The ''Westport News'' is an independently-owned evening newspaper published in

Westport, New Zealand Westport ( mi, Kawatiri) is a town in the West Coast region of the South Island of New Zealand. Established in 1861, it is the oldest European settlement on the West Coast. Originally named Buller, it is on the right bank and at the mouth of the ...

. It is published on weekdays, and is one of New Zealand's smallest independent newspapers. The ''Westport News'' is distributed from

Karamea Karamea is a town on the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand. It is the northernmost settlement of any real size on the West Coast, and is located northeast by road from Westport. Apart from a narrow coastal strip, the town of Karam ...

in the north to

Punakaiki Punakaiki is a small village on the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand. It is located between Westport and Greymouth on , the only through-road on the West Coast. Punakaiki is immediately adjacent to Paparoa National Park, and is a ...

in the south and as far inland as

Reefton Reefton is a small town in the West Coast region of New Zealand, some 80 km northeast of Greymouth, in the Inangahua River valley. Ahaura is 44 km south-west of Reefton, Inangahua Junction is 34 km to the north, Maruia is 63 ...

History

In the 1860s Westport had two newspapers: the ''Westport Times and Buller Express'', started by Job L. Munson and John Tyrell in December 1866, and the ''Westport Evening Star'', started in December 1867. (These merged in 1892, becoming the daily ''Westport Times and Star'', which became the ''Buller Times'' before ceasing publication in 1941.) The Westport Evening Star was owned for a short time by Irishman Eugene O’Connor, who then set up the ''Westport News'' as a rival tri-weekly paper in 1873 (not 1871, as often claimed). It was initially printed on demy sheets. After several owners and name changes the ''Westport News'' was bought in April 1889 by Robert Reid, owner of the ''

Greymouth Star The ''Greymouth Star'', formerly the ''Greymouth Evening Star'', is a daily newspaper published in Greymouth and circulated on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island from Westport to Haast. History The ''Greymouth Evening Star'' was on ...

'', and enlarged to a double demy daily morning paper. Reid (and increasingly his wife Emma) ran the paper, until his death in March 1897. The ''News'' was then purchased by Boundy & Co., who sold it to Walter Atkin, former editor of the ''Lyell Times'' and ''Grey Valley Times'', on 4 April 1898. Sherman Strachan became editor of the paper in 1899, and members of the Atkin family controlled the paper until 1945. GG visits Westport News 04

More than a dozen local newspapers were published in the West Coast in the 20th century, but the ''Westport News,

Hokitika Guardian Hokitika is a town in the West Coast region of New Zealand's South Island, south of Greymouth, and close to the mouth of the Hokitika River. It is the seat and largest town in the Westland District. The town's estimated population is as of ...

,'' and ''

'' were the only ones still operating in the 21st. The ''News'' published as a daily until 6 July 1961, when it was closed by its Christchurch owners. The Lucas family of

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

, owners of the ''

Nelson Evening Mail ''The Nelson Mail'' is a 4-day a week newspaper in Nelson, New Zealand (Let him, who has earned it, bear the palm) , image_map = Nelson CC.PNG , mapsize = 200px , map_caption = , coordinates ...

'', immediately bought the paper and continued printing the next day. The printing of the paper now took place in Nelson, with copy wired from Westport by

teleprinter A teleprinter (teletypewriter, teletype or TTY) is an electromechanical device that can be used to send and receive typed messages through various communications channels, in both point-to-point and point-to-multipoint configurations. Initia ...

and the papers flown from Nelson. Golden Coast Airways was formed to enable this, flying a twin-engined

Aero Commander Aero Commander was an aircraft manufacturer formed in 1944. In subsequent years, it became a subsidiary of Rockwell International and Gulfstream Aerospace. The company ceased aircraft production in 1986. History Aero was formed in Culver City, C ...

to Westport each weekday; the plane appearing over the main street told people the ''News'' was on its way. This arrangement continued until 1978, even while Westport was temporarily isolated by the 1968 Inangahua earthquake. GG visits Westport News 03

Following the earthquake the

BNZ Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) is one of New Zealand's Big Four (banking), big four banks and has been operating in the country since the first office was opened in Auckland in October 1861 followed shortly after by the first branch in Dunedin in D ...

vacated their building on Wakefield Street. Later the ''Westport News'' bought it, and still operates for there. In 1978 Colin Warren, who had started at the ''News'' as a journalist in 1966, purchased the paper with his wife Mary from the Lucas family. He continued as owner, and later "editor-at-large", for nearly 40 years. Warren moved the printing of the paper back to Westport, initially on a sheet-fed printer, then reel-fed, to the current multi-unit press with colour printing. In August 2017 chief reporter Lee Scanlon and her husband Kevin purchased the paper from the Warrens. Scanlon, who prefers the title "chief reporter" to editor, had been at the ''News'' for over 40 years. The ''News'' also operated local Coast-wide radio station Coast FM from 1995 until around 2012, when the station was sold to a different owner.

Reporting

The ''News'' has a mixture of local, national, and international news, and a copy-sharing arrangement with RNZ. There is a total staff of 15; aside from Scanlon, there are three other journalists, one of them the writer

Becky Manawatu Becky Manawatu (born 1982) is a New Zealand writer of Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Mamoe, Waitaha, and Pākehā background. In 2020, she won two Ockham New Zealand Book Awards for her first novel, ''Auē'' and Best Crime Novel at the 2020 Ngaio Marsh ...

. Ellen Curnow joined as a reporter in November 2019. The newspaper reported on the opening of the West Coast railway during Premier Richard Seddon's first official visit to the region in May 1883. It also described how Seddon allowed the mining town

Seddonville Seddonville is a lightly populated locality on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island. It is most famous for the historical role it played in New Zealand's coal mining industry. Geography Seddonville is in the isolated north of the Wes ...

to be named after him. Almost a century later, it reported on the paving of the new Buller Bridge in November 1976.

Otago University , image_name = University of Otago Registry Building2.jpg , image_size = , caption = University clock tower , motto = la, Sapere aude , mottoeng = Dare to be wise , established = 1869; 152 years ago , type = Public research collegiate u ...

holds an archive of the newspaper from 1982 to 1991.

References

External links

* Video
''Westport News'' print run 'from computer to press'
(25 March 2015) * Manawatu, Becky (20 April 2020).
The curious case of a fictional spa in Westport
. ''Newsroom.'' (A personal essay about working at the ''Westport News)'' {{coord, -41.757128, 171.59946, display=title 1871 establishments in New Zealand Mass media in Westport, New Zealand Newspapers published in New Zealand Publications established in 1871 West Coast, New Zealand