead Boucher Sinead Marie Boucher (née O'Hanlon; born 26 June 1970) is a New Zealand journalist and chief executive of Stuff Ltd. On 31 May 2020 she became the owner of Stuff Ltd. Early life and family Born in 1970 to Sean and Mary O'Hanlon, Boucher moved w ...

for NZ$1, with the transaction completed on 31 May. This marks the return of the company into New Zealand ownership. On 30 May 2022, Stuff updated its logo and brand colours.

Awards and nominations

Stuff.co.nz has won numerous awards at the

(currently branded as the

Voyager Media Awards The New Zealand Newspaper Publishers’ Association awards are annual New Zealand media awards recognising excellence in the news print media. The first awards were held in 1974 giving out awards for news photography and have expanded to include ...

) including Best News Website or App in 2014 and 2019, and Website of the Year in 2013 and 2018.

Content and coverage

In July 2008, during the trial of

Clayton Weatherston On 9 January 2008, 22-year-old Sophie Kate Elliott (born 11 June 1985) was stabbed to death by ex-boyfriend Clayton Robert Weatherston (born 9 January 1976), in Dunedin, New Zealand. The crime and trial were covered extensively in the news med ...

, press.co.nz, a subsidiary section on Stuff, accidentally ran the headline "Guilty of Murder" the day before the jury delivered the verdict. The article was quickly withdrawn, and Fairfax executive editor Paul Thompson said it was a mistake "we take very seriously." On 17 April 2013, to celebrate the passing of

same-sex marriage in New Zealand Same-sex marriage in New Zealand has been legal since 19 August 2013. A bill for legalisation was passed by the House of Representatives on 17 April 2013 by 77 votes to 44 and received royal assent on 19 April. It entered into force on 19 Augus ...

, the colour of the Stuff logo was changed from black to the colours associated with the

pride flag A pride flag is any flag that represents a segment or part of the LGBT community. ''Pride'' in this case refers to the notion of gay pride. The terms ''LGBT flag'' and ''queer flag'' are often used interchangeably. The rainbow flag is the most ...

. In 2017, Stuff's first podcast ''Black Hands'' received over 3 million downloads and was the number one podcast in five countries. Stuff also produced ''Gone Fishing'' with

Radio New Zealand Radio New Zealand ( mi, Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa), commonly known as Radio NZ or simply RNZ, is a New Zealand public-service radio broadcaster and Crown entity that was established under the Radio New Zealand Act 1995. It operates news and c ...

, which won podcast of the year at the 2019 NZ Radio Awards. In 2018 Stuff launched Quick! Save the Planet to increase news coverage of

climate change in New Zealand Climate change in New Zealand involves historical, current and future changes in the climate of New Zealand; and New Zealand's contribution and response to global climate change. Summers are becoming longer and hotter, and some glaciers have ...

and in 2019 Stuff joined the Covering Climate Now international initiative. In 2019 Stuff Circuit's Life + Limb investigation into unexploded ordnance on

New Zealand Defence Force The New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF; mi, Te Ope Kātua o Aotearoa, "Line of Defence of New Zealand") are the armed forces of New Zealand. The NZDF is responsible for the protection of the national security of New Zealand and her realm, prom ...

firing ranges in Afghanistan prompted Prime Minister

Jacinda Ardern Jacinda Kate Laurell Ardern ( ; born 26 July 1980) is a New Zealand politician who has been serving as the 40th prime minister of New Zealand and leader of the Labour Party since 2017. A member of the Labour Party, she has been the member of ...

to order the clearing of the ranges.

References

Sources

External links