''The Wanganui Herald'', originally published as ''The Evening Herald'', was a daily newspaper in

Wanganui Whanganui (; ), also spelled Wanganui, is a city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest navigable waterway. Whangan ...

published from 1867 to 1986 when it was replaced by a community newspaper of the same name. John Ballance arrived in Wanganui in August 1866; he was to become New Zealand's prime minister in 1891. Ballance aimed for a career in journalism, had strong political views, and occasionally wrote for the ''Wanganui Times''. The established newspaper at the time was the ''

Wanganui Chronicle ''The Whanganui Chronicle'' is New Zealand's oldest newspaper. Based in Whanganui, it celebrated 160 years of publishing in September 2016. It is the main daily paper for the Whanganui, Ruapehu and Rangitīkei regions, including the towns of Patea, ...

'' founded in 1856. On 3 June 1867, Ballance published the first issue of ''The Evening Herald'' after having purchased a

printing press A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a printing, print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in wh ...

. The last edition of ''The Evening Herald'' was published on Thursday, 23 March 1876 (volume X, issue 2737) and with issue 2738, the newspaper continued under the new title ''The Wanganui Herald''. On the occasion of commissioning a new printing press that enabled an "enlarged paper", the title was changed with the following rationale:

A slight modification of the title has long been pressed upon us by numerous friends, who think that the word Wanganui should form part of the name, their contention being that the place from whence the paper issues should appear prominent to those at a distance. After careful consideration, and not without reluctance arising from an early bias, we have acceded to the suggestion, The Wanganui Herald being now the designation of our daily issue.

From 1869 to 1906, the evening newspaper was supplemented by a weekly edition. From 1926 onwards, ''The Wanganui Herald'' had a children's newspaper as an insert. In 1971, the ownership of ''The Wanganui Herald'' and the ''Wanganui Chronicle'' came into one company. In 1986, the period of the city having two daily newspapers came to an end with ''The Wanganui Herald'' turning into a community newspaper, leaving the commercial market to its long-standing rival, the ''Wanganui Chronicle''. The name of the community newspaper later changed to ''Wanganui Midweek''. Both the ''Chronicle'' and ''Wanganui Midweek'' are owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment (NZME).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wanganui Herald Newspapers published in New Zealand Newspapers established in 1867 Mass media in Whanganui 1867 establishments in New Zealand